Deer loses head-butt with lawn ornament
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.
Nov 11, 2009 at 12:20 a.m.
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Reminds me of those long nights after bar time, when I was a younger man. Strolling through the streets in a stooper, picking fights with every lawn jockey and garden nome that looked at me funny.
Nov 10, 2009 at 11:13 p.m.
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The Brye's home insurer just paid their claim for a buck's worth of damage to the statue.
In previous years, deer that attacked the statue used to stagger onto their neighbors properties before collapsing. One neighbor lamented that a buck just doesn't seem to go as far these days as it used to.
Nov 10, 2009 at 9:55 p.m.
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He was really running from the Cullens.
Nov 10, 2009 at 7:47 p.m.
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Put some doe scent on the elk and maybe he will get a different result. ;)
Easy way to hunt. Put up a concrete buck in your yard. Why didn't I think of that?!
Nov 10, 2009 at 7:31 p.m.
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NVgrf....What makes you think he had the tag prior to the buck's death? The article just says "a tag was obtained from the warden" who wrote "fight with lawn ornament...lost."
Nov 10, 2009 at 6:31 p.m.
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Hmmmm....Quite lucky to have a tag available. I am sure that 30-30 round prior to the head butt slowed the buck down a bit too.
Nov 10, 2009 at 6:01 p.m.
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ouch that had to of hurt! Poor elk statue just standing in his yard mining his own business and WHAM...the buck got what he deserved LOL.
Nov 10, 2009 at 5:18 p.m.
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I guess the concrete elk gets the does.
Nov 10, 2009 at 3:56 p.m.
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or thompson
Nov 10, 2009 at 3:52 p.m.
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Name that unlucky buck; "Mike McCarthy"!
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