The dead one had been dead for at least a day. Hard to be sure as it was quite warm out. Yeah, Tye was all fired up and wanted to "help".

A local hunter told me they were both trophy class and if I had shot the live one and had the two mounted in the locked together position they might be worth $10,000. I didn't have a deer tag, didn't want meat from an exhausted animal and wanted the healthy one to have a second chance.