Deer Rescued Swimming 1.5 Miles Offshore
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 10.21.07
It was a big catch for Chad Campbell of Washington and Bo Warren of Virginia, even though the fish weren't biting. The bored fishermen were a mile and a half (2.4 km) offshore when they went to investigate what they thought was a seal. Fortunately for the deer, these fishermen were real cowboys. The deer was released into the wild after its rescue. File this one under eco-travel: deer on holiday? More pics and the full story over the fold.
From The Maryland Gazette:
"The catching was slow and they looked back to check their lines. They saw what appeared to be a seal with its snout out of the water, but they didn't think any seals were around their fishing grounds and they kept watching.
"Soon they realized it was a deer trying desperately to keep afloat--and obviously losing the battle. Fearing the whitetail would get snagged in their lines they cranked in their rigs. Then the deer headed straight for the boat possibly thinking it was a spit of land.
"But as it got closer and saw the two fishermen aboard, it had second thoughts. With its nose barely out of the water, it appeared to have been swimming all night, said Campbell. 'Since the fish weren't biting, we thought we'd give it a hand. Bo grew up around cows, was really handy with a bow line and lasooed the deer on the first attempt.'
"They got it close, Bo grabbed the neck, Chad got a good hold on a flank and 'we barreled over backwards to the deck -- and before we knew it, Bo was on top of the buck in velvet and had him hog tied like a calf.'
"Chad, said they feared the deer was going to 'kick the hell out of us in a 22-foot center console boat,' but they were lucky, it was too exhausted to resist, 'We hit the gas and ran him to the closest beach, Kent Point, where I beached the boat and we carefully unloaded our catch on the sand. We untied him and jumped back.
"'Too weak to stand, he just sat there quivering. We picked him up again and put his feet underneath him, but he still couldn't walk or stand. We left him sitting there looking at us. Before we left, I looked him in the eye and said 'See you on opening day; payback time.'
"'We don't know whether he made it or not, but we do know his chances were vastly improved for survival than when we first saw him.'"
Via ::Magical Mountain Forum, source attributed to: Burton, Bill. "Oh Deer, What a Fishing Expedition on Bay." Maryland Gazette; June 13th, 2007.
holy cow, thats amazing - thats one lucky deer! i dont think it was that easy getting the deer into the boat though.
did they even think about checking the animal for any number of diseases that could have caused this weird behavior like the deer equivalent to mad cow? or even considering that deer populations are too large and treated as a health hazard in many communities.
all wildlife acting out of character is most likely sick or stressed. call you local fish and game office. they can take the animal, evaluate and then release or euthanise it as appropriate.
Great story; kind deed and I hope the little guy made it!
Sounds like the guy just rescued him to shoot him when hunting season starts...bravo...redneck.
Look like what ate for supper last night but without all the fu!!
It is such a good feeling to know there are people out there that live their lives with good intentions. Thank you for that.
silly interfering fishermen. ... The deer was trying to make it to the other side, to win a bet or maybe he got tossed out there by the tornado.
I can't believe you would have this happen and not call someone TV, Game Warden, Vet...etc. I fear this is TOTAL BS and the pictures are reversed and these guys took a dear they tied up and threw it overboard. I hope my suspicion is wrong but I also can't imagine a dear just off and swimming away out to sea for over a mile. Somethings just not right from what ever angle you look at this with.
No deer (spelled with no "a") would sit calmly in the bottom of a boat and not thrash around unless it was completely exhausted and/or knew this was its only chance for survival. It amazes me that a dumbass would actually think two guys could capture a live deer, load it into a boat, somehow convince it to hold still for pictures, then take it out to sea and throw it overboard.
Jeffsters, if you can't tell, the deer is soaking wet. They obviously pulled it on board.
There are deer on nearly all the neighboring islands all throughout that area, and also on islands north of that in Canada.
I think that what did was indeed a good thing But im still puzzeled about the deer being out there but I the best catch of the day isn't always what you are looking for!
Okay, so they pull a deer out of the water, put it on shore and then leave it there to die. Whatever