Tough animals

[WayBeau]

Deer are some awfully tough animals. While driving to work this morning I came upon a scene which I had only seen on Youtube videos, or posted on forums like this one. There were two deer on the side of the road, one was standing in the field just on the other side of a four-board fence, the other was hanging by its back leg on the road side of the fence. Usually I would have kept driving, but due to the deer on the field side of the fence hanging around, I decided to stop and check it out. Sure enough, the little guy (turned out to be a button buck) hanging was very much alive and had managed to somehow get one of his back toes stuck in the heavy gauge wire at the top of the fence. I wasn't able to get him free with my bare hands, but luckily I was only about a minute from home, so I ran home to get some tools.
Let me paint the scene for you a bit. I'm a Business & HR Director at the local University, so I was dressed fairly well (slacks, dress shirt, dress shoes). I can only imagine what people thought at the sight of a guy dressed as I was, walking down the road with work gloves on, a crow bar and wire cutters in his hands.
Luckily, the little guy hadn't cut himself open anywhere that I could see, so I went to work on the wire. A few snips of the cutters and he was free. As soon as that leg came loose he sprang to his feet and took off running. The leg which had been caught was a little gimpy, but he was running well and was able to jump the fence a little further down the road.
It amazes me how resilient these animals are. If I got my toe caught in a fence like that I'd have been bawling like a baby and wouldn't be able to walk for a month.
Of course I didn't think to grab my phone out of the car prior to embarking on this task, so I don't have any pictures to share. Anyway, I'd thought I'd share with folks who can appreciate the strength of the animals we hunt.

 

[Art Eatman]

Lucky deer. Usually they'll fight and struggle and tear muscle. Even if the wire breaks, they'll either die from internal injuries or will be ready prey for the coyotes.

If the wire doesn't break, death is guaranteed from thirst.

 

[Ranger Roberts]

Very cool story! A similar thing happened to me about 25 years ago when I was being driven home from baseball practice by my friends dad. Once my friends dad freed the little doe, she ran about 50 feet then stopped and looked back at us. It kinda seemed like she tipped her hat as to say thank you. I haven't thought about that in many years. Thanks for bringing that old memory back!

 

[splattergun]

May the hunting gods reward your kindness. Hopefully with a chance to shoot this same buck 4 or 5 years from now.

 

[WayBeau]

May the hunting gods reward your kindness. Hopefully with a chance to shoot this same buck 4 or 5 years from now.

 

[CB900F]

Did you fix the fence later on? The deer's problem wasn't the landowner's fault, and while applaud your act of kindness to the animal, as a landowner myself I'd be irked if somebody cut one of my fences & left it.

900F

 

[bang_bang]

I've came across a few caught in fences. Unfortunately every instance the deer had compound fractures to its legs, and once a dog had injured it severely. A lower leg of a deer is actually pretty fragile.

 

[WayBeau]

Did you fix the fence later on? The deer's problem wasn't the landowner's fault, and while applaud your act of kindness to the animal, as a landowner myself I'd be irked if somebody cut one of my fences & left it.

900F

I did, in fact, go back later that day and mend the fence. Luckily, I was able to cut just enough wire to get him free, so the repair job was minimal.

 

[Armored farmer]

My hunting pard and i freed a nice buck from a tangle of barbed wire. We are farmers and both of us were wearing our pliers on our sides as is custom here among farmers. After cutting him loose he stumbled to the nearest water and drank and drank despite our bird dogs barking at him.