Horse skull shed?

[Freedivr2]

Last year in the middle of a morning deer hunt in Utah, about a mile from the nearest road, I found a HUGE skull, and was so pooped out didn't think much of it other than it was the largest "cow" skull I'd ever seen. I pulled it out of the boneyard a few days ago and I believe what I found was a horse skull!

I'd imagine cow skulls are more common to find, but was just wondering; have any of you shed hunters ever found a horse skull when you were out shed hunting (OR maybe I'm guessing wrong and it's a lost camel or something) .......lemme know what you think this is.......horse? Mule? Camel? Mutant?

 

[Speckmisser]

Freedivr,

The angle of the pic isn't much help, but it sure looks like a horse to me. Did you find the lower jawbone too?

I wouldn't be too surprised if it were a horse. Sometimes they go out there and die in the wild too, especially if they get loose and get hurt in the backcountry. Usually they can find their way home from incredible distances, but there are times when they just don't make it.

 

[The Buck Stopper]

A horse skull shed huh? Personally, I've never seen a horse that has shed its skull. Could just be me though. And yes, that would be a horse/mule skull. I don't see anything else it could be. Must have been interesting seeing that in the woods!

 

[Freedivr2]

Buckstopper........nobody called it a shed, just didn't know which forum to post this on and I thought the bone hunters might be helpful.............yeah, I thought the same thing, what the heck else could it be? I think the long nasal cavity and the almond eye sockets make it a horse/mule. Just wondering if anyone else had seen a skull like this before. Maybe I should've posted this in a Texas forum

 

[The Buck Stopper]

This was definitely the correct forum. No one finds more skulls than shed hunters. I was referring to your title, "Horse skull shed?". What do people think when they see it in your house? I suppose you could tell them you went on safari in Africa and shot a zebra.....

 

[osulogger]

Well, looking at it, I'm going to say its not a horse skull. The only reason I say that is because I have a picture of a horse skull that was found in the woods. My buddy at work found it one day while laying out a timber sale. The picture below shows exactly what he found, no alterations to it. Note the nice hole in the forehead

From the land of Big Sticks,

Osulogger

 

[Passthru]

Its a T-REX

Better take a bigger gun with you.

 

[arlow]

Maybe a moose?

 

[coyotebandit]

I have a cow skull that looks alot like the one in your picture. So I would guess cow!

 

[Freedivr2]

Whoa nelle.............

Thanks, osulogger (and the rest of you guys). I think I'm gunna have to rule out a horse skull also. Your horse skull DEFINITELY looks like a horse, with the bent down nose, front teeth. The one I picked up just has that HUGE nasal cavity.

So I did what I should've done in the first place before posting....SEARCHED THE INTERNET!

Yep, I'm a "numbskull" for not doing that first. What I found is that this is a common steer skull, missing the thin bone at the top of the nasal cavity, that's what really threw me PLUS it's just huge. I was thinking horse or moose, but nah, mystery solved, it's a cow..........

P.S. I messed up when I called it a shed, what was I THINKING?

 

[fossilman]

I find them all the time in Montana when I hunt for fossil and dino bones,never thought of keeping one......