# Poacher or mountain lion or........



## Mlasseigne (Jan 2, 2012)

A buddy sent me the attached picture of 1/2 a deer they found over the weekend. My first thought was a poacher- but apparently its a fawn and I would imagine a poacher would have taken the back half for the hind quarters. His foreman thinks its a mountain lion but I've always heard they eat the loins and stomach first. So, 2cool community- what say you?(And no, they are nowhere near a train track)


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## sotexhookset (Jun 4, 2011)

Don't know what it was but tha t fawn was cut in half in some way and upper half was drug off. I don't see any animal cat, hog or yote eating it that clean/precise. Pretty interesting and cool though.


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## RB II (Feb 26, 2009)

Looks like a poacher cut it in half, maybe to carry it easier or maybe just to keep the hams only. But IMO, definitely not a 4 legged animal. Too smooth of a cut


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## Cynoscion (Jun 4, 2009)

On small critters such as rabbits, squirrels and possibly the fawn in the pic, cats will eat from the head down. My best educated guess would be a bobcat. There are lots of fawns hitting the ground right now. They are pretty easy pickings. I'd guess he most likely caught the fawn, ate what he wanted and carried on. Was there brush, grass, leaves, debris pulled up around the carcass? This is tale, tell cat sign.


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## Sgrem (Oct 5, 2005)

Farmers discing nearby???


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## Reality Czech (Jul 17, 2004)

Land shark.
Or more probable a bob cat.

Not a poacher, whole fawn weighs only what? 20 lbs?


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## RB II (Feb 26, 2009)

That looks more like an axis deer than a white tail dawn with spots. I assumed it was much larger than a fawn. There needs to be a whole lot more information before anyone can say for sure what happened. If it was an animal certainly there would be bite/tear marks. If it was human a perfect clean cut would be easy enough to see if you were actually there. After re-reading the OPs statement, his statement that it was a fawn was an assumption. 
Really a lot more questions to be asked than answers to be given.


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## S-3 ranch (May 26, 2004)

sgrem said:


> Farmers discing nearby???


That is what I was thinking I have seen stuff like this before


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## steverino (Mar 8, 2006)

*Well Let's Think About This!*

Even a fawn has a backbone. What did it look like? Was it sawed or cut? I think an animal would not be able to "cut" the carcass with bones so smoothly using his teeth. IMHO an animal might have dragged it off but it did not cut it smoothly in half!


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## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

If that is a real photo, man was involved somehow. There is no way an animal would eat and cut so cleanly. The tractor disc mentioned above is a possibility.


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## Mlasseigne (Jan 2, 2012)

Picture is real and taken by foreman so that's really all the information available as of now. This is in an area with no known axis population- or at least none have been seen. I agree it must be man made- but trying to wrap my head around how and why........ I'm leaning towards a fawn being being disked and hauled off by a varmit.


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## SSST (Jun 9, 2011)

sgrem said:


> Farmers discing nearby???


Idk, but a dang good guess! I agree with the others, can't see this being the work of any kind of predator.


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## bigfishtx (Jul 17, 2007)

SSST said:


> Idk, but a dang good guess! I agree with the others, can't see this being the work of any kind of predator.


And how would the back half end up there?

It is an animal kill, prob a cat. Probably was carrying it, and got disturbed and dropped it there.


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## SSST (Jun 9, 2011)

bigfishtx said:


> And how would the back half end up there?
> 
> It is an animal kill, prob a cat. Probably was carrying it, and got disturbed and dropped it there.


Well I don't know if this place is next to field land or not, that would kill that guess real quick. But why couldn't the cat or whatever stumble upon a half a fawn and drag it off? Any kind of predator kill usually has the spine still attached, that's the part that kills the predator guess for me.


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## CRGR (Sep 8, 2014)

chupacabra or sasquatch


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## BadBob (Dec 16, 2010)

I was thinking aliens


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## 98aggie77566 (Jul 7, 2009)

If it is a poacher....they need a little teaching on which parts of the animal to take/leave.

Can't see how an animal would do this....you would expect a jagged cut/bit with leftover spine and ribs, etc.

Farm implement sounds like a pretty good guess. I've seen fawns stay put when I'm on the tractor until I get within inches....and then only run because I pause to give them time to get up and run.


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## Cynoscion (Jun 4, 2009)

Bones in newborn mammals are not fully formed yet and are therefore considerably softer than in adults. I have no problem seeing an animal, especially a cat, doing this.


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## Reality Czech (Jul 17, 2004)

Cynoscion said:


> Bones in newborn mammals are not fully formed yet and are therefore considerably softer than in adults. I have no problem seeing an animal, especially a cat, doing this.


That's is what I was thinking, soft bones. New born fawns are tenderoni's to predators.
These two are just about past their prime easy prey stage.


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## CHARLIE (Jun 2, 2004)

Someone mowing with brush hog, disking, maybe ??


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## duckmania (Jun 3, 2014)

Not a disc, it would be more crushed and messy. I'm betting it was a cat.


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## goatchze (Aug 1, 2006)

Do they cut/bale hay in that area?


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## T-Muney (Aug 12, 2005)

duckmania said:


> Not a disc, it would be more crushed and messy. I'm betting it was a cat.


Agreed, disk are too close together so would have been more damage.


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## hog_down (Jan 11, 2010)

No way an animal cut the backbone of that fawn; had to be mechanical.


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## wal1809 (May 27, 2005)

We are only seeing the hide as a straight cut. We can't see the rest. If yotes were pulling against each other the hide will tear in a straight line. We need more pics of the backbone and areas we can't see in the pic.


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## texastkikker (Dec 24, 2008)

bigfishtx said:


> And how would the back half end up there?
> 
> It is an animal kill, prob a cat. Probably was carrying it, and got disturbed and dropped it there.


 I don't have a clue what killed it. I tend to think the "disc" theory makes the most sense due to the somewhat clean cut it has. bobcat/lion/coyote whatever could have picked it up out of the field and took it to where they found it?????


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## CHARLIE (Jun 2, 2004)

Still say someone brush hogged the poor thing.


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## Trouthunter (Dec 18, 1998)

Tractor pulling a shredder would be my guess.

TH


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## waterspout (May 21, 2004)

sgrem said:


> Farmers discing nearby???


this!


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## waterspout (May 21, 2004)

not all farmers have up to date disc


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## duckmania (Jun 3, 2014)

We need more data!!


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## Big Fish (Feb 4, 2005)

*Mountain Lion Kill*









This is the left overs from a mountain lion kill I found while elk hunting in Colorado. You can see where the spine is severed cleanly but I don't think the pic from the original poster is a Lion kill. The hide looks like it has a straight cut.

:texasflag


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## oOslikOo (Jul 13, 2010)

98aggie77566 said:


> If it is a poacher....they need a little teaching on which parts of the animal to take/leave.
> 
> Can't see how an animal would do this....you would expect a jagged cut/bit with leftover spine and ribs, etc.
> 
> Farm implement sounds like a pretty good guess. I've seen fawns stay put when I'm on the tractor until I get within inches....and then only run because I pause to give them time to get up and run.


Cant tell you how many dried up fawns have come out of round bales I feed out. Sucks arse but hay patches are perfect for fawns.


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## goatchze (Aug 1, 2006)

oOslikOo said:


> Cant tell you how many dried up fawns have come out of round bales I feed out. Sucks arse but hay patches are perfect for fawns.


Yep. They get bedded down in there all the time. I've scared up a bunch while shredding, but they usually bolt as soon as the bucket comes over them.

With a disc mower for cutting hay, the cutter is out to the side and can be quite long. Fanws don't always get out of the way, and it would make a clean straight cut.

So that's still my guess.


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