This young buck is rubbing a sapling with his antlers...
A young buck investigates a licking branch...
This buck is taking a break and resting in a fence row...
I have zoomed in to make him easier to spot...
The sound of the camera makes him nervous so he decides to move out...
This buck is in pursuit of a doe...
One can easily see the size disparity between a mature buck and a doe...
These does are feeding in an alfalfa field near the Worthington farm house...
This buck is patrolling the same field...
The huge appeal of the battlefield, where no hunting is allowed, is that bucks can reach their full potential...
Automatic feeders, loaded with corn and set to disperse it when the park is closed, have been set out recently. This one is on the edge of the alfalfa field mentioned earlier...
When the deer become accustomed to eating corn under the feeders they will unexpectedly be greeted by federal sharpshooters. The goal is to kill 278 deer from December 12 to March 31. The program is scheduled to continue for five years, by which time the herd will be reduced by 90% or more.
Thirteen days after the extermination began I visited the battlefield. This buck was the only one that I saw...
It will take all the cunning and survival instincts this buck has to make it to March 31, and to survive the four remaining years of the federal extermination program.
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