‘UNKILLABLE’ BUCKS

A loud crack echoed across the huisache flat, temporarily interrupting the buck fawn as it nursed. The noise startled the doe, and she bolted. The fawn turned in every direction looking for its dam, but without visual contact, it began to bleat. Without a response, the fawn negotiated its way through the dense understory, employing its olfactory system to find Mom.

Twenty yards away, the youngster found the doe sprawled out in the dense buffle grass. The fawn dashed to the doe and rammed its mouth into the doe’s udder to satiate its unquenchable thirst. The doe remained stolid and motionless. The fawn sensed something wrong. Abruptly, a pair of humans appeared from the thick brush. Taken by surprise, the fawn bounded a short distance. Protected by