Posted on 11/10/2009 12:11:52 PM PST by llevrok
This 640-pound concrete elk statue lies on its side in the backyard of Mark and Carol Brye’s home in rural Viroqua. The dead buck lies about 20 feet away.
A love-struck buck ran out of luck a week ago. The seven-point buck was killed when it rammed a 640-pound concrete statue of an elk in the backyard of Mark and Carol Brye's home in rural Viroqua.
Bucks often fight during the breeding season, commonly called the rut. Dominant bucks defend breeding territories and female deer by sparring with subordinate bucks. Antler battles sometimes result in the death of one or both deer, but usually end with the biggest buck winning and the smaller buck high-tailing it out to another area.
Mark Brye, who owns Brye Plumbing in Viroqua, was still laughing about the suicidal buck he found near his elk statue last week.
Brye said his morning ritual is to rise early and look out at the life-like statue about 40 yards from his home.
"Our son and daughter gave it to us for Christmas four years ago because we like to hunt elk," Brye said. "The elk is a nice thing to see every morning. It looks pretty cool, especially on a foggy morning."
Brye said he knew exactly what happened when he saw the statue tipped over. Although they were about the same height, the statue weighed at least three times more than the 180-pound deer.
He didn't realize the buck lay dead a short distance away.
"I could tell the buck poked the statue a couple of times by the chipped paint on it," Brye said, adding that the buck eventually rammed it like a mountain goat.
The buck apparently staggered about 20 feet and fell.
Brye claimed the buck with a tag from the Vernon County conservation warden. He laughed at the warden's tag note: "lawn ornament fight - lost."
Brye said the deer shattered its skull. The antlers were still on its head but were dangling.
"The statue is OK, but the antlers broke off when it tipped over," Brye said. "One side of the antlers is in one piece, but the other side is in five pieces."
Brye, 58, is considering removing the antlers from the unlucky buck and gluing them on the elk statue as a remembrance of the strange but true story.
The deer is butchered and in Brye's freezer. The elk remains on its side.
"I can't tip it back up until I get a whole bunch of guys to help me," he said.
Darwin Award?...............
If the critter was dumb enough to do this, it deserves to be jerky.
Deerwin award ; )
I would say the rut is in full-swing in Wisconsin.
A buck short.
If deer could be counted on to reliably smash into concrete elks, it would revolutionize the world of deer hunting ...
LOL! Good one!..............
It’s no wonder the go owner didn’t get arrested for “baiting” deer in season.
It is Wisconsin.
Never bring antlers to a lawn ornament fight.
We should all set up statues of Ronald Reagan in our backyards. Bet we could bag a dumb lib or two from the lamestream media.
There ae several "parks" around the midwest where deer hunting is not allowed. Several years ago as the deer were starving due to overpopulation in Browncounty State Park here in IN, they decided to "thin the herd." The deer had began to feed during the day and people were feeding them. The deer would walk right up to folks. When they selected the hunters to kill the deer the joke was that hunters could only use apples and hammers. One hunter suggested the guns might be needed for self defense if they didn't take apples.
Now if we set up the Travelocity Garden Gnomes in San Francisco... oh, nevermind.
....Oh yea. And in regards to my last post, guess what other creature has become a nuisance as a result of the out of control deer population in some parts?
Coyote!
I had to email this to the hunters in my family, who sit outside and freeze their butts off for days on end. Maybe they should just invest in a few of these things. Saves them from getting sick..plus saves the cost of bullets.
When lawn ornaments are banned only..ummm ... I got nothin’
“Never bring antlers to a lawn ornament fight.”
But they both had antlers.
Never butt heads with someone whose head is made of concrete.
Now that’s real comedy, right there.
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