By Craig Nyhus, Lone Star Outdoor News
Wade Montgomery came across two bucks locked up on a ranch near Albany, and used his rifle to free the buck still living.
“We have a few oil leases on a ranch I take care of,” he said. “A pumper headed out to check his lease and drove up on two deer locked up near the entrance of ranch and called me.”
When Montgomery pulled up, he immediately recognized one of the bucks as one they had been watching for years.
“I had been looking for him for a few weeks,” he said. “He is 4 years old and scores around 155 — we plan to let him grow another year.”
The other deer, one Montgomery didn’t recognize, was already dead.
“Coyotes had eaten his back end,” he said. “He also was a 4-year-old. The living deer was pretty worn-out and docile.”
Montgomery knew the ranch owner had a similar situation more than a decade ago, and his foreman shot the antlers, and both deer made it.
“I had seen other people saw the antlers off, but I was worried about how worn-out the buck was,” he said. “So I carefully walked up to him and took a few different shots.”
His first two shots, taken with a 6mm Creedmore, only poked holes in the dead buck’s antlers.
“I got my .257 Weatherby, it has a little more power,” he said. “I shot and shattered the main beams where the bucks were locked. I got lucky, I broke the main beam on the dead deer and didn’t hit the antlers of the other deer.”
Once freed, the living buck was shaken but ran off.
“I think he’ll probably be all right,” Montgomery said. “I hope so. I would like to see him next year in all his glory. It makes you wonder how often this happens.”
Montgomery said fighting between bucks seems at least two weeks ahead of schedule this year; and he’s noticed something else — an abundance of bro- ken antlers.
“I’ve been seeing a lot of bucks fight- ing,” he said. “I run 15 cameras on the ranch, and we have deer busted up from one end of the ranch to the other.”
Montgomery can explain the fighting, as temperatures dropped into the 20s recently on the ranch. But he’s at a loss to explain the broken antlers.
“We were so wet for so long — from October until June — that something went on,” he said. “The antlers are weak.
“But I was glad we could save this deer.”
Shadd Reed had a similar occurrence involving two mature bucks in Maverick County.
“We just found the deer,” he said. “It was odd this time of year to have deer locked up like that. We saw the deer come across the road, the one deer was dead and his hind quarters were missing. The other deer was dragging him.” Reed and his coworker used rodeo skills to free the buck.
“We caught the deer and tied his head to a tree,” he said. “We roped his back legs and sawed the antlers off of the dead deer.”
Reed said the dead deer was 5 years old, with about 140 inches of antler, while the live deer was 6 years old, likely scoring in the 150s.
“I’ve never seen deer fighting this early,” especially mature deer,” he said. “We’ve also seen a lot of broken antlers. It’s not uncommon, but it’s uncommon in October.”
Across the state, hunter reports varied from seeing lots of movement and hear- ing plenty of shots to a quiet weekend. In Erath County, Erathkid reported plenty of movement on the Texas Hunting Forum, but the bucks were cruising and skittish, offering little time for a shot. An Eastland County hunter reported a quiet opener, with only one shot heard in the distance.
On the RRR Ranch in Mills County, Dori Blesh broke the ranch record with her 20-point buck that measured 206 inches.
Meat processors saw plenty of deer coming to their docks. Rhodes Brothers Taxidermy and Game Processing in Kerrville reported its cooler was getting full and the deer looked in great shape, while a line down the block formed at Dallas’ Kuby’s Wild Game Processing.
