The late October sun in a sky unadulterated by any sign of a cloud beckoned me outdoors. On such a splendid day the sun reflected off the woods across the road revealing bright colors, red, yellow, and brown that are dulled on a cloudy day. Directly across the road was an open field flanked by a stand of woods on both right and left. I had in mind to mow the grass, hopefully for the last time before the cold breezes of autumn made such tasks unnecessary until spring. I went to the back yard and got my mower out. I noticed that it needed some minor repair work. What better time would there be to work on it? It would be ready to go in the spring. I made myself comfortable and began. I removed the blade from the mower and was about to take it to my basement and sharpen it when I was distracted by a noise in a corner of the yard. It was a bumping, scraping, clinking noise; unlike I had ever heard. Turning toward the noise, I saw the most unexpected sight of my life.

Emerging from somewhere above the chain-link fence at the corner of the house came a white tail deer, landing in my yard. He was fully antlered and in prime condition. I was sure that he had not come to help me mow grass. He ran toward the back of my yard on his rutting rampage. About half way to the back he sailed over the side fence as if there were no fence and trotted off through my neighbor’s yard and disappeared into a woods about a furlong behind the houses. I was simply amazed that the buck would choose a route through my back yard. Perhaps a slight breeze distorted the scent trail to the does. 

After the initial shock of the sight I ambled over to the spot where the buck had landed in the yard, hoping to discover what had made all the clatter before he arrived. I was not disappointed. The steel pipe that supported the chain linkage at the top of the fence was no longer a straight piece of metal, but was bent to form a hundred twenty degree angle. Neither did the wire escape damage. It suffered several kinks and bends. I went around front to better assess the situation.

Shrubs grew at the west side of the north-facing house and a row of cedars I had planted as a windbreak were located two or three yards farther west. The arrangement provided a kind of lane between the shrubs and the cedars. A section of the back yard fence connected the corner post of the fence and the southwest corner of the house, closing the lane. What I found other than the severely distorted fence were deer tracks and a twelve-foot length of wild grapevine.

This is what I figure happened: The rutting buck with only one thing in mind was roaming the woods when his antlers became entangled in the grapevine. Trying to shake it off, he broke the vine loose, but it still clung to his antlers. He came out of the woods to get a better shake. Still seeking to rid himself of his burden he crossed the road and saw what he thought a place of refuge. Heading down the lane beside the house he came to the fence and tried to leap over it. The burden of the vine was too much. It slowed his leap and he hit the fence with a body blow that bent the bar and stopped him cold. He may have stepped on the vine to dislodge it, although it is unclear how he lost it, but free of his burden he continued on his appointed mission.

It took me the rest of the day and more to straighten the steel pipe, try to remove some of the dents and kinks left by the deer’s hooves in the chain linkage and put the fence back up. It was much more work than I bargained for. I just can’t remember when I managed to mow the grass, but I can’t forget the sight of a young buck dashing through my back yard.