The buck stops here.
Or at least most of them got stuck trying to climb up the steep embankment, and then had to improvise and change course.
I’m going to be honest, I don’t really know what is going on in this short video. It’s sort of like when I saw Christopher Nolan’s latest action thriller movie Tenant: I had no idea what the hell was happening, but I really enjoyed it.
Same here with this deer video.
The clip picks up with four rather large bucks (all of them have to be at least be six pointers) swimming through a deep body of water with just their heads and antlers above the water.
Just with that, the video is already interesting. You don’t see deer treading water like this everyday, so it really is a sight to see.
And as it turns out, if deer do decide to dive into the water, it’s usually for good reason, and they commonly decide to do it in groups. The species is actually excellent at swimming and even reach top speeds of 15 miles per hour in the water.
The strong leg muscles of deer, as well as their hooves and toes, allow for them to easily navigate across lakes and rivers, and deer have even been spotted swimming in the ocean.
Like most non-aquatic-based wild animals, they tend to only partake in swimming when it’s necessary for survival. If their safety depends on it or if they are searching for foods, deer will choose to swim in a heartbeat.
So this person filming this crazy wildlife encounter just so happened to catch these bucks as they were crossing a body of water, and though the bucks were having an easy time swimming, running and jumping over the steep bank at the water’s edge proved to be difficult.
The impressive group of bucks can be seen working their way through the water towards the shore, then trying one by one to sprint up the embankment.
The first deer that runs up it successfully reaches the top and continues off into the woods, while the rest of the group tries their darnedest but clumsily fall backwards back into the water.
I’d venture to say that the third one that attempts to climb the hill would have made it if not for the other buck behind it that looked like it pulled it back down.
The three bucks then do the opposite of bellyflops (backflops maybe?) and painfully and manically return back into the water. Instead of trying again, the group of deer seem to make a change of plans and decide to continue swimming in the body of water.
Maybe looking for a better place to get up onto the shore? And not embarrass themselves in the process?
I don’t know if deer can feel embarrassed, but if they can, these three are definitely going to hear it from that first deer that tackled the hill climb with relative ease. For the others, the struggle was very much real.
Watch the hilarious “deer versus steep surface” video below:
