OLD WARRIOR

My old friend Johnny stopped into the garage last Wednesday with another deer.
He said I may not want this one because it was an older buck. He wanted me to have a look at it. It wasn't a real big deer. Just by guessing it looked to be 4 or 5 years old. It's left rear leg was missing at the knee & had healed over really well.
It must have been shot off less than a year ago. Just amazes me how it had healed so well on its own. The left side of his rack was a decent 8 points & had that old deer look. So maybe he was older then I guessed. The right side of the rack was really messed up due to the leg injury.
I was surprised when Johnny said he was going to take it to the taxidermist to get it
caped out and would drop him off later. I questioned him having it mounted and he said he was a older deer and it was his way of showing his respect. I didn't have my camera at the garage so I did not get any pictures. When Johnny gets it back from the taxidermist I'll post some.
Anyway, since it was a bigger deer I took it to the butcher. So I picked up my meat last night. Fired up the cook stove and opened the box of meat to find this taped inside..I called the butcher to find out where it was found. He said it was in the front shoulder and was well healed over. The broad head does look to be old: a single blade on a wooden shaft. That deer now has my respect. I think if Johnny knew, he would have let him walk. I will think of his life with very bite.