Slingshot Dies

Slingshot, a grand old mule deer, and the most famous of the big bucks at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge near Denver was found dead last Sunday.

One photographer who saw him on November 15, the day before he was found dead, said he was limping and seemed unhealthy. He was probably already suffering from the puncture wound that ultimately cost him his life.

Epic Battle Kills Old Warrior

As reported by Mark Heinz in the Cowboy State Daily, Slingshot was discovered dead, Sunday at the National Wildlife Refuge. His carcass was inspected by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service game wardens who’s necropsy revealed Slingshot died from a puncture wound behind his right front leg which entered his lung, and the wound had come from another buck’s antler. Every fall, bucks fight each other for dominance during the rut and when truly big bucks meet, their battles can be extremely violent and on rare occasion, lead to death. Observers noted that the ground where Slingshot’s carcass was found looked torn up, as if an epic buck battle had happened there.

Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge is comprised of about 16,000 acres located 10 miles northeast of downtown Denver. It was established in 1992, on land previously used as an Army chemical weapons site. Slingshot gained a fanbase there when his antlers grew to jaw-dropping proportions, in terms of their mass, the spread between the main branches, and their gnarly, atypical growth pattern. Slingshot was truly a giant and got his name from the “V” at the top of his rack which resembled an old-fashioned slingshot. 

The “Popeye” of Colorado

Slingshot’s fame could perhaps even be compared to that of Popeye, a huge Wyoming mule deer buck from the 1980s and early 1990s. Popeye spent most of his life on public land in Wyoming. And every fall, many a hunter tried to get Popeye in his crosshairs.  They all failed. The huge buck died of old age in the late 1990s. 

Mike Eastman remembers the sheer excitement in his brother Rod’s voice as he described the absolute monster of a buck he’d found on public land in Sublette County. “He told me, ‘You’ve got to see this deer. His outside spread must be over 40 inches. We called him Popeye, because your eyes will pop out when you see him,” Mike told the Cowboy State Daily for an article a couple of years ago. 

But Popeye wasn’t alone, “Morty” and “Goliath”; were two other tremendous bucks that lived in died in Wyoming around that same time. The legendary Wyoming monster buck trio, Popeye, Morty and Goliath , were made famous by Mike Eastman when he came up with the idea of calling them ‘Wyoming’s Living Legends”. 

Does Slingshot deserve entry into that esteemed group of “Living Legends”? I suppose we’ll all have to decide for ourselves, but I believe he does.