Any Forum Members Have Video Of A Mature Buck Fight I Can Use?

[bigbendmarine]

Haven't been very active on the forum the past two years due to dealing with storm damage down my way (Tallahassee FL) after suffering hits from Hurricane Idalia, tornado strike in May of 2024, Hurricane Debby, and Hurricane Helene. All that said, itching to put together a few new YouTube videos up on my channel and one I'm most interested in piecing together will focus on the complex / little understood nature of Whitetail deer aggression.

In the video I'll talk about (and share clips showing) how aggressions are exhibited year round, are common not just among bucks, but also does and even fawns, and finally how buck agression ramps up during the rut but still more often than not involves posturing and lighter sparring matches versus mortal combat.

Which brings me to my point in posting. In speaking to TRULY aggressive fights that can be mortal I'd like to share at least a few seconds of footage showing a VERY aggressive fight among mature bucks... but despite having saved 30,000+ trail camera clips with hundreds showing lighter sparring matches and / or big mature bully bucks backing down smaller bucks simply by aggressively approaching them, I don't actually have video of two mature bucks fighting all that hard. Despite many nicer bucks on my place ending up with broken tines each year, they've managed to do their most aggressive fighting off camera.

GLADLY give video credit in the description of my video AND / OR even credit on screen while the video shows... just feel I need to include at least one REAL buck fight in a video focused on deer aggression!

 

[Bill]

That’s hard footage to come by. I witnesses one once and wish I had a camera. They were not kids on the playground. They flat out wanted to kill each other.

 

[Turkey Creek]

I have seen video before on the web. Guessing there is not alot of it on that subject out there. Probably will just have to find it on a webs search and then approach the source for permission.

 

[Bill]

Best I can do is trail cam pics from 2019 on November 19. Probably over a woman.

Post to follow

 

[Bill]

 

[Bill]

3 days later I shot one of those bucks I'm sure. Gave him a pass then I saw how bad he was limping. Figured it was a car hit. When he gave me the chance again I shot him. Notice the hole in his rear ham. I'm not that bad a shot

He was gored by an antler and it was a deep puncture.

 

[bigbendmarine]

Lack of folks having tons of mortal fights on camera possibly backs up one of the points I want to make in the video... bucks do much more "neck wrestling / lighter sparring" and often simple posturing than they do mortal combat.

Again, I'm betting I have multiple hundreds of videos showing neck wrestling matches most so light the bucks pause to nibble plot growth and / or pause to look around for danger before resuming light action... you can tell they're testing the strength of one another, but without any fatal intent.

Also can share the most neck wrestling I see is actually POST rut as the bucks gather back up into bachelor groups. It sure appears like they're doing it to identify pecking order, with much of it among junior bucks. Not unusual at all to see two matches going on at the same time with other bucks nearby largely ignoring the matches and with the dominant / bigger bucks just using posturing to show their obvious dominance.

I do have one or two old compilation videos that shows posturing and one decent fight between really junior bucks. In the old compilation video immediately below, the junior buck heavier sparring is at the 41 second mark whereas two slightly more mature bucks are doing the light neck wrestling with cautious pauses at the 2 minute 19 second mark.

Hardest lick I got on camera was a single quick hit I filmed while sitting in a stand... no long mortal fight, and was between two junior bucks. Funny to watch how the posturing changes between the two bucks before and after

Not sure when I'll get time to put clips together for the deer aggression focused video, but will definitely share on the forum and probably do before sharing more widely for feedback on the complexities I think it will speak to (basically that the aggresssions fit well with the idea of survival of the fittest year round and among bucks, does, and even fawns).

 

[bigbendmarine]

I suspect a fair portion of the truly mortal battles tend to happen when mature bucks cross paths while running longer distances during the rut, and among bucks that have NOT been part of the same bachelor grouping the previous year / weren't part of a pre-established pecking order.

Any forum members know if there are studies/data that speak to the point, love to see/review it.