Buck in a Barge!
 

Today was a dayof firsts... I am working midnights (7 pm to 7 am) on a towboat.. Last night.. I pick up a empty barge..well.. not quite emty..it had a 8 point buck in it!! it apparently had jumps off the wall of off loader facility.. and landed on cold hard steel instead of the water [&o]. About a 15 to 18 foot drop. it must have landed on its face.. as its nose was bloodied.. and it broke off one antler. but it survived the fall! I had no idea they were that tough.. I felt really bad for the poor fella. as for two hours while in rout to the landing with the barge i watch him completely exhaust himself trying to jump out of the barge.. I get to the landing and make my first drop.. call the dispatcher at 5 am... Told him I did not want to deliver the next drop.. as there was a live buck in the hopper and asked what to do. well.. He and I could not think of anyway of getting him out without causing more harm than good.. so he called the DNR.. who instructed him to kill the deer.. no one wanted to do it I was hoping someone would come a tranq it to get it out.. but no.. it was put down , sad way for a nice buck like that to go[&o]
I took a pic while it was resting in the hopper after its frantic running and jumping.. will post it when the battery charges back up on the cam.

RE: Buck in a Barge!
 

That's weird.

RE: Buck in a Barge!
 

that stinks... did you get to keep the rack (or whats left of it?)

RE: Buck in a Barge!
 

what a shame it ended that way.

RE: Buck in a Barge!
 

yes.. I used some handy line to get the antler he broke off.. it was intact.. broke right off the skull.. this morning.. the guy who took the deer.. brought me the other half.

As promised.. here is the pic of it.. sorry for the low light.. it was just before daylight and my flash was not too effective at the range.

RE: Buck in a Barge!
 

Thats pretty crazy.

RE: Buck in a Barge!
 

May be able to see it better with this pic!

RE: Buck in a Barge!
 

Whoa, he was still alive??!!!!!

RE: Buck in a Barge!
 

thats horrible man..... poor thing

RE: Buck in a Barge!
 

That really is horrible.

RE: Buck in a Barge!
 

Yes.. it was a very unfortunate event , 18 years working on the river..and never seen or heard of something like that before.

RE: Buck in a Barge!
 

Its a shame you couldn't get him out of there.

They are tough animals for sure.

RE: Buck in a Barge!
 

That sucks.
Crutch - how did you get the pic to show up better?

RE: Buck in a Barge!
 

Thats odd. Its a shame they didnt at least TRY and release him

RE: Buck in a Barge!
 

That sucks man! A buddy of mine sent me a picture mail of a buck that he was called to remove from a fence a couple weeks ago! He works for the Carmel st dept and they got a call early in the morning to come and remove a 12 point buck that had gotten gorged on a wrought iron fence while trying to jump over it. It was still alive when they found it and the cops had to shoot it. Who knows how long it was hanging there. It was an awesome buck too:(

RE: Buck in a Barge!
 

Thats a bad deal for sure