If I didn't know better I would have said the hunters were Texan.
Posted on 10/21/2005 12:28:32 PM PDT by radar101
Services today for victim of goring
Fairbanks Ranch neighbors peeked out windows before venturing into their yards yesterday morning. A sense of fear has pervaded this gated community since a buck gored a man three weeks ago. He died Monday. But the neighbors needn't have worried. The night before, federal trackers had shot and killed the buck believed to have attacked 73-year-old Ron Dudek. To make sure, they also killed one that looked similar.
Steve Martarano, spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Game, said his agency had no choice but to destroy the bucks.
"We don't relocate wild animals that are considered a problem," Martarano said. "Even after the incident, this buck continued to just hang around. It was getting bolder.
"This is a great example of the problems people can cause when they think they can get too close to wildlife." While neighbors had hoped the problem buck would be relocated to a wild area rather than be killed, they were pleased yesterday afternoon when they learned they could enter their yards without trepidation.
"I will be glad if I don't see that big one anymore," said Ann Winters, who lives across Avenida Cuatro Vientos from where the deer attacked Dudek on Sept. 25.
Dudek, who owned Saturn Electric Inc. in San Diego, had gone into his back yard to pick tomatoes when he passed a 6-foot-tall buck with three-point antlers, according to his family. The buck, which was up against the house, gored him in the face, breaking five teeth and ramming an antler down his throat.
After about two weeks in the hospital, Dudek went home. He died there Monday after a blood clot, caused by the trauma to his face, reached his lung.
A memorial service for Dudek is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. today at the Church of the Nativity, 6309 El Apajo, Rancho Santa Fe. Burial will follow at 1 p.m. at El Camino Memorial Park, 5600 Carroll Canyon Road.
Tom Dudek, one of their four sons, said he was worried that the deer might attack his mother, too. At that point, no one knew the bucks had been killed.
"I'm concerned about her being in the yard," he said. "If they don't get it – I will. Plenty of people have offered me a rifle."
The state contracted with federal trackers who shot one buck about 7 p.m. Wednesday and another about 8:30 p.m. Neighbors say they never heard the shots.
The bucks were believed to be part of a herd of about a dozen deer.
Martarano said the Department of Fish and Game is committed to working with the Fairbanks Ranch Association to keep this kind of problem from developing again.
He said people don't have to be handing food to the deer to entice them into the neighborhoods – they are inadvertently feeding the animals when they don't fence in their tasty bushes and fruit trees.
Craig Benedetto, spokesman for the Fairbanks Ranch Association, said he was relieved that peace has been restored.
Dani Dodge: (760) 476-8242; dani.dodge@uniontrib.com
When Bambi Strikes back..............
3 points?! What the hell kind of buck was that?
undocumented?
Bambi Meets Godzilla
If I didn't know better I would have said the hunters were Texan.
Isn't fall the rut for deer? Stags are just loco this time of year..
Fairbanks Ranch is a community of exclusive estates.
That's a six point for the rest of the country
A 6 pointer crashed through the front window of a barber shop in Osage Beach, Missouri last week. There were three guys in the shop but no one was hurt. The deer cut its own throat and bled to death between the barber chairs. The shop will be closed for a few weeks for repairs.
deer are just rats with antlers.
Not much to hang in your trophy room. Must have been pretty limp antlered. Actually, we've had more than our share of demented deer attack our vehicles, even to turn around for a chase.
Just 'cause he looked similar. Must have had that look in his eye.
Suuuuure. That's what the guy holding the razor said ... Sounds like a mob hit to me.
The government lets me kill rats that ruin farm crops; I'm forced to watch as the deer devastate my nursery crop.
You can't make this stuff up.
"Rudy The Nose"
PETA must be proud to know that the deer got mentioned in the headline, but not the person who was killed by the beast.
I hate to sound cold-hearted (not really), but if you somehow prevent a possibly scared wild animal from escaping..by perhaps standing in front of it gesturing wildly..you get what you deserve.
Was this California? Are they idiots out there?...never mind
If I didn't know better I would have said the hunters were Texan.
No Texan would just kill one because it looked similar..they ALL look similar. The "hunters" were Californian..gauranteed! Bambi don't scare no TEXAN!
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