Looks like either K9 or Cat... hard to tell. If I had to guess from the picture alone I would say Cat. Dog’s typically hunt in packs for larger game like deer. Since the carcass hasn’t been torn into pieces I would say that you’re looking at a lone hunter. That means cat… and it would have to be one big enough to bring down a deer… that usually means cougar. Cougars also will usually eat out all of the organs first and as fast as they can incase they get chased off of the kill, but once they have had their fill they move on without having done a lot of damage to the carcass. However; what’s odd about the photo is that there is NO visible damage to the carcass around the neck and head area or around the legs or front shoulder area. That implies that this buck may have already been dead before the eater got a hold of it. Bears, Cats, and Dogs typically go for the neck and head area to bring down game. Were there any tracks around the carcass?

I couldn't see any tracks, it was in deep grass and people had walked around it by the time I got there. I bought some Mt. Lion attractant and will set up a camera.

the but looks tore out i have seen catch dogs do that to hogs posible wild dog ?? just a thought

i dont think it was a cat just for the fact the guts are gone and 90 percent of the meat is still there the cats main focus is meat now bear may do that they like to get in the guts and roll around in it . I say k9 and then pigs and what ever else is down there

I've had some buddies dealing with your problem. Check out this link for some material I found: http://cbs5.com/local/mountain.lion.trap.2.708992.html

Hope this helps!

i'd bet a hundred bucks that it was coyotes. start from the back and work their way up. We have seen several yout eaten deer from leaving them to track untill morning.

saw some picks of a guy in arkansas he set up trail cam on a deer just like yours and picked up 3 lions feeding on it a day later