Thanks Walleye! Request accepted. Not sure if you get notified of that or not. 

hockeyguy-

I sent you a friend request so that I could private message you...

http://www.badgersportsman.com/contact/2018-12-06-dog-tracking-service/2018-12-06-farmland-zone/2019-04-15-muckdogs

I had mentioned looking for someone with a tracking dog, but not sure if he looked into it at all. As the crow flies, it was about 3/4 mile due east. When he shot it, it ran north and said they tracked it for a mile after giving it about four hours. Easily could have doubled back that night after they gave up. Just to be clear, he wasn't "oh well" about it. It bothered him that he wasn't able to find it. 

If you have the name and/or number of the guy with the tracking dog, could you please PM me with it?

I also believe this is your brother's deer. Out of curiosity how far was it from where he last found blood? Or from point of impact?

Don't want to take this off topic, but for future reference it might be worth contacting a tracking dog next time.  I know there is one within an hour of you that works for tips only and doesn't set a flat rate so that it can be affordable for everyone.

That looks like a deer that has been laying in the ditch on the side of the highway for three weeks or so in November.

Southern Brown. Denmark area.  He just texted me and said the more he thinks back, the more he's confident it's his. He noticed a rib that was busted in a weird manner and with the way the buck was positioned (quartering toward him   ) it matches up with where his arrow likely hit, just slightly back/right of aim point. So, he's got a heck of a Euro mount in the works!

Hockey, what county is that?

I’m 90%+ sure, based on those pics, that that deer had been there for weeks. Sunken eyes give it away. Decomposition is slow when it’s cold, and predators do not always demolish a carcass immediately. Even in wolf country we’ve let deer lay overnight and recovered them untouched the next morning. If I were your buddy, I’d feel confident putting that rack on the wall. 

Thanks for all the opinions! The only reasons I think it may be his buck is it's more or less in the direction the buck was traveling, and everybody knows everybody in the little farming community this is, so had anyone nearby shot it during gun, his brother likely would have been contacted to track it on his property. 

I still think after a month there would be far less left of the body, though. That's the biggest knock against it being his. Maggots were in the mouth, but I don't recall seeing any on the body, although I honestly didn't look that closely. But as someone pointed out, it also could have died of its injuries days/weeks after. 

I guess unless he's willing to do a post mortem inspection of a rotting carcass to find evidence of a broadhead wound vs. a bullet wound, he may never know. Definitely a shame for that much meat to go to waste, but the critters are eating good...and we know a good yote spot now lol