2/17/2005: Live deer and dead deer lock horns
 

http://cellar.org/2004/pic01394.jpg

Wuh-oh. xoxoxoBruce sends along a crazy series here: a live deer and a dead deer with locked horns in Oregon. They shot the horn off the dead deer with a pistol to free the live one.The live one continued to fight with the dead one and charged the truck! This happened over the 2004 Thanksgiving weekend.

http://cellar.org/2004/pic00782.jpg

Um...yuck?

There's something really off about that. A deer is not going to start doing the dominance thing with a dead deer. On top of that, it is really really rare for antlers to get locked up so badly the deer cannot disengage. I have a feeling this pair was seen by hunters who plugged one of them. As the animal fell, or twisted, or jumped, the antlers became locked.

By the way, I am not saying the hunters did anything wrong, if that's indeed what happened. I myself used to hunt, and I probably would have taken one too :)

Hmmm. A couple observations. I went to Oregon State, and the soil in parts of the Coast Range there is almost unique- it's an odd type of clay, and the soil in the photos has that look to it. But it's awfully dry for Thanksgiving. And something that contradicts my hunter theory- the guy in the photo does not look like he's dressed for deer season. Just tack it up on the "Life's Little Mysteries" bulletin board, I guess.

Hunter theory
 

I kind of buy the hunter theory. Just because the guy wasn't dressed for hunting season doesn't mean there wasn't someone out there with a gun.. hunting outside of hunting season. Perhaps the blue shirt guy was already nearby and the hunter freaked out when they realized they might get caught.

Furthermore, deer get the urge to lock horns during mating season most commonly. I would expect hunting season to be timed not to coincide with mating season, which leads me to believe in the "freak out" theory.

What a live deer does with a dead one is odd, but it has nothing on a live versus dead mallard.

To truly appreciate this, you have to read the full study in PDF form.

That dead deer has been dead for at least a day, I'd guess. notice all the hair sloughing off in the road.

The live one is looking kinda fluffy himself, and doesn't have the patches of hair worn off, indicating a late fall timeframe - pre-rut, but just starting to feel feisty. Also, notice the dead underbrush, but the kind of tacky mud texture of the dirt. Like it was a dry season, but had rained in the last week or so. What was the weather like in Oregon this year?

Oregon's hunting season starts as early as August 10 for archery, with concurrent rifle hunting going on in certain areas. It runs off and on through December, so there's plenty of legal hunting time this could've happened in.

There's also the option that the deer broke its neck during the fight. Mule deer have something like a 10% serious injury/death rate in males solely from fighting.

Deer get hornlocked in combat. The one could have died in the course of being locked up with the other.

I knew a guy who found interlocked, dead deer skulls while hunting one year. I even heard tell once of a deer who was seen wandering around with another deer's rack entangled in his own, sans his opposite deer.

Oh man. Ducks are nasty little fuckers. :dead:

wow. i was thinking today was friday. my first thought was that THIS IS NOT A HAPPY ANIMAL PICTURE! for just a second i thought Tony had gone off the deep end. then i realized i was on the wrong day again. :o

That's not actually a dead moose. It's the Berkowitzs :D

I've seen dozens of sets of locked antlers (sans animals) in stores, museums and tourist-ty places. It's the sort of thing that when you run across one in the woods, you just can't Leave it there.
Warm dry weather in the northwest this year. The ski resorts have shut down. Even southern Alaska has been up near freezing much of this year. :sweat:

Polar, that went right over my head???

Woody Allen's Dead Moose sketch. It's on Snopes here if you scroll down :)

Being a comedy fan, a stand-up fan, a vintage comedy fan, a vintage stand-up fan, who owns the Woody Allen double album (on vinyl!) stand-up routine which contains that bit and who has played it on the radio, I did not remember the reference and thereby pronounce it Extremely Obscure™.

Somehow I think I'd have more then a shovel if I was that close!

Oh, thoooose Berkowitzs. ;)
Thanks polar, that's a great routine.