**Attacked by a Blacktail Buck**

[buckee]

Re: **Attacked by a Blacktail Buck**

My buddies name is also Steve.

[Guest DesertTrophyHunts]

Re: **Attacked by a Blacktail Buck**

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There was nothing unethical about defending myself

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Buckee, you claim that you were defending yourself but you were antagonizing a wounded animal. Play with fire and your going to get burned.

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NO......he held his ground, head down, shaking his head and bobbing it up and down.

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At this point I should have walked away ...but no..I picked up a long stick and reached out and actually tried poking him with it. He just looked at me with fiery eyes and shook his head at the stick, like he was sparring with another buck.

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If a deer could talk he would have told you to get the heck away from him. You ask for me not to call you a city slicker but the analogy in the previou post was the only thing that I could think of that describes what I have read.

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No, the buck was never backed into a corner. He had lots of room to flee and a clear escape route.

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The fact that he was could not and would not flee due to a previous injury is the exact same as being backed up into a corner. Put yourself in the bucks position, he hurts, he cant use his god given safety mechanism and flee and there is a predator stalking him waving a stick in his face trying to poke him with it. You left this deer NO CHOICE whatsoever.

Buckee, please understand that I am not trying to be ugly. You have said many time that this is a family run website and I saw 40 some odd posts praising you for coming out of this OK, I have no idea how many of those replies were from kids just getting started in the sport. From the amount of positive, "you should publish that story" replies I am praying to God that they were all kids and not seasoned hunters.

Drummond

[buckee]

Re: **Attacked by a Blacktail Buck**

OK, I think you and I already established I was crazy last night drummond, so there's really no need to harp on that issue.

As far as this

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The fact that he was could not and would not flee due to a previous injury is the exact same as being backed up into a corner. Put yourself in the bucks position, he hurts, he cant use his god given safety mechanism and flee and there is a predator stalking him waving a stick in his face trying to poke him with it

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I have already stated that I thought the buck was rut crazed, rutted out, tired from love, etc, etc ...because I've seen it before. I had no idea of the deer's injuries until after the fact.

And the stick I was trying to poke at him with, I should have clearified, was a long dead branch laying on the ground, which he broke quite easily when I got it near him. I had already got him to run 100 yrds, I only had to get him to run another 60 or 80

I was still pretty excited when I wrote the story.

Anyway, I think we've established how crazy the whole scene was, and how brave/stupid I was, before you even made any comments on here.

Are you done yet, or do you want the last word??

[buckee]

Re: **Attacked by a Blacktail Buck**

Why do I feel like GW Bush all of a sudden ...LOL

(Hindsight is a wonderful thing, it's critic food)

[Buckslayer]

Re: **Attacked by a Blacktail Buck**

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Who said the mountain man spirit is dead and gone. Sounds to me like there was a revival happening when you brought out the steel and looked at that buck. LOL Awesome story there Buckee, glad you weren't hurt.

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I like the mountain man approach. You'll have a story and the pics to prove it, to share with generations to come!

My family still talks about one of my great uncles that killed a deer that got into a coal mine here in PA. He killed it with a 4x4 (not a truck)... a piece of wood to the head! It had been in the mine for a few days, was disoriented and crazed too.

[Guest DesertTrophyHunts]

Re: **Attacked by a Blacktail Buck**

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Anyway, I think we've established how crazy the whole scene was, and how brave/stupid I was,

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Please explain how any of that would make a person brave? Stupid decision I can understand but the use of the word 'brave" just boggles my mind. The scene was not crazy, your actions were crazy. Wounded animals and rut are not crazy things, they are 100% natural. Also, why would it matter if the deer was just rut crazed and not wounded? Regardless of what it was it should have been obvious that it was not in its right mind and should have been left alone.

I am not trying to get the "last word" as you claim, just trying to understand how you can justify this type of behavior as "brave".

Buckee, I am asking these questions because I want to understand this, not to get the last word. My arguement has been stated but if I have a question about something I am going to ask it. If you feel that I am trying to get the "last word" then you are sorely mistaken.

Saludos,

Drummond

[buckee]

Re: **Attacked by a Blacktail Buck**

Brave/stupid, stupid/brave .....everyone in his right mind knows there's a fine line between the two. I crossed it OK. We've established that fact.

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I really can't believe what's happening myself, but I was bound and determined to get this stupid critter moving toward my friend.

At this point I should have walked away ...but no

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There's your answer right there. I had set my mind to task. Stupid ? yes, but I had set it none the less. Have you ever been in a position Drummond where you set your mind on accomplishing something, and had it backfire on you ??

Have you ever admited to anyone how stupid you were only to have them rub it in your face ??

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just trying to understand how you can justify this type of behaviour as "brave".

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Show me where I justified this behaviour as brave. In every one of my responses I either used the term stupid/brave, brave/stupid. or stupid/dumb/brave.

Now your just mincing words with me Drummond. I joined the two words stupid and brave together for a reason man...the same reason your trying to impress on me now. What do I have to do or say here to please you. What's done is done. Would I want to do it again ...nope.

[LifeNRA]

Re: **Attacked by a Blacktail Buck**

Ok! Ill have the last word!

WORD!

[ilhunter1986]

Re: **Attacked by a Blacktail Buck**

is this story for real. i thought u cut the juggular. i dont see any cuts on the neck. just wondering if anybody else noticed that

[buckee]

Re: **Attacked by a Blacktail Buck**

The picture was taken from the clean side of the deer. I guess I should have taken a bloody one too eh ..LOL

The other side was cut,( blade deep till I hit bone), from up behind the ear, straight down.

Sorry, I didn't have time to reach underneath and cut the throat in the conventional way...

Hey if you don't believe the story, it's no great loss.

[BowJoe]

Re: **Attacked by a Blacktail Buck**

I think one of the points I was a little curious about was the whole harassment of game animals law that we have in Illinois. I don't know what the laws are in Canada so I won't speculate but down here if you touch, hit, yell, or make intentional contact with a regulated animal in any way other than legal hunting, that is considered harassment of a game animal. I was just wondering about it myself and about the placing of a tag in a situation such as this. Glad you are OK and thanks for explaining it to us. We have had a few incidents around Southern IL in the past and some of the people didn't come out quite as rosy as you did. Hey Buckee, have you ever heard of hunting Grizzly from a tree with a spear? All you do is jump down on a grizzly as he passes under your stand and pray for accuracy. I hear it's loads of fun because most of the loads happen in your pants.LOL You are a great contributor to this forum and I am sure DTH meant no harm. That's what we're here for is to answer questions and swap stories and advice. Good luck with the bears.

[Swamphunter]

Re: **Attacked by a Blacktail Buck**

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is this story for real. i thought u cut the juggular. i dont see any cuts on the neck. just wondering if anybody else noticed that

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Last I knew a whitetails neck had 2 sides to it....think before you type.

Awesome deal Buckee! Congrats to you....that is something your children and grandchildren can tell for years!

[muggs]

Re: **Attacked by a Blacktail Buck**

Hey Buckee,

Have you ever heard the song "Papa don't preach" by Madonna??

Anyways, I'll save the holier than thou act for that other guy, just glad your safe. And now that it's all said and done, I'm gonna have fun with it.

[VermontHunter]

Re: **Attacked by a Blacktail Buck**

All I have to say is that if there's one persons' integrity in here that I wouldn't even hesitate to question that would be buckee's....

Again on the other hand he could tell me the sky is falling and tommarrow I'll be a millionaire and I would believe him...

Seriously tho, if buckee says it happened that way, that's exactly how it happened....

[VTbowman]

Re: **Attacked by a Blacktail Buck**

I am just glad he decided to put his camo back on.

I dont think I could take seein' Buckee in a loin clothe.

Not so close to the holidays and all.

Wow what a story.

Glad your not hurt you dang fool.

LOL

[10acboy]

Re: **Attacked by a Blacktail Buck**

No way Buckee!! That is craziness right there. I would have filled my pants - that's for sure. Of course I don't think that I would have gotten within 7 feet from that deer. I'm glad that you didn't get hurt.

[Reloader]

Re: **Attacked by a Blacktail Buck**

I was on vacation when this was posted...and with everyone talking about it I finaly had to look it up to get the full story.

Buckee You are definitly nuts..but that is cool cause I passed nuts a while ago, though it has never come out in quite that manner for some reason.

Just for the record...Bravery is the preformance of a task in the face of your own fear. This deffinitly falls under that category once the fight started. The stupidity came first but once that buck lunged at you...the rest was Brave!

[buckee]

Re: **Attacked by a Blacktail Buck**

Yeah, well, I never have claimed to be the sharpest tool on the workbench

I wish I wasn't so excited still when I wrote the original story, because I kind of got the wrong message across to a few folks, by using the wrong descriptive terms like "throw at", "Poke" etc. and it gave the wrong picture of what actually went on.

I have since re-writen it, and have it framed in my trophy room, for my grandkids to read. It's a deer kill that I will not soon forget.

Last Day...Dec 10, 2005

ATTACKED BY A BLACKTAIL BUCK (Long story)

This is the hardest hunting story I will ever write. I am still in awe of what happened this morning, and I think my buddy ( Steve Macdonald) is still shaking his head too.

I was all tagged out for hunting on November 23, so all I've been doing is watching and waiting for my buddies to fill their tags since then. My other two buddies, Ken and Wilf have both filled their tags, but my buddy Steve M. from down Island still had a buck tag to fill and wanted to come up hunting today, Dec 10, last day of the season. I told him I would meet him there later in the morning and to get there early.

I got down there at just after 7:00am, still dark, ..saw that Steve's truck was there OK, and sat back in my truck, over-looking the fields, with my binos and thermos of coffee, to enjoy the show. I love just sitting there watching the deer cross, hoping they will go to where my buddy is sitting waiting.

It was about 5 minutes before legal shooting time when I saw 4 good size deer way down the field, headed toward the back-door, which would take them around my buddy, by about 150 yards ...dang !!

Oh how I wished we had the walky-talkys working. I could have told him to sneak out there and get ready ....but we didn't, so all I could do was watch. Those 4 deer got past him, without him even knowing they were there.

It was now legal shooting time as I could still see the first 4 deer make their way across the far field, already way past where my buddy was situated, and in a far field. As it got lighter (about 20 minutes after legal shooting time and getting nice and light now), I saw 4 more good size deer cutting around the same way as the first 4 deer...."DRATS"

About 8:30 I saw a doe cross over toward him, going right past the far end blind. But he needed a buck, so she was just morning entertainment.

In the meantime, all morning, so far, a fawn that had been laying out in the middle of the same field, that my buddy was set up in finally got up when it saw the doe coming across, and joined her as they both slowly browsed for a long time in the field.

At about 8:45 another fawn crossed over toward Steve. Looked like maybe a little nubber in my binos (not sure).

OK...it's 9:00am now, and nothing but that last little nubber, who I had been watching for about an hour.

I figured maybe Steve would be coming out soon, so I thought, since it was the last day and all, I'd go down and fold up my Pop-up blind and get it out of there for the season, while waiting for Steve. It was situated in plain sight of me, closer to the farm, but around the bush-line from where Steve was set up in the back field, so I wouldn't be bothering his hunt at all.

Down I went to retrieve my blind. As I am approaching the pop-up blind, I stopped along the bush edge at the main deer trail that comes out there. To my amazement, there, about 60 yards in the bush is a really nice buck looking at me. All I saw was his grey muzzle at first. It's standing between me and the fence-line of the back field, where Steve is located. I figured maybe I could do a little mini-drive and spook the buck over to my buddy. He would/should run out to the field and head straight down into Steve's sights, headed for the other bush.

[Note: It was legal for me to do a deer drive for my buddy, because I have a hunting license, but it wouldn't have been OK, if I had of been carrying a firearm or other weapon, because I had already used my deer tags up for the season. I do still possess a bear tag, which would have allowed me to be carrying a firearm, but I wasn't planning on doing a drive or hunting this day.

A folding buck-knife is not considered a weapon.]

NOWHERE IS WHERE THE STORY GETS WEIRD .. REALLY WEIRD.

I stepped into the bush, and the buck just stood there at 60 yards looking at me. I approached a bit closer (about 20 yrds) and he's still watching me. At this point I'm thinking, he must be tired from rutting and a bit rut struck, because he reminded me of a big ol' rutted out buck I had shot quite a few years ago. Rut struck...yeah, that's it.

Anyway, I started walking toward this buck again and he never budged. He's still standing there, still as can be, head down, staring at me as I closed the distance to 10 yards. I'm thinking, OK, this is getting a bit crazy. He must have had some night.

I looked around real quick at the forest floor and picked up a chunk of bark and tossed it towards him, thinking for sure he'd turn and bolt out toward Steve...but no, he just stomped the ground once, jerked his head toward where the bark landed and held his ground.

Now, I'm starting to get a bit nervous, but being the last day of the season, I was determined to get this buck moving for my friend, in spite of his bad mood. So, I climbed under a branch to my left, to get at a better angle between me, him and the back fence, figuring he would surely take off in that direction, whenever he decided to go. I picked up a dead stick and tossed it his way, just missing him, but he never budged. He just watched it go by. I looked around for something else and grabbed another chunk of rotton bark, tossed it...BINGO...hit him in the head-gear and off he went running....whew, that was a relief.

Instead of heading for the field like I thought he would, he ran down along the fence, just inside the bush-line, but headed in the right direction, to where my buddy Steve sat.

I thought "Great... Steve's going to get this dumb, rut-crazed brute afterall".

BUT NO..he turned and headed left, instead of right to the field.

WOOPS...I took off running left myself, to cut him off and try to turn him back toward the field. But instead, he stopped, in a little swampy spot, beside a big old fallen tree.

He covered a good 100 yrds with that run. Another 30 yards out to the field edge and another 50 yrds to the left and he'd be right in Steve's lap.

I thought if I could just get on the other side of him, he'd have no-where to go, out toward the field where Steve was.

I managed to get around at a good angle between me, him and the field, He just stood there watching me from that little wet, swampy spot. I closed the distance, hoping and expecting he would bolt for the back field any second now. NO......he just held his ground, head down, shaking his head a bit and bobbing it up and down, watching my every move.

I am starting to get a bit scared and nervous again about this time.

I might be dumb, but I'm not stupid, so I took out my folding buck-knife, took off one glove, so I could grip it well, and walked a little closer.

Now at this point, I probably should have said.."OK, you stubborn animal, you won...seeya later", but, since he had already ran 100 yards, I saw no reason why he wouldn't run another 100 yards. I had made up my mind, to get this buck moving again, since my buddy Steve was now, less than 100 yrds away.

I slowly eazed in closer to him. There was a small bent over tree between him and I now, a very large fallen tree on the other side of him, and lots of room for him to take off out toward the field behind him.

I'm now at about 10 ft from him, nervous as heck mind you, but determined to get him to run. I can't understand why he's being so difficult now after that good 100 yrd run he had. I was finding it hard to believe what was happening myself, but my mind was made up, I was caught up in the excitement of it all, and I was bound and determined to get this stupid critter moving toward my friend, so he could fill his last tag with a very nice buck.

I glanced around quick and picked up a long "dead" branch beside me. I reached out with it slowly and actually tried touching his antlers with it. I figured for sure this would get him moving quickly. He just looked at me with fiery eyes and shook his head at the stick, like he was sparring with another buck. The branch broke off right away because it was so rotten. So much for that.

That's when I lost my patience, with this deer. I stepped over the small tree between me and him. He is at about 7 ft now, with nothing between me and him....unnerving to say the least.

I have my glove hand out, (just in case) hoping he would't do anything "I" might be sorry for, and my Knife clutched in my other hand. I stomped my feet real hard on the ground to get him to move, and said "GIT...GIT", but instead of getting, ............HE CAME AT ME!!!

I grabbed him by his right antler with my gloved hand first, to direct his blow on my upper thigh, and keep his tines from my leg, and then grabbed the other antler, while still clutching the knife.

OK, now, I'm real scared and have a sickening feeling in my stomach. He's pushing for all he's worth, I'm holding on with both hands. I pulled him into me instead of trying to push him away, so he wouldn't have free reign......now what. He's not flailing his head around at all, but pulling a bit and pushing, for all he's worth.

I knew what I had to do. There was no question about it now. I let go with my knife hand quickly, stuck him in the neck, and sliced straight down, as quick as I could. Then it was back holding the antlers again, all in a quick motion. Still struggle to hold my ground, I can see that I cut the jugular because he's spewing like a tap. We stand there together, him trying to push me over or pull away, and me holding him against my thigh for what seemed like 5 minutes. He is finally getting weaker, (so am I) but he won't go down.

There was no way I was going to release him yet, because he would then have free reign of the situation.

The sickening fear is leaving me now, because I can feel him getting weaker, so I let go again with my knife hand, reached forward quickly, and plunged it behind his front leg, aiming for the heart and lungs.

He lunged forward again and starts pushing me ...we back up a bit.

We are only about 30 yards from the back field, so I figured, I'll just hold on tight and walk slowly backward toward the field as he pushes. It didn't take long before we both emerged into the back field...me walking out backwards, holding this buck by the antlers, with him pushing me.

I glanced over toward the corner of the field, (about 70 yards away) to see my buddy Steve still sitting there, ...with his jaw in his lap...

It didn't take him long though, to be up and running over toward me.

The buck was getting pretty weak now...finally...so I let go again and gave it another stab in the vitals. It probably wasn't necessary, but I really did want to let go and take a break. 52 is kind of old for crap like this.

As Steve ran up to me, I gave the deer's head a twist, and down he went like a calf at a rodeo. I held him there for a minute, because he was trying to get up. My buddy wasn't saying anything at all. I think he was, what you call, speachless... (I don't blame him, because I wasn't saying anything either.) He finally said, "should I finish him off ?" and I kinda laughed and said "I don't think it's necessary Steve"

I finally let go, and the buck stayed down...........WHEW..WHAT A RELIEF THAT WAS !

Then the whole crazy situation hit us, and we both burst out laughing (mostly out of relief and nervousness mind you)

My biggest, and I mean my biggest regret, was not remembering I had a camera in my pocket. I should have gotten Steve to wrestle it out of my pocket quickly and get a picture of me and the buck while I still had him, by the antlers, on his feet. That would have been one for the scrap book for sure.

NOTE - Upon gutting the deer, it became evident of what was really wrong with this buck. He wasn't rut crazed at all...but, he had been gored by another buck, a few days earlier. At first we thought he might have been gut shot, but the evidence on the hide after skinning, told a different story, Poor ol' fella was't about to go running around chasing does, that's for sure. Thank God that buck was as weak as he was, because I had a hard time wrestling with him, even in the condition he was in.

If he had of been a day healthier, he would have high-tailed it over to Steve who would have gladly put him out of his misery.

The entire deer was turned over to my buddy Steve, who legally tagged it.

I still don't believe it, but I guess it's a great testiment for Buck-Knives...

I'm sure glad these Blacktails, are a rather small deer compared to a Whitetail or Mulie. I know I would'nt have been as this persistant and daring, with a buck that outweighed me and towered over me.

Steve

[Slash]

I'm still shaking my head guys...this stuff isn't supposed to happen. I'll have a hard time out-doing myself on this one...LOL

It will be a story we'll be talking about for a while...that's for sure.

You got that right! Here we are 4 years later and I just read the story for the first time. That's amazing Buckee, I heard rumors but I never got to read it for myself. Glad it turned out ok for you and you were smart enough to act fast when he came at you.

[bloodtrails]

:clap::clap:

[wtnhunt]

You got that right! Here we are 4 years later and I just read the story for the first time. That's amazing Buckee, I heard rumors but I never got to read it for myself. Glad it turned out ok for you and you were smart enough to act fast when he came at you.

Interesting post to bring back. This post/story actually crossed my mind earlier this season while I was standing at a camera at our mineral site. Had a little buck come up the hill right at me. He never knew I was there and went around the other side of the tree back behind me and then a doe came up the hill.

[rad_112176]

Thanks for bringing this back to live. I have heard the story partially over the years but never did go back and read the original post. It was great to read. 4 more years to that age now buckee. You might want to only be picking fights with those nubbin heads now..... I think you could still take one of them. LOL.....

[Muleyman]

:jaw:That was one INTENSE story. That got my heart pumpin, I couldn't imagine yours. Thank god you had that knife!!!

[buckee]

I just hope it never ever happens again ...LOL

I'm just glad I always keep my knives sharp.

[strutstopper]

Thats crazy Steve!!!