There are plenty of “normal” deer out there.
But there are some unusual ones, too, along with the occasional deer that finds itself in an unusual predicament.
Consider these two cases.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission has been capturing and monitoring deer around various parts of the state for years now. One interesting thing that work has revealed it just how many deer – bucks and does – survive hunting season.
But just how long can deer survive?
It’s one thing to get through one season. Or maybe two. But how about a dozen?
Some deer are doing it apparently.
Jeannine Fleegle, a biologist in the commission’s deer and elk section, recently wrote a story for the “Deer-Forest Blog” about some really, really old deer.
She said that about one third of the does in wildlife management unit 2G are 6.5-years-old or older, and that one was 13.5-years-old.
More recently, they learned of two old deer living in western Pennsylvania. Both were does trapped and collared in 2003, one near Echo, another near Kittanning. Both are still alive and – at a minimum – 13.5 years old.
You can read the whole story by clicking here.
Meanwhile, in Minnesota, a homeowner stepped outside recently to see two bucks connected by their locked antlers. Only one was still alive; the other had perished as a result of their fight and subsequent entanglement.
The surviving buck didn’t seem as if he had long to go either. He was alive, but exhausted, with a lurking coyote following his every move.
The solution was a taser.
A police office came out and zapped the buck, and while it was knocked out, the homeowner cut the tangled antler off with a reciprocating saw. When the buck came to, it scrambled off.
You can check out a video of the rescue by clicking here.
