Deer hunters typically think that it’s pretty cool to see a couple of whitetail bucks fighting during the breeding season, but not when the fight causes one or both of them to end up dead. The photos today show fighting buck with locked antlers, but there are not just two bucks locked together today — there are three! These pictures were taken by some saddened Ohio hunter that found these giant whitetail bucks dead on his property.
When bucks who have not established an order of dominance meet in the fall, visual cues often occur that result in dominance being established by the big buck. The meeting is usually initiated by one of the bucks initiating an aggressive posture toward the other, which is characterized by laying back the ears, erecting hair, and lowering the head. Though many meetings between bucks result in little to no contact, a fight can break out if the threatened buck also assumes a similar “bring-it-on” posture. Though most skirmishes end rather quickly, bucks can fight to the death.
In the case of these three Ohio bucks, the whole event can be chalked literally chalked up to a freak accident in nature. With two bucks already fighting for dominance, I don’t understand why the third did not go after the doe. One of these bucks was a 130″ class, one was a 140″, and the biggest was about 170″. I have a feeling the two smaller bucks both had it bad for the bigger buck and thought they could tag-team him. Turned out they were right/wrong. I suspect whitetail hunting on the property is not quite a good as it was a few days ago.