Managing Bucks in the Rut – Advice for Safety

ADVICE FOR SAFETY

By: Gail Veley • Sponsoed by KALA

Jessica Maloney slipped outside for her normal morning routine of caring for the deer she and her husband owned and loved at Central Kentucky Whitetails. The air was crisp on that chilly October morning in Jeffersonville, Kentucky in 2017. Little did Maloney know as she welcomed the day, that within minutes she would be on her back fighting for her life. It started first by her noticing a water barrel out of place, in the middle of their deer pen where among others, a deer affectionately named Fluffy lived.

“He was fluffy as a fawn and very gentle,” Maloney said. “He was always very gentle. We did bottle feed him, but he was not a breeder buck.” Yet, on that particular morning, Fluffy, a deer she regularly took “selfies” with, turned into a deer she had never known before. “I walked into the pen to get the water barrel and he met me at the gate,” she said. “He pinned me up against the feed through and it startled me. I didn’t know why he was doing that.”

Instinctively Maloney grabbed ahold of his antlers to try and push him off. After struggling for three to four feet with little success, Fluffy once again pinned her against the side of the pen. “Thankfully, I had my phone with me,” she said. “We moved about eight more feet and suddenly I’m on the ground and my slip-on shoes are off. He kept trying to pin me and push me. I wrapped my arms around his neck like a choke hold which allowed me to use my other hand to dial the phone. I was pecking with one finger and called my husband.”

Although always happy to talk to his wife, some mornings Chris her husband was too busy to answer the phone and called her back later. However, that morning he answered his wife’s call. Her phone was no longer in her hand but on the ground beside her, as she desperately needed both arms and hands to fend off the deer’s aggression. “I kept screaming toward the phone ‘Fluffy is trying to kill me! Fluffy is trying to kill me!” she said. Chris immediately called his grandfather who lived right down the road and luckily, he was home. Most mornings, he was not. However, he wasn’t feeling well and was still at the house.

At this point Maloney, a young tough and stout 5’ 10” 170-pound farm raised girl, was starting to fatigue, her arms aching and losing their usual stamina from pushing back against the relentless buck. She decided instead to push with her legs. Within seconds of raising her legs up, a piercing G2 tine drove a three-inch hole into her thigh, spilling blood and sending excruciating spasms throughout the entire limb.

The only audible noise above her groans was the truck now racing down her driveway. Gravel sprayed as the truck came to a screeching halt and Grandpa Trigger (his real first name) jumped out. Startled by his presence, Fluffy sprang up and ran to the other end of the pen, giving Trigger just enough time to rush into the pen and drag Maloney out. A mere few seconds after gate was shut, Fluffy was right back at the gate looking to finish what he started. But Maloney, safely on the other side, was now on her way to the hospital numb with shock yet filled with angst from intense stomach pain. For weeks following the incident, she took strong antibiotics and changed leg packing bandages three times a day. She also suffered other smaller cuts and abrasions and spent the next three days after the incident barely able to move.

“She’s lucky to be alive,” said Kentucky Alternative Livestock Association (KALA) President Robert Fondaw, who himself had an encounter too close for comfort with one of his own bucks. After darting one buck out of several who resided in the same pen last year, another buck went after his downed companion. When Fondaw tried to intervene, the buck turned and came after him. Fondaw started to back out of the pen when suddenly the downed deer stirred, momentarily distracting the aggressor. With a little time on his side, Fondaw slipped out of the pen. Looking back, Fondaw, owner of Fawn-Doe Whitetails, would have done one thing differently. He would have made sure someone else was there to help him or watch out for him. Now, he always makes sure he has at least one additional tranquilizer dart on him at all times when he works with his deer.

Without someone to help and intervene for her, Maloney would have certainly had a much different outcome on that unexpected day. And although Chris came home that night determined to put Fluffy down, the affectionate buck showed absolutely no aggression when he entered the pen. In fact, he acted like he usually did, licking and nuzzling him. The couple, who subsequently got out of the deer business, changed his name to “Killer Fluffy” and later sold him to a hunting preserve, fully disclosing his aggressive incident.

“Even though you love them, there are things you can’t control. Never totally trust them,” Maloney said. “Never let your guard down. Always have your phone on you. And if possible, always have someone else there with you.” In fact, Maloney’s close brush with death impelled her to start a new habit. “I always answer my phone when it rings,” she said. “You never know if it could be someone’s last phone call.”

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