Pennsylvania Game News - October 2009 - 23

S THE BIG BUCK trotted through the field down into the adjoining swamp, his nose to the ground, he was on a mission to find the doe in estrus he’d been tracking. A mature buck’s tenacity for life is surpassed only by his drive to breed during the rut, which can be attested to by many a hunter. It was the end of October 2007, and this big buck, the Pymatuning Monarch, was in full rut. His neck seemed to be an extension of his massive chest that terminated under his chin. The Monarch’s normally razor sharp caution was not as acute as it usually was when approaching the roadway. The overwhelming scent of the doe was driving him on. The doe the Monarch was following had crossed the road at this same location, just minutes earlier, with her twin fawns. Seventeen-year-old Emily was driving her father’s pickup, and as she approached the curve in the road, she started to slow down. She knew the curve was difficult to see around, because the trees and brush grew right up to the road edge. In a flash, as Emily started around the bend, the Monarch leaped out of the woods, his outstretched body directly in Emily’s path. Emily braked hard and thought she was going to narrowly miss the buck, but the driver’s side headlight brushed the deer’s left hindquarter, about three inches up from his tail. The Monarch was knocked down by the impact, but instantly gathered himself up and dove into the high, thick brushchoked woodlot on the opposite side of the road. Emily, shaken and surprised, pulled over to inspect her father’s pickup for signs of damage and to gather her wits. The only noticeable trace of the deer was a few hairs stuck between the driver’s side headlight and the hood. Emily was shaken but otherwise okay, and much to her surprise, so was her father’s truck. As the Monarch proceeded through the woodlot, about 100 yards wide, he approached Ball Road, which crosses into the Controlled Goose Hunting Area on the OCTOBER 2009 Pymatuning Wildlife Management Area. The Monarch was still following the exact path the doe had taken just minutes before. Luke and Roger were slowly driving up Ball Road. They were scouting for an area to hunt geese later on in the afternoon and had just noticed three deer, a doe and two yearlings, cross the road ahead of them, about 300 yards away. They then heard a vehicle’s tires screeching on the paved road just to their west. As they continued driving on, they noticed a large buck step out onto the dirt road where the other three deer had just crossed. The buck’s gait was deliberate and labored as he walked, head down, with a slight limp, across the road and into a cornfield on the Pymatuning Wildlife Management Area. The pair couldn’t believe the size of the deer standing in the corn, his rack swiveling back and forth. Before either of them could say a word, a pack of three feral dogs appeared out of nowhere, two black ones resembling Labradors and one white mix that resembled a pit bull. The men watched in shock as the dogs attacked the wounded buck. Unable to run, the buck would turn and face each dog with its heavy rack. As Luke and Roger sped up to the scene, the dogs took flight, and the buck just stood in the corn, looking back at the men. Luke and Roger got out of their car and stood a mere 30 steps away, mesmerized at the size of the rack. I was at the Pymatuning Administration Building at 11 a.m., completing citations, when I heard a knock at the door. The two hunters introduced themselves and then proceeded to tell me about the big buck. Their words were coming so fast I had to ask them twice to tell me the exact location of this buck, and then I just finally asked them if they could show me.

Pennsylvania Game News - October 2009

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