Dangling dilemma

Here's a good look at the dilemma that Bash is in these days. Usually we see a buck with velvet one day, then a few strands, then the velvet is gone. Bash must have started thrashing off his velvet too soon as it came off in pieces that have been dangling from his antler beams for several days. Hopefully he will be shred-free by the end of the weekend as he certainly is anything but comfortable.

Perfect resolution

Broken piece from left antler

KoKo

This photo (taken August 23, 2009) shows KoKo doing quite well, still with shreds of velvet at the base of his antlers. If you look closely, you'll see that his left antler is missing its tip. During the combined efforts of Allan and KoKo to escape from the fence, the "hook" must have been weakened. Yesterday morning, Allan found it in the place where KoKo likes to chill out. Here's a photo of that piece, too.

We had been considering ways to try to cut off the "hook" so that KoKo couldn't hook himself on to anything, but once again, nature takes care.

Close Encounter

Yesterday afternoon, Allan and I decided to take a walk inside the enclosure for no particular reason (or so we thought).

In the morning, Allan had noticed that Murph had lost most of his velvet and we wondered if there were others in the same state. From observation in the years past, all the bucks seem to lose their velvet within one week towards the end of August.

We came upon KoKo behaving oddly near the fence in the east marsh area and quickly realized that one of his oddly curved spellers (points) of his antler was caught on the fence. He was twisting and bucking in all directions and could not get loose. The curved point had effectively become a hook.

The possibility that he might break his neck occurred to both of us. A buck at the Scotland Road farm had been found dead after having caught his antler in fencing, but we had never seen our bucks engage with the fencing at the Florida site other than to stick their noses through for apples when visitors come.

Allan came to KoKo's rescue by quickly getting outside the fence, waiting for a moment when KoKo stopped fighting/twisting, and then pulling the antler "hook" through the fence, then down, then pushing it away. KoKo ran off and we left him to calm down. The area near the fence where he was caught was beaten down from grass to mud. It was obvious that KoKo had been attached to the fence for some time.

This morning Allan saw the buck being somewhat shy and standoffish, but alive and well.

Lessons for KoKo: Adapt to the shape of this year's antlers and avoid any close encounters with the fence.

Lessons for Deer keepers: During the period when the bucks shed velvet from their antlers, increase number of daily fence-line inspections. Always take gloves and wire cutters. Be aware of and respond to subtle messages, quietly transmitted. They may have a purpose.