Nothing like getting a front row ticket to “Deer Fight Night” without having to pay anything and without having to leave the comfort of your own home.
Though deer are often painted to be non intelligent animals (because they can’t avoid getting hit by cars), they are actually incredibly smart – and have incredible memory. If something feels off to them, even in the slightest, they’ll high-tail it out of the area and likely won’t ever return. And their heightened senses of smell, hearing and vision generally help them avoid being turned into summer sausage, or at the very least, dinner for another predator.
They also have a pretty reliable fight-or-flight response, and that’s on display in the video below.
Two does crossed paths in the backyard of a homeowner in British Columbia named Karen Wasilenchuk (who describes herself as a photographer and fan of nature), and she quickly scrambled to get her camera. From what it looks like, it may have been a territorial dispute between this pair of female deer – likely fueled by the presence of their respective babies.
Often times in nature, we see videos of a mother animal facing off against another creature getting too close for comfort to her little ones. But rarely ever do we get to witness two mamas squaring off. As you’ll see in this video, it’s like two unstoppable forces colliding. They didn’t hesitate to stand up on their hind legs and throw some nasty hooves.
Deer tend to stray away from conflict, unless they deem it absolutely necessary. So whatever beef (should I say venison?) was going on between these two was more than enough to get them in the fighting mood. They both stood up and delivered unrelenting swings on the other, all while somehow keeping their balance in a bit of backyard tango.
Meanwhile, the fawns that were nearby ran around, waiting for their respective mothers to finish up and move along. The battle went on for quite a while, and only ended because one of the mama’s was fed up and wanted to get out of dodge. I suppose you could crown the one that was still willing to slap fight as the winner, but I have to admit… it was somewhat of an anticlimactic ended.
That being said, it was still an incredibly entertaining video, and shows that does are more than willing to enter into combat, if need be. Wasilenchuk shared the footage she captured on social media, along with this caption explaining the perspective she had on the standoff:
“This happened in my yard yesterday evening. I was upstairs when I heard this noise outside like thumping, bumping and thrashing. My window was open so I ran towards it and saw these two deer fighting.
Both were females protecting their young ones I think. First time I have witnessed that. WOW! I immediately ran for my cell and started to video it through my mesh screen so hope it’s okay to view. The wildlife I see in my yard. Always thrilling.”
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