Learn From Each Other
A friend of mine asked me to put this story in print as a lesson learned... so here goes.
This story is about me, Debbie and my husband John and is yet another story of a bottle fed buck gone bad. First
let me say that, I do not blame this one on the buck involved but my own negligence. Once the older bucks are in
hard antler, I use caution and do not enter the pens. I have heard the deer stories and try to heed the warnings.
Luckily, all of our bucks had their antlers removed prior to this day. January 8, 2007, started out as any other day, I
meandered around doing my regular chores of feeding and cleaning some waterers, counting heads, etc. then I
entered our feed shed. That is when my sons’ Australian Shepherd distracted me as she jumped out of the truck
window and landed on some pipe, I was worried about her breaking or spraining her leg. As I watched for her - not
realizing at that time that she was just chasing a squirrel.
Normally, I am hesitant to even move a few feet away from that window where I feed my deer, to get food out of the
barrels. But, apparently I had already unlatched the 2’ x 2’ door. Then after being distracted I went on to feed the 2
year old bucks in an adjoining pen. I placed Sadie- the Aussie in the stay position by the truck as I fed the deer in
the next pen, Sadie sat patiently by the feed shed & truck, until I heard something in the shed that she was sitting
next to- She jumped up and went around to the other side of the truck. So, I presumed she had knocked something
over, perhaps a shovel or rake. Then I walked back up to the feed shed to see that the feed door was unlatched. At
that point, my heart sank and I knew when I opened the door to look in and the "does" were coming in to eat, that my
Big Guy wasn’t in the pen (he is usually protective and keeps them away). I also knew that was the noise that I
heard, he had jumped through that window. So, I hurried to feed the deer in the last pen and then hurried to the
house and announced my findings to my husband (he works 2nd shift and was just waking up) we then rushed
around getting ready to go search for this deer.
My husband went to pump up the tires on the four-wheeler, while I was loading darts and had a syringe of
tranquilizer in my hand. I then went to the garage to talk to my husband to plan our strategy and there in a 10 foot
opening between the car port and the garage well.... I had walked into the center of that area ( much like a matador
in the middle of the arena) and there within six feet of me- Big Guy was looking at me. I knew with his ears laid back
and by his stance that I was in trouble. I yelled and told my husband that Big Guy was in the back yard- not to make
any sudden movements. Of course, as soon as I took a step Big Guy came towards me- pushing -then I tried to
step to the side to run past him to open the gate to the unbred does. But needless to say, I only made about four
more steps before he hit me and pinned me against the corner of the garage, on a bank beside the garage- the
next thing I knew I was being thrown to the ground like a dish rag and at the same time my hand went through my
husbands garage window. Somewhere in the commotion, I realized I had to use the tranquilizer to get him back into
his pen- somehow, I kept my thoughts together long enough to turn and hit the only open spot that I could see- the
back of his neck. I got him! Just about that time my husband came around the corner to see Big Guy pushing at me
and I am sure by the pain I feel today- was my ribs, against the garage. My husband ran and tried to body slam Big
Guy ( Big Guy-probably weighs in close to 275-300+ lbs), my husband told me later that he didn't know what he was
thinking when he tried to tackle that deer and when he didn't even budge, he had to think uh-oh! We will leave out all
of the things John was saying or otherwise the story would be filled with bleep, bleeps. After John had put this deer
in a head lock, he put one hand under the body, behind the leg closest to him and grabbed the opposite leg, he was
trying very hard to keep this deer from getting loose and using his hooves on him. So, while he was wrestling the
deer ( remember, he didn't know that I had already zapped him in the back of the neck with tranquilizer) I ran to get
more tranquilizer at this time. My husband was dragged through the mud for what had to seem an eternity, and as I
ran back down over that bank I slipped in the mud, fell on my behind, jumped up, ran over and gave Big Guy more
tranquilizer and with that he backed off staring strangely at my husband, so, John backed up to the basement door
to get on the other side of that door and of course, it was locked.( John said it was like something you'd see in a
horror movie with that door being locked.) He was waiting on Big Guy to charge him but instead he stood still a few
moments before he laid down. As soon as I caught my breathe, I called some of the neighbors to help load Big Guy
on the stretcher and get him back into the pen, because, I knew I couldn’t do any lifting with my ribs hurting. I cannot
thank my neighbors Mike, Jim and Greg enough, not to mention all of those who offered to help out while I was
convalescing. My one neighbor Mike said he knew it had to be bad when I asked for help. Badly bruised ribs has
been my worst injury. I do realize how fortunate I am to be alive, had my husband not of been at home to distract Big
Guy - I probably wouldn’t be writing this story. John declares that I drastically underplayed my part in this story... but I
Thank God that this didn’t happen to an unsuspecting neighbor or child, and I Thank God that I had that tranquilizer
in my hand, and on and on. Did I mention the giggles from the ER ladies when they asked what had happened to
me and I replied that I was hit by a deer and they asked if it was in a car and I said "NO". She then looked puzzled
as my husband tried to explain that we raise deer and one had gotten out.
Lesson Learned, It pays to stay focused and not get sidetracked. I hope and pray that our story helps someone
else. Please be careful when bottle feeding bucks – at an older age they can be very dangerous. Turns out this buck
had torn up the ground for about a 30 foot section trying to get into the pen with his rival buck. I must have been the
first person to cross his path.
Another friend of mine, Andy asked me if he could ask a question, I said sure. You see Big Guy had broken his
main beam, last year while he was still in velvet, Andy asked me if Big Guy hadn't broken his antlers would we have
cut them off. I replied No, we wouldn't have. Then he began to ask me if I ever thought that this was in God's plan
and I told him, that yes, I had already thought of this and thanks for confirmation. God does works in ways that we
will never understand- especially his foresight.
By The Way….Now I know what Grandma felt like when she got ran over by a reindeer. haha!
My Boss, Dr. Brent Carlson told me that I had to add to my story, that the only thing I was thinking of when that buck
had me pinned to the garage was how I was going to be late for work that day at the Fulton County Veterinary
Hospital. Well.............. what can I say!
God Bless Everyone and May you have a Great 2007 Fawn Season!
From: Timber Ridge Whitetails
6158 Timber Ridge Road
Big Cove Tannery, Pa. 17212
This article was printed with permission from:
Deer Breeders Gazette
242 Coaltown Rd
Boyers, PA 16020