I had the same experience, but call it, "No buck lived". One had just died and my neighbor's outfitter did not want to do anything about them. I was the one that called him about them. He was not happy. I volunteered to put the buck out of his misery. He gave me the go-ahead and now, two locked-up Euro mounts adorn my living room. The one buck had just died, so I salvaged 68 pounds of meat total, from the two. I thought that it would be bad and if it was, I was going to grind it to feed my dog all winter. The meat was fine and we ate it.