Deer fight?

[PinesExplr]

Trying to determine what the deer behavior was that awoke me at 2am this morning.

I heard a loud cracking & hoofing sound from my 2nd floor bedroom window - beautiful night with plenty of moonlight and dead quiet until the ruckus. There in my front yard were two big bucks doing the wild kingdom ram fight, pretty aggressively. It sounded like a sword fight with wiffle ball bats - lasted about two minutes, then they were spooked away.

Although we see a lot of deer, rarely a big buck and never more than one at a time. Would that have been competition for mating or defense of grazing territory?

 

[MartGBC]

Mating most likely however this is very early for the rut.

 

[kingofthepines]

Usually you will hear more snorting and whistling than antlers crashing. Fights rarely last more than a few minutes however equal combatants will return to the pit several times if necessary. It is very early for this behavior, it is technically still summer and antlers are still a bit soft. The rut is not for another month or so.

 

[PINEY MIKE]

Mating most likely however this is very early for the rut.

I caught some serious rutting two weeks ago back in Greenwood at around sundown. The first clank scared the crap out of me, as it was about 20 yds from me, very loud, and getting dark. It was pretty dam cool though. Doubt there was a doe around, this early activity is sometimes just warming up for the real stuff.

 

[PinesExplr]

again

same thing again last night around 4:00am -- same exact spot. On and off for about 20 minutes & there appeared to be another adult mulling around the action. I half expected to see a injured deer laying there at sunrise -- pretty violent stuff.

 

[Teegate]

same thing again last night around 4:00am -- same exact spot. On and off for about 20 minutes & there appeared to be another adult mulling around the action. I half expected to see a injured deer laying there at sunrise -- pretty violent stuff.

Video!


Guy

 

[PinesExplr]

I have an old leaf river cam, works in the dark for stills - but never could get the video to work. I'll see if I can get it to work......we'll see.