Mule deer battle to the death

Yesterday after MuleyMadness posted the pictures of the two bull elk fighting to the death that Chet sent I forwarded them to a friend of mine. Today he sent me these 6 pics of two mule deer bucks.
From the word I got, the fella in the pics came across these two bucks while out trying to fill a doe tag. They were locked together and one was already dead. After trying to seperate them using a shovel to no avail he went back to his truck, got his pistol, and shot part of the dead buck's antlers off and freed the bigger buck.
the real kicker is, after the fight to the death, the interference by humans, and the pistol shots, the living buck was still so pumped up he continued to attack the dead buck after he was freed. (You can see where the antler was shot off on the dead buck in the second to last pic. He's missing the front forks on his right side)
I guess these pics have been around before so some of you may have already seen them.
7,739
AGCHAWK
Here's the last three:
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bigbuck92
wow. thanks for posting those pics hawk. to bad though that was a nice buck
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MuleyMadness
Yes I have seen them, but never get tired of seeing them again. TWO awesome bucks, at least one of them made it out.

Very cool pictures, very rare to stumble upon something like this.

Thanks for posting them up.
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AGCHAWK
LOL...no sooner did I post this when I also got this article.

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A fight to the death claims the life of two buck deer

Two mature bucks lie dead after a fatal fight.

Photo by Sergeant Edward Meyers & A J Rogers, ranch foreman
Apparently, last Saturday, two mature mule deer bucks clashed in a fatal fight for breeding rights at the Nash Wash WMA in the South Book Cliffs.

One buck with a 27-inch-wide, 3 x 4 rack was examined by Sergeant Meyers and was found to have suffered two broken legs as well as numerous puncture wounds.

The second buck, a 24-inch 4 x 4, exhibited numerous scrapes and a fatal puncture wound to the throat.

Although competition for breeding rights is common among most animals, fights don't usually end in the death of one or both combatants. Nonetheless, many adolescent and adult males bear scars and injuries from such encounters.
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MuleyMadness
Wow, CRUD I guess this is common. :)

Man that is nuts! Another sad saga.

Thanks for posting! :thumb
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bigbuck92
yep another bad ending. that dont look like the books to me but ive never been to far south
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Default Avatar
The Buck in the last pic of the first group is a TOAD!
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Hiker
Great photos! Thanks. Sad but not at all uncommon with Muleys. When full rut kicks in, sometimes they will go out of their mind. I was snorting and messing with some does one year and I had a buck come over to challenge me, he wanted to kick my butt. I also had a friend who was bow hunting them during the rut and after blowing his grunt call, really slowly for over 20 minutes or so, the buck finally got sick of him and came after him. He knocked a arrow and got ready, this buck kept coming right at him, he shoots and made a solid hit and the buck kept coming at him, he knocks another arrow and hits it again. It finally goes off and dies. He told me later, that was more or less a self defense kill.
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killerbee
i dont know for sure if its true but when i got the pics from the first group the email said they were from sisters oregon- thats just 25 miles from where i live and it does look like the same type of country. but you all know how internet rumers go. you never know if its true.
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HUNTIN FOR LIFE
i would shir like to see that buck that lived the fight on the deer hunt that is a great buck.
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AGCHAWK
Killerbee, you might be right. I wasn't told where this took place but it does look like the sisters a bit. Of course, I've only been there a handful of times myself.
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Torch
Wowzers....great pics Hawk! Those are a few I haven't seen before. My grandpa found a couple of bucks locked up in the early 60's in Idaho. One of the bucks was dead and they had to pull a truck onto it, so they could cut the horns and free the live buck. They were some great bucks! He has the old black and white photos hanging in his cabin.
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killerbee
i'd like to see them old black and whites!!!
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kadejones2
i heard two elk do that here near the nevada orgon border. it sucks that one of them had to die thought he didnt look to bad
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Default Avatar
WOW I got to see a couple of big muleys go at it the day before rifle season but never seen anything like this.those are some awesome pics!!!
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Default Avatar
have not heard too much of this happening with mule deer , but i guess it happens more often than you would think it does . too bad , those were some nice sized bucks .
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Torch
killerbee: I have one of the pictures posted on the neverenough biggame website. I can't post it on here, because I'm letting Paul use the pictures for his next video.

Brett,
I hope you don't mind me putting that on here with the support of shown for this website. I'm not getting anything for the pics, he is just a good friend of mine.
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Torch
I changed my mind. He has the other pictures to use in his video.

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c236/scmcdougal/grandpa2.jpg" alt="" />
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MuleyMadness
Torch

WOW! Awesome picture!! :thumb

that is a rare keepsake for sure, thanks for posting it up.

Look forward to seeing the rest/more on his video.

Thanks
Brett
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Hiker
Thanks, Torch! :thumb
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