Michigan hunters use branch saw to free entangled bucks

BOWNE TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Quick-thinking hunters in central Michigan have rescued two deer who literally became locked in battle.

WOOD-TV reports that insurance agent Mark Johnson spotted the rutting bucks in a field with their antlers entangled. He figured the eight-point bucks would die from exhaustion or starvation if they stayed stuck.

Video of Wednesday’s rescue on WOOD-TV’s website shows Johnson’s friend, Brad Lyons, eventually deploying a specialized branch saw to cut part of an antler. That enabled the bucks to pull away and run off.

The rescue came a week before firearms deer season. Johnson, Lyons and another acquaintance who showed up to help are all hunters and in other circumstances the bucks would have been prized trophies.

What they got from the encounter instead was a good story to tell and a chunk of sawed-off antler.

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Information from: WOOD-TV, http://www.woodtv.com