WHEN GIANTS FIGHT

Deer herds found in public access areas where hunting is allowed are frequently out-of-balance. In most cases there are lots of does for each buck, since hunters tend to remove bucks in higher numbers than does.

Deer herds in states that have forest preserves are often balanced between bucks and does, because the animals are not hunted. Nature insures that about as many bucks are born as does, so the ratio is close to 1/1.

When the herd is balanced, bucks start acting like bucks during the rut. That is to say, the largest bucks try to claim exclusive breeding rights, and will fight other bucks if that deer dares trespass on the dominant buck’s turf. I’ve seen the aftermath of these encounters.

While hiking through a forest preserve in Cook County, Illinois I found a spot where two bucks fought a bloody duel. The ground was torn down to black earth in a thirty-foot circle. Scarcely a leaf or twig was left on the ripped soil. Blood pooled in several spots, revealing that pointed antlers had gored one or both of the combatants.

I checked the ground for tracks, and found only those made by deer – nothing to indicate that a pack of coyotes had trapped a buck here. The deer prints showed widely splayed toes and good width. This fight was between two mature bucks.

I found no dead deer nearby, so I supposed that one had driven the other away. Good enough for the purposes of this fight.

Two big bucks I found in western Illinois were not so lucky. Both were prime specimens, and had battled to the death. The buck with the largest antlers had fourteen points, his foe only ten. The smaller buck however had longer tines. I’m comparing the number of points their antlers had, not body size. And the antlers were locked together so tightly, two grown men could not separate them.

Both appeared to have been over two hundred pounds live weight. Coyotes had stripped the meat from both bucks right up to the neck line. I took photos of the dead deer, since many people have never seen a real, fourteen-point buck, let alone one locked up with a ten-point.

Once again, the big bucks had torn up a large swath of the woods while thrashing, charging, shoving, and goring each other. Most likely, one of the deer had died from a broken neck, while coyotes killed the survivor since he could not escape while trying to drag the other buck.

Nature is violent and sometimes tough to understand. At the same time it can be fascinating. You never know what kind of story you’ll find in the woods.
Copyright Ray Hansen, 2008