This seems like it’s straight out of a horror movie.
Sometimes with nature, all you can ask is… how?
A deer has to be resilient to survive, they have no other choice. From the time they are born just about anything that can is trying to kill them. Bears, wolves, coyotes, bobcats, hell even the occasional large eagle will take a run… they are low on the food chain, not able to protect themselves, but big enough to provide a very good meal.
If they survive the first year, the bucks start to grow antlers. The antlers are a symbol of age, health and dominance. They grow bigger and strong with age and health. The larger the antlers are the more likely they are to win a rut battle as well, for the rights to a female.
Naturally, some of these battles go sideways. I mean, these two deer go head-to-head using pointy bone as a weapon. Accidents can happen, an eye poked out, a few cuts or some broken antlers. Sometimes, a well placed antler can impale another buck and that’s all she wrote.
Then you throw in cars, hunters, farm equipment, disease, starvation… it’s just hard out there for a deer.
But, I’ve never seen anything like this before.
A video of this buck shows one of his antlers just dangling from his head. It seems to be barely attached by a piece of skin connecting what appears to be a caved in skull.
I know these bucks lose them every year, but it certainly doesn’t happen this way.
The deer seems to be living fine as he chews away out in a field, but you have to wonder if having an injury like that means diminished chance of survival. I mean, he looks pretty damn thin, but more importantly, this guy literally has a piece of his skull broken off and is wandering around living like nothing happened.
Anyone have an idea how this might’ve happened? Did he get his head busted open in a brutal rut battle? Or, is this the result of something else like a car accident? Run into a tree at full bore?
Either way… this buck proves once again just how damn tough they are.
