It’s not unheard of to find two mature whitetail bucks interlocked together with their antlers. Unable to free themselves after a brutal battle, they end up taking their last breaths locked together.
For the hunter or farmer that finds these bucks, it is a sad moment. Thoughts of the food they could provide for families, the thrill of being able to harvest one with a gun or bow, and the memories that would be gained… they’re all gone. What a waste, but it is nature taking its course. What’s even worse is when three mature bucks fight to the death. It’s something rarely seen before, if ever.
Photographer Steven Hill has put together a photo gallery for Field & Stream showing the three mature whitetail bucks, their death, and how they will be remembered.
Forester Jason Good was surveying timber in Meigs County, Ohio, on November 12 when he stumbled upon a bizarre sight that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up: In a waist-deep pool of Leading Creek, nose-to-nose like fish on a stringer, floated three whitetail deer.
The experienced woodsman needed a few minutes to puzzle out exactly what he was seeing—a trio of mature bucks that had locked horns in a battle to the death, illustrating, in the starkest terms, the potential ferocity and brutality of the whitetail rut.
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Photo: Steven Hill
