Although deer may appear docile, peaceful beings, they're not afraid to fight if they feel cornered or threatened. During rutting season, they are completely unpredictable and aggressive, and mama deer have been known to attack people and dogs during fawning season (which is why it's best to hike with your dogs on a leash.) However, occasionally, they'll attack for seemingly no good reason, even when they are in a pen. A 1989 clip from Kentucky Afield is the perfect example of how unpredictable deer can be and why you shouldn't let your guard down.
Host Dave Shuffett is filming an educational segment with Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources biologist Johnny Widener when the unthinkable happens, leaving them to their most basic instincts to resolve the issue.
It's clear they're doing a segment about how fast deer antlers grow when they enter a pen holding a nice whitetail buck, but the deer quickly decides it's having none of it and attacks Widener, leading to one of the wildest tussles you've ever seen. Fortunately for us, the whole thing was caught on camera.
Since they shot this footage in September, it was probably still a little early for bucks to show signs of pre-rut behavior. But something had it upset enough to try and gore some humans. It appears that one of the tines did catch Widener in the leg, and the video description noted that he had to have minor surgery to repair the damage. This footage only shows about two minutes of the brawl, but the video's description states this wrestling match went on for another 45 minutes after the cameras stopped rolling. Notice that when they tried to push that buck away, he immediately returned for more. He was not backing down anytime soon!
Something was clearly agitating this buck a great deal on this day. What it was, we will never know. However, the video serves as a good reminder to be careful around deer, even penned ones. These animals are stronger than they appear and can easily hurt humans when given the chance!
