Buck Fight.

[Junction hunter]

Set up South of one of my food plots on the ground behind a Pine about 30 yards from the field. Couldn't shoot into the field thick stuff between. About 8:45am 3 does started coming by but busted me and went south and moved 35 yards away heading east. Looked back over to the field and saw a monster buck 10+ tall wide rack he came in from the east. He went to a scrape in the field and stood there. Coming from the same direction is a second buck, just as big or bigger. He stood there and huffed at the first one and postured for a fight. The first one takes the same posture. Next thing they are fighting full out. Pushing each other across the field heads push down them up. Looked down at my watch it was 9:02am. They kept this up and I was considering trying to stalk up on them, then judgment got the better of me. (No way could I get close enough with the leaves on the ground and having to climb out of the blind, etc…) So I sat and watch them till they finally disengaged and they both stood there panting. Don't know which one won the fight they both looked wiped. Looked at the watch and it was 9:44am. First one moved to the west out of the field then the second one followed. Tried to grunt them over but no luck.
Of course I'm second guessing the decision not to try stalk them while they were fighting. BUT THAT WAS ONE OF THE MOST AWESOME EXPERIENCES I'VE EVERY HAD IN THE WOODS.

[ron w]

Nature is really something if you sit back and pay attention! neat stuff.

[George D. Stout]

I've heard buck fights but only ever saw one shoving match in the woods.  I tried to sneak in on them but they stopped and just walked away together.  Very neat experience though.

[Wary Buck]

That's an incredibly long fight.  You think there was any chance that for a while they were locked up?  They sound like they were very equally matched and stubborn to boot.  I would have to think a fight that lasted that long would be 1 in a 100 or more.

I've seen tons of sparring matches, but only a few that got really heated, but those never lasted very long.  There's a fellow bowhunter here in NE who videotaped a fight that ended with one buck killing the other, and I've also seen a video where one elk killed the other as well.

[IAOUTDOORSMAN]

Fights are fun to watch.  They can last a while.  I watched 3 small bucks taking turns at each other for an hour and a half the other night.

[Lost Arra]

Video of a fight at the McAlester (Oklahoma) Ammo plant where that monster buck was recently taken:

  http://www.mcaapcontrolledhunts.com/Videos/Movie.wmv

[bohuntr]

Lost Arra that was a very cool video!!!

[adkmountainken]

cool vid, looks like the big boy is a bit of a sally!!!!

[BMOELLER]

Man I need to put in for that hunt sometime.  Awesome vid.

[BMN]

Cool experience.

[Montyc]

Junction hunter,
If you need help shooting one of those monster bucks give me a yell, I will be more than happy to help you out  
I've never seen a buck fight in the wild.  Thanks for sharing the story. That is cool!

[Wannabe1]

That's why I love this site! Where else would you get to see some cool video clips like that?

Great story! Would love to have been there to see it.

[BlkDog]

Observing a sparring match or fight is exciting!  Until two Saturday's ago, I had only observed 2 fights in 20+ years of hunting.  Two Saturdays ago, I was hunting a field edge.  Shortly after daylight 1 buck appeared, then 2 more bucks from another direction, and within 5 minutes I had a total of 7 bucks within 60 yards of my stand.  The bucks were in pre-rut here and a the young ones are especially cocky.  Next thing I know, two different sparring matches erupted at the same time... 4 bucks sparring within 20 yards of each other.  Eventually the fights were over and they faded back into the woods.  An hour later, two of the same bucks appeared again...and another sparring match ensued.  3 different fights in a single day!  I got photos of the last sparring match.  Not big bucks, but I was happy to capture it on film.  

 Slide Show of Pics

[Lost Arra]

Great pics BlkDog!

[TRAP]

LOL@"Bit of a Sally" , Now that's funny    

Cool Video

Trap

[BRONZ]

Incredible.  I've seen them sparring, and heard two going at it, but have never seen it.  I knew they could go for a little while, but I had no idea they'd go for that long!  What an experience to remember!!

[Junction hunter]

I’m still feeling the adrenalin rush. I had no idea that they could go on like that. I don’t think they were lock but they stayed engaged for a long time without breaking.
Very cool video and slid show.

Montyc,  Sparta is only about 1 ½ hours from Gr. Junction. You are welcome to come down but it will cost you a lesson/pointers. E-mail me. [email protected] Can’t guarantee you’ll see them. It’s feast or famine down by me. But I do know they are out there now.

[Brian Krebs]

I too have seen small bucks kind of get pushy with each other; and I have seen three bucks fighting each other at the same time.

 But when I have seen big mature bucks fight- man it puts their strength in perspective !

 A friend of mines brother and father shot two fighting bucks; and at the time they were the biggest locked set in the state of Michigan.
 His father asked one game warden; after the other; if he had shot one- could he have shot the other and used one tag... and never got an answer.

 I have also seen a big buck with the skull and neck bones attached in its antlers; and seen bucks dragging other bucks that were dead or exausted.

 Makes you appreciate them a little more!

And good stuff for the memory banks too !

[Benny Nganabbarru]

Great memories for sure, watching animals do what they do! I think I'll start a thread with some goat fight pictures...

[MnFn]

A few years ago, an employee of mine got a call to grab his video camera and get out to the farm he hunts on a fast as he could. The farmer found a pretty nice whitetail buck- as memory serves it was an 8 or 10, by their count 5X5 in his pasture. It had gotten into a fight with a similar buck and was still locked together. The other buck had nothing left of his hind quarters.(Coyotes?- don't know the answer to that) The buck was almost completely exhausted and about four guys were finally able to subdue him. They took a saw and cut through one of the antlers, don't know which one and was able to separate the two bucks. Although extremely stressed, the buck was able to run off after a few seconds.I saw the video, but it was not very good quality. This happened out in the middle of North Dakota.