Well, this is something you never see…
It’s already tough enough to bag a great, mature buck while hunting during deer season. Much less, finding two that are locked up together.
But sure enough, according to Field & Stream, Lebanon, Maine native Adam Blanchette was lucky enough to come across this scene while hunting in the Katahdin Iron Works area on November 10th.
Blanchette told the outlet that he had detected movement at the base of a far-off spruce tree, when he noticed a deer hoof pointed straight up into the air.
He assumed it was just a singular deceased deer, but as he got closer, he realized it was something much, much more.
The closer he got, he realized there were four hooves, from two frozen bucks, one was alive and the other wasn’t. The bucks’ antlers were locked to each other, as it appeared it may have occurred during a fight between the two.
Blanchette said in a video that he filmed and posted:
“They must have fought for awhile because there [was] 50 yards of torn-up ground. As I came over, the one with his head back was alive, and he was freaking out. The other one [had] been dead for a while. He was all swelled up.”
The head of the dead buck was facing down, and the alive one was faced up with its neck wrapped around the spruce tree.
He said he was shocked, but he had a tag in his pocket and knew he had to put the alive deer down, telling the Bangor Daily News:
“I looked down at him and I said, ‘I’m sorry,’ and I said it right out loud, and I shot him. It was bittersweet. It’s almost emotional. You feel bad.”
Blanchette then called his dad and brother, and they dragged the 9-pointer over a half mile of slash, stumps, and blowdown, making it back to the family deer camp.
He also contacted the Maine Warden Service, who sent an officer to the seen. The officer confirmed that the deceased deer had been dead for at least 24 hours, and issued Blanchette a permit for him to possess his antlers as well.
Check it out:
