Good Samaritans Free Whitetail Buck Locked to Dead Foe
Russ Chastain 12.28.18
When these folks spotted a pair of bucks fighting, they naturally became interested. And when it became clear that their antlers were locked together and one of the bucks had died, they knew they had to do something to help. Without help, the surviving buck might easily weaken and die… although it’s possible that he could eventually tear off the head of his nemesis and wear it like a dead albatross, which would interfere with just about everything, especially feeding.
So, they decided, they should free the living deer. To do so, they approached the deer cautiously, one of them armed with a battery-powered reciprocating saw (think Sawzall). As the buck moved to avoid them, it had to drag his enemy’s carcass… helping to tire him out so the men could do what they had to do.
One guy grabbed the dead buck, hoping the live one could wrest himself free… but it was no use. Greater measures must be taken. And when the buck stumbled and fell on its side, they sprang into action. Two men approached and tried to pull the antlers free, but couldn’t do so.
They were in a very dangerous spot, and if the buck has gotten free, they could easily have been gored by the long sharp antler tines. But the buck fell to the ground once more, and one guy climbed on top of it while the Sawzall man closed in and began his work.
The cutting took a pretty good while… antlers are tough, and he must have had a fine-toothed blade in his saw. But thankfully, the battery held up and they eventually got it done after about a minute and a quarter of constant sawing.
I was hoping all the time that they weren’t sawing the antlers off of the survivor… his large antlers would have made a great trophy for any deer hunter.
