Here are some dramatic photos of three whitetail bucks locked up antler-to-antler.
- Wow, no clear winner here.
Category: Antler Lock Ups
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Three Whitetail Bucks Locked Up
Heck of a scruffle. 
One more look. -
Buck Fight Interrupted by as Bullet
Here’s a cool video of a couple of bucks locked up and fighting for mating rites. The hunter steps in to help them out and makes an incredible shot.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nZuiNsqJ7s]For more photos of deer locked horn-to-horn, or more precisely, antler-to-antler, check out these posts.
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Another Whitetail Buck Antler Lock-Up
I got this email froma friend. It’s a pretty neat story with a great photo.
For all of you deer hunters, this is a pretty rare thing:
Attached is a picture of my daughter, Morgen, who went deer hunting for the first time this last Saturday morning. Little did she know she would get a trophy that most people have only seen in magazines.
Morgen killed a 12 point buck whose rack was still locked with a 9
point buck. The 9 point buck was dead and little more than the bust and remnants of the hide were left. If you look closely at the picture, you’ll see the two bucks are literally cheek to cheek.This is extremely rare. Hunters will find two dead bucks whose
racks are locked together. To make a kill of a live buck is just
amazing. For Morgen this was a once in a lifetime event. The 12
point buck is a magnificent animal. We can only speculate that the
hide from the 9 point buck was all ripped and tattered from coyotes.We were hunting the 7D ranch north of San Angelo. Since this email is going quite literally all over the world I’ll explain that this
ranch is over 200 square miles in size.We would like to thank the Sugg family (Joel and Chris especially)
for inviting Morgen out to the ranch and being a part of a lifetime
memory. We got many many pictures. Needless to say, everyone else took a lot of pictures.The deer have been dropped off at a taxidermist but it will be 4-6
months before the mounting is finished. This is a story that will
be told over and over for many years to come.I’m really proud of Morgen and I just want the entire world to know.
Our best to you all and for sharing this little but of excitement
(even for those who are not hunters… thanks for understanding).Mark Priest
However, as rare as this is, I do have other posts of similar events:
Another Deer Locked Horn-to-Horn
Two Bull Elk Locked Horn-to-Horn
Trophy of a Life Time -
The Last Rub
Here’s what can happen in the wild. A nice sized whitetail buck has gone to the local rub. The “rub” is a tree that bucks use to rub off their velvet.
OK, here’s how this works. Most bucks (males) will develop antlers. I say most as some do not and, some females will grow horns. See one of my first posts to this blog, Spike Dyke. The antlers usually start to grow near the end of the first year of life. Antlers are not “horns”. Antlers grow every year and horns are permanent. Antlers are dead bone. Horns are more like the skin material used for nails and hoofs. As antlers grow they are covered with a very hairy skin covering that is usually colored red or deep burgundy. This gives the appearance of felt or velvet covering. Near the end of summer the Buck’s horn growth stops and the velvet dies and starts to shed. To help this shedding bucks find a sapling or other soft shrub in order to rub it. The rubbing helps the buck shed the velvet.
What is interesting is that bucks will tend to favor a particular species of tree or sappling depending on which part of the country you are in. And, sometimes more than one buck will rub the same tree. They seem to prefer soft barked trees. I understand that the antlers are rather sensitive at this stage so rubbing a soft barked tree makes sense.
This poor fellow got his antlers stuck and probably starved to death.
These pictures came to me via email. They’re tagged with www.fouraranch.com. I checked their site but didn’t see the pictures posted there. Give them a visit for more spectacular photos of monster trophy whitetail bucks. They have a big protein feeder that helps the nutrition of the buck which inturn causes massive antler development. One photo shows 4 real nice bucks snacking at the feeder at one time.
Poor fellos got stuck and expired. 
Another view of the whitetail buck that got stuck while rubbing. 
Another view of the whitetail buck that got stuck while rubbing. 
Another view of the whitetail buck that got stuck while rubbing. -
Two Bull Elk Antler Locked
I received this email recently. Describes a pretty interesting day at the office.
Here is how my day started yesterday ( 11-29-2007)
Got a call that 2 bull elk were locked up and one was dead the other still alive. The bulls were in a field about 15 miles Northeast of Monticello.
When I got there I actually found 2 bulls locked antlers. I thought this only happened in other areas… J. and I were going to tranquilize the bull and saw antlers. One problem… we did not have enough of the drugs to do a good job. So we walked out there and sawed the one point off of the dead bulls right antler and then we had to saw the main beam of the left antler to get the other bull free. The whale tail was over the bulls eyes, lodged between the eye guards. When we cut it free the bull stood there for awhile catching its breath with the piece of the antler still in it’s antlers. When it took off the piece of antler came out…
WOW! this was for sure one of the most memorable days. Enjoy the pics.
TJ Robertson
Conservation Officer
Moab District
State of Utah, Division of
Wildlife Resources
(435) 820-6015 Cell phone
tjrobertson@utah.gov
