J.D. Browning was enjoying a nice morning walk on the Animas River Trail on Saturday morning when he discovered a four-point mule deer buck tangled in baseball batters’ netting at the sports field complex behind Durango High School.
Knowing the animal was in trouble, he called the authorities.
Durango Police received the call at about 9:05 a.m. When officers got to the area, east of the high school tennis courts, they found the large buck having twisted and stretched several large sheets of the netting into a tether that kept it leashed to a pole by its rack. A tree near the net complicated the issue.
“We’ll try our best to get him loose and let him go,” said David Smith on scene with the DPD. He said the animal wasn’t injured, but it could if it continued to thrash and be aggressive, so they called Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
While waiting for wildlife officers to arrive, Smith and Durango Police Sgt. Jeremiah Lee kept at least one passer-by on the river trail from getting near the animal. A few others took interest from a safe distance.
The deer, clearly agitated, would take brief rests between bucking, pulling and waving its head, once even rearing on its hind legs and hoofing a chain-link fence – a difficult scenario for spectators.
Help arrived with CPW District Wildlife Manager Drayton Harrison.
Harrison eyed the situation from his field glasses, calmly walked around the back of his truck, grabbed a hacksaw and a rope, and walked out onto the field.
“How are your roping skills?” he asked the police officers.
With Lee to lasso, the three men were able to overcome the moody buck, but it wasn’t easy. Lee’s hand was caught in the netting at one point, lacerating it in multiple places.
Once they had the animal securely on the ground, Harrison began to saw. First one antler, then the other.
And just like that, the buck was free. It scrambled to its feet and looked ready to charge, but took off running instead.
“It’s very common,” Harrison said.
Sometimes a sedative is used to subdue animals but, because it is rutting season, he thought removing its antlers may be better.
“Besides, I don’t want to have to cut him out of something next week. It’s just kind of a habit. They want to rub their antlers or spar with another buck. They’ve got hormones flowing right now. They’re always getting tangled in swings or hammocks.”
Harrison said he wasn’t surprised when he received the call.
“I’ve been to that net several times over the years,” he said. “Sometimes they tear themselves loose and drag some netting around until their antlers fall off, but he wasn’t getting out of that one.”
bmathis@durangoherald.com
