| Tom Driscoll |
Walking in the deep woods after sunset and far off trail without a flashlight, I was surprised to stumble upon a quite visible buck skeleton. I was originally out looking for Merlin the Cat who recently wandered away from home. At this point in the search I was bushwhacking after looking along the road and foot trails.
The next day I returned to take some photos with young William Driscoll and Theo the Dog.
As I am not a crime scene investigator, I wrote an email to Wildlife Biologist Kevin Brennan in Escondido, California, a west coast relative, and provided a few more detailed photos for analysis.
Kevin wrote, “It does not appear to be an act of predation and large scavengers did not get a hold of it because all the bones are right there. The teeth are not significantly worn so this was not an old buck. If I had to guess, it probably starved and was buried by the snow. It looks like there is a deer trail leading up to the remains.”
As you can see, Theo the Dog was very curious and his sniffer was on high alert.
Walking off trail in the woods always reveals nature in ways not seen along the roadways.
