I got this via email the other day. Check out this story.
Whitetails are overpopulating and spreading West. I’m on a hill here and use a spotting scope to check out miles of floodplain, normally underwater ( John Martin resevoir) but now a vast prairie after 7 years of drought. There I can witness the clash as whitetail bucks spread into the area attempting to breed the mulie does and pushing out the bigger mulie bucks. Recently a clan of really big whitetail bucks have been seen feeding, 6 of them with no mulies in sight. rut is over.I got up one morning about a week ago and looking thru the scope saw one buck feeding, none of his buddies in sight. seemed wierd, and as I
looked closer (he was about 1.5 miles away) I could see small animals (young deer??) running around him. Finally I made out one of the small critters, they were Coyotes! Now this was really weird, a deer calmly feeding as coyotes circle around? Deer and coyotes friends??
No, I doubt it. finally it hit me, he hadn’t put his head up or even hardly moved the whole time I observed him, HE WAS HUNG UP RACK TO RACK WITH ANOTHER DEER I COULDN’T SEE, probably dead on the ground. The coyotes were getting ready to have a meal!!
So I jumped in the truck and headed down there. After a ten minute drive and a 1/2 mile hike (I forgot it was 20 degrees with a twenty mph wind in my face) I started coming on this incredible scene. However,
while I was still about 100 yards away I saw a well chewed deer hind quarter on the ground. And, sure enough, this big ten point whitetail was locked up with another similar size deer that was HALF EATEN!!!
This poor guy had to stand there (and no doubt fend off attacks all night long) while his buddy was devowered!!! it was really a heart wrenching scene.
And in typical human fashion, I decided to intervene. As I got really close, he recognised me and took off, hauling the half deer on his head as best he could. He got running pretty good and then stepped on the carcass and went ass over teakettle, then laid on his back, totally spent. I could have gone over and tickled his big white belly.
After a while, he got back on his feet. I pushed him into some salt cedars. He hooked the halfdeer on a stump AND GOT OFF and ran away with a slight limp (hope he wasn’t hamstrung). Just an incredible wildlife drama.
– Doc A
