A Beautiful, Ugly Georgia Buck
Russ Chastain 10.28.15
Baldwin County, GA – On Saturday, October 24, hunter Branan Dennard reportedly took his best-ever buck, and I’m pretty sure he’ll never get one like it again.
It was his first hunt in 4 years, and he felt good about his chances.
‘I got in the stand about 7 that morning, and it wasn’t windy but damp. I knew it was going to be a good day,’ Branan said.
He hadn’t been there long when a buck came running towards him. When it stopped at about 15 yards, he took his shot. The buck ran about 30 yards before piling up.
When he got to his buck, he saw that it literally had its nose out of joint. Its nose was shoved over to one side, no longer above the deer’s chin. The portion of skull that formed its top jaw was “completely caved in” and contained just one molar. Apparently, it only had one working lower jaw.
If I had to guess what happened to the deformed buck, I’d say he got clobbered in the face by a car. While injuries to a buck’s bones (such as the caved-in upper jaw) usually lead to a malformed rack, as you can see, this buck’s antlers were typical.
Who knows? It could be a birth defect, but apparently it didn’t prevent the buck from feeding itself.
‘His antlers are perfect though, and he wasn’t skinny. It’s just really strange,’ said Branan. ‘Perhaps he was barely clipped by a car, and he healed the best way possible.’
‘It was just a resilient animal and probably the ugliest deer.’
