Lady And The Mule Deer Buck

“He’s trying to kill her!” Vince yelled. The wind was blowing really hard even for Kansas and his shout was just an unintelligible sound to me but it got my attention.

Vince Dye and Dolly

Vince Dye and I were hunting walk-in properties in the Greensburg, Kansas area on the opening weekend of the 2012-2013 quail and pheasant season. On opening day we had not been very successful. The wind was 30 plus miles per hour from the south, with a temperature above 80 degrees according to the thermometer on my truck. When we walked south we had to lean into wind to make any progress.

Opening morning started off too warm and got hotter. The first place we hunted we only saw 3 quail, without getting a shot, and no pheasant. By 11:00 am it was too hot to hunt so we drove around checking out some of the walk-in properties.

Late that afternoon we decided to let the dogs out since they had been in the box for a while. I had 3 English setters with me and Vince had Roxey his German short haired pointer. I turned out my 2 males Lucky and Luke. I left Lady in the box because at 13 1/2 she had earned more rest. Vince started on the south east corner and I started at the north east corner. We both were hunting to the south west corner where we thought we might trap a pheasant.

As I got close to the south west corner filled with plum thickets and tall weeds I saw Vince coming over the hill from the east. Between us a hen got up, then a couple of roosters. But like everything that day they were too far to shoot at.

A few minutes later I heard Vince shoot. He had walked into a covey of quail. One quail came within about 40 yards and I shot but thought I had missed. I watched to see where it would land. It started to fly straight up, then it dropped about 75 yards from me. I tried to mark the spot.

After getting all of the dogs in to hunt dead Lucky finally pointed. The bird was sitting there, wounded but still alive, just in front of his nose. As hot, dry and windy as it was we were lucky, Lucky could find it.

On the way back to the truck Roxey pointed some singles. Three birds got up and flew where Vince couldn’t get a shot. One came my way and I got it.

It was getting late when we got back to the truck. As we were feeding our dogs it started thundering. Before we finished it started raining. It started getting cooler immediately. We were thinking tomorrow will be cooler and wet. It will be a better day.

The next morning when we got where we were going to hunt the truck had ice on the sides from the puddles in the road. That’s more like bird hunting weather. The wind was still blowing but now it’s about 30+ miles per hour out of the north with a temperature in the twenties.

Even with the rain the night before it was still dry for the dogs. We turned out all 4 dogs. We were both carrying water for the dogs as well as getting them into any available ponds or puddles.

I saw Roxey on point and I was closer than Vince so I waited for Vince. Luke saw Roxey and honored. I was still about 40 yards from Roxey and Vince about 75 yards when the covey lifted. Neither Roxey or Luke had moved.

We followed in the direction the covey had flown although we had not seen them go down. A single flushed right in front of me and I knocked it down. Lady retrieved it to hand and waited for the head. We’ve been through this ritual a lot of times in her 13+ years. (As she got older it became a fee she charged for her presence. Even if another dog retrieved the bird she wanted the head. And she usually got it.)

Lucky pointed and two birds flushed and Vince got one and I got the other. Lucky retrieved mine and Roxey got Vince’s.

We found a pond. All of the dogs came in for water. Vince and I were taking a break to let the dogs cool down and rehydrate when I noticed Lucky was gone. I checked my Garmin GPS and it showed him on point about 150 yards away. We found him in a little ditch with brush growing in it. Vince went down one side and I took the other. Vince saw a large covey running on the ground. They finally flushed and he made good on the one shot he had. I never saw a bird.

As we were searching for the singles 2 hunters and 4 dogs came over the hill headed for the pond. (This does not happen often on walk-in but this was a big farm and these two guys came in from the opposite side.) We pulled our dogs out of the way so we wouldn’t get into a dog fight or have one of our dogs follow them. We heard them shoot so they found some singles.

Those 2 hunters went north west so we went north east. We had not gone very far when Vince noticed Lady raise her head and spin around. As she headed directly into the wind a huge mule deer buck that was bedded down jumped up right beside her. He just lowered his head and slammed her to the ground.

That’s when Vince yelled, “he’s trying to kill her!” When I looked the deer was literally vertical with his rear end up, his front legs against his chest and his rear legs straight up, using all of his weight to grind Lady into the ground. At the time I looked the only thing the deer had touching the ground was his antlers.

Lady’s neck wound

Lady’s wounds

Lady’s wounds

Lady pointing Wendy backing on a better day

Vince started running toward them. He was between me and them. I was moving forward trying to get Vince out of line so I could shoot the deer.

When the deer stood up Lady was impaled on his antlers. The excitement caused the other dogs to run toward the deer. As one of the other dogs got close the buck lowered his head to attack and Lady slid off his antlers. When she came off the deer started moving away with one of the dogs following. He left but he was not running real fast. It was like he knew he was the toughest thing out there. (As a firefighter for almost 30 years I saw the aftermath of some vicious things. This was the most vicious thing I have ever witnessed.)

When we checked Lady we saw a deep puncture wound in her left hip and one just behind her ribs. She was not bleeding at all. It was less painful for her to walk than be carried.

We were about 3/4 mile from the truck. Lady followed right behind me. As we walked along a couple of times she passed me and acted as if she was going to go hunting. She would get about 30 yards ahead of me, then she would come in and follow. She walked all of the way to the truck.

When I picked her up, to put her on the tail gate, she yelped. I had some anti-bacterial wash, so I cleaned both wounds, the puncture in the hip and the one near the ribs. Again we checked her for other wounds and found none. She still had bled very little.

When we got her to the vets office she still did not want to be carried. Carrying her hurt worse than walking. She was walking slow but her tail was up and wagging.

Dr. Wingert examined her and listened to my story about how she was injured. He said, “Leave her with me. I’ll check her over and stich up these wounds. Call about 4:00 pm and you can probably pick her up.”

I called about 3:45 and he said, “You better leave her with me overnight. The worst cut was on her neck.”

“I didn’t even know she was cut on the neck,” I said with surprise.

Her long hair had hid the other cuts. Dr. Wingert said they had sewn up 5 cuts on her. The one on her neck went all the way around except for about 2 inches on the bottom. Besides the one on her neck, her hip and by her ribs there was a cut on the shoulder and one on her leg. The only one that showed any blood was the puncture wound in her hip. Even that one did not have blood running out.

I brought her home the next day and for the next 4 weeks every time I took a dog from the kennel she would whine and want to go.

Finally after she healed I took her hunting. She could still point birds and retrieve. She was not as fast as she once was but neither am I.

I have often wondered if that had been Vince or me would that deer have attacked us as he did Lady? If he had would we be able to walk to the truck. I might be able to carry Lady but I know I couldn’t carry Vince or he carry me. Did she take one for the team?

For the rest of my life the toughness of a dog will be measured by Lady.

I wrote the above shortly after we got home from the opening weekend of 2012-2013 season. I have been thinking of doing a blog for some time.

In December 2012 and January 2013 Lady hunted. She still was the best retriever I have ever owned. She didn’t run as fast as she did when she was younger but if the other dogs missed some birds she would point them.

In April when I turned all of the dogs out in the big pen to clean kennels, Lady did not act right. She was not in pain, just confused.

She always liked to jump on her house and while I petted her she would groom my arms. About the middle of April I put her on her house and as I petted her I told her if she was ready to go, to go ahead.

Two mornings later I went out to clean pens and she was lying in her house dead. One more month and she would have been fourteen years old. All of my dogs love me, but she loved me more than all of my dogs. I’m going to miss her.

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