Two buck luck

[Minnesotamaker]

I took the opportunity this Thanksgiving holiday to go on a pheasant hunt with my oldest son. Walked a lot of grass and cattails and we got 4 roosters. While busting through some cattails, I came upon an area that was relatively clear. I saw two dead bucks laying there, one on top of the other. I thought maybe poachers had shot them and piled them there to rot. On closer inspection, it was apparent: they had died after locking their antlers together in a fight. A 9 point and 12 point. It's really too bad; the meat wasn't usable, but we were able to get permission from the DNR to harvest the heads for a "locked buck dual mount". Click for a bigger pic.

 

[wvbrewer]

You do not see that very often. That will make a interesting mount.....

 

[Dugger]

Once in a lifetime find, Lon - nature can be cruel! In all my years in the woods, I've not seen anything like this.
Congrats on the pheasants - nice cock just flew in to the front yard here, but the ones that live around here are "pets" only!

 

[Runningwolf]

That was a sad but yet cool find. Lon when I was a kid we had all kinds of pheasants around. Now all you find are the ones released from the game commission. We have a huge breeding farm the commission runs about 20 miles from my house and also some local farmers raise them.

 

[Rocky]

Lon, how do you think they died? It would have to be broken neck, starvaton or thirst? That is really strange. I used to hunt in PA but never saw anything like that. I don't think I ever saw a deer that died from anything other than a gunshot.

 

[Larryh86GT]

What an interesting find. They went out horny.

 

[Minnesotamaker]

Lon, how do you think they died? It would have to be broken neck, starvaton or thirst? That is really strange. I used to hunt in PA but never saw anything like that. I don't think I ever saw a deer that died from anything other than a gunshot.

Both bucks were a bit scraped up; looks like they each took a few hits with the antlers. In skinning them, we noticed that there were lots of contusions under the skin too, so some blunt force trauma; had they lived to see another day, both would have been sore for awhile. The 9 pointer did have one puncture wound just under the breast-bone. My guess is the other guy got his antlers under him and lifted him off the ground and punched the hole. The 12 pointer was on the bottom with the 9 pointer on top of him. The neck on the 9 pointer was really turned sharp, so my guess is that during the later stages of the struggle when they were both exhausted, a quick odd turn and fall turned the neck of the 9 pointer beyond it's limits and it broke its neck and landed on top of the 12 pointer. The 12 pointer on the bottom, was too exhausted and had his head trapped in such a way that he couldn't get the dead guy off him to get back up.

 

[Rocky]

Nature is, at once, a beautiful and horrible thing. Such beautiful animals. So tragic.

 

[saddlebronze]

They died of testosterone poisoning, almost happened to me when I was little.

 

[arcticsid]

Wow!

Lon, thats an increddible find. I hpe you DO, try to mount them togther. Thats really something.

 

[Runningwolf]

Lon I was telling some folks your story tonight and they have heard of the exact same thing happening. It's not real uncommon but to find them it is. They knew someone that found some mule deers that did the same thing and ended up dying of exhaustion and respiratory problems. I look forward to seeing your mounts.

 

[joea132]

Both bucks were a bit scraped up; looks like they each took a few hits with the antlers. In skinning them, we noticed that there were lots of contusions under the skin too, so some blunt force trauma; had they lived to see another day, both would have been sore for awhile. The 9 pointer did have one puncture wound just under the breast-bone. My guess is the other guy got his antlers under him and lifted him off the ground and punched the hole. The 12 pointer was on the bottom with the 9 pointer on top of him. The neck on the 9 pointer was really turned sharp, so my guess is that during the later stages of the struggle when they were both exhausted, a quick odd turn and fall turned the neck of the 9 pointer beyond it's limits and it broke its neck and landed on top of the 12 pointer. The 12 pointer on the bottom, was too exhausted and had his head trapped in such a way that he couldn't get the dead guy off him to get back up.

CSI Minnesota... Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh! Awesome find though.

 

[sjo]

My kids showed me this on youtube last week. Two locked bucks, one half eaten by coyotes.
SJO



[ame]http://youtu.be/ddrWqHZqYoA[/ame]