Last weekend, I arrowed a nice Alabama 8 pointer. The shot was early and not great light. I felt good about the shot but wasn't sure as the buck bounded out of sight in somewhat thick pines. I figured I'd wait 30 minutes or so before tracking. After about 20 minutes I heard some rustling in the pines near where my deer ran. I looked and saw a buck struggling n the brush. First, he looked to b struggling to stay on his feet. Front legs stretched forward, back legs stretched back.
I thought, that's my buck getting ready to expire. Then I saw him raising his rack up and down as if rubbing on a tree. I thought, that's not a good sign, ...if he's feeling that good. Then he goes to almost kneeling down and lunges forward, as if plunging his antlers into the thick vines and saplings. His antlers appeared briefly stuck as he jerked them up with a "clank".
Then to my complete surprise, I see the flash of a white underbelly in front of him! It was my deer, dead on the ground the whole time which ANOTHER buck was fighting with. That other buck proceeded to attack my dead buck for another 5 minutes, trying to lock horns and drive him into the ground. This all happened about 60-70 yards from my tree. Absolutely the coolest thing I've ever seen in the woods.
