Bill Marchel: Itching for a fight

In the world of the white-tailed deer, autumn is the breeding season. It's called the "rut" by deer hunters. Now is when bucks meet does and romance is on their minds.

It's also the time when bucks meet bucks, head-on.

On a dreary November afternoon I witnessed an all-out battle between two big, evenly matched whitetail bucks. Both animals carried antlers with eight points. It was neither a sparring competition nor a playful test of strength often displayed by two immature deer. Instead the engagement was a knockdown, drag-out confrontation among adult bucks, a fight to the death if either animal should be afforded the opportunity.

The buck brouhaha lasted roughly 10 minutes. During that time four antler tines were broken between the combatants. One buck had watery blood dripping from the corner of its mouth; the other sustained a gash below its right eye. The outcome appeared to be a draw -- an unusual occurrence -- and ended when both bucks walked away, mouths agape gasping for breath.

The images on this page depict some of the war wounds whitetail bucks sustain during the fall rut.

The approximate rut time line:

• Mid-October: Bucks start scraping and rubbing in earnest.

• Late October/early November: Bucks begin to seek does coming into estrus or about to come into estrus.

• Nov. 2-8: Bucks are intensely chasing does. Some breeding is occurring.

• Nov. 8-12: Peak of breeding.

• Nov. 12-30: Rutting behavior subsides quickly. Bucks rest and recover from rigors of breeding.

• Early December: A second but much less intense breeding period may occur as a few unbred does come into estrus.

Bill Marchel, an outdoors columnist and photographer, lives near Brainerd.