One Shot, Two Sets of Antlers: Hunter Bags Bizarre, Rare Trophy
With deer season fully underway in an enormous swath of America, there have been plenty of stories of massive trophies and bizarre circumstances for our nation’s hunters to contend with.
For many conservational hunters, deer season is one of the most important times of the year. Due to America’s rapid expansion and the sprawl of suburbia, the natural ecosystem in which these creatures thrive is no longer the dangerous place that it used to be. We, being the apex predator on the planet, (by a long shot), have spent centuries attempting to avoid contact with nature’s more terrifying and carnivorous creatures. This has led to the mass slaughter of many species, and an enormous rerouting of herds and game trails throughout the nation.
All of this has left our native deer populations with few natural predators and no reason to slow down their population growth. In many states, even the majestic whitetail deer is a nuisance animal with longer and longer hunting seasons being offered in order to cull the herds back to healthy numbers.
Of course, with this extra hunting occurring, there are bound to be some wild encounters worth sharing, including the tale of one hunter in Kentucky who bagged the trophy of a lifetime.
A man in Ballard County, Kentucky recently bagged a “two-headed” deer, the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources announced Thursday.
The hunter, who the wildlife agency identified as Bob Long, took aim at a buck with “big antlers” off in the distance. After making his shot and killing the animal, Long approached it and made an “astounding” discovery: The buck was “carrying around another set of antlers and part of a decomposing carcass,” the agency explained.
The deer, which was “truly a rare harvest,” state wildlife officials said, has garnered thousands of reactions on the social media platform, many users responding in both awe and disgust.
Advertisement - story continues below“Bet they were fighting and that’s the end result!! Just idea,” one person theorized.
The photos of the find were incredibly strange, but I must warn you that they may not be suitable for everyone.
‘Two-headed' deer killed in KY … well, kind of >> https://t.co/Kc8uxRcJ5a pic.twitter.com/XccF8tpr84
— WAVE (@wave3news) November 17, 2018
Kentucky man harvests two-headed deer? Not exactly… https://t.co/xiiHLQeX7b
— WKYT (@WKYT) November 17, 2018
And, thanks to one commenter, I know that I wasn’t the only one thinking it:
“That deer had to be stuck to the dead one a while… the stench,” a third commented.