Whitefish deer freed from bailing twine

A whitetail buck that has been wandering around Whitefish has been freed from the bailing twine that was wrapped around its neck along with its shed antlers.

In late December, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks began receiving calls from residents concerned about a deer with twine caught in its antlers.

“It had many, many feet wrapped around its antlers,” FWP bear and lion specialist Erik Wenum said. “We were hopeful that it would just fall off, but the antlers fell straight down and the twine wrapped around the neck with the antlers.”

Wenum and FWP area warden Chris Crane observed the deer after those initial calls. They decided the twine was not impairing the deer's movement, breathing or ability to feed. They determined that when the antlers were shed, the bailing twine would also likely fall off.

However, when the buck dropped its antlers, a mass of twine fell down around its neck with the antlers still stuck in the twine. Over time, the twine appeared to have tightened around the deer's neck.

“He did lose quite a bit of the twine, but there was also several feet of twine trailing behind him and it was getting tighter around his neck,” Wenum said. “Normally this kind of thing takes care of itself, but the twine was hanging lower and there was the chance he could get hung up in a fence.”

FWP was receiving about two to three calls per day about the deer and all totaled fielded about 60 calls on the deer. The deer was spotted on Armory Road on the east side of Whitefish and on Spokane Avenue in town. Earlier this week the deer was also seen near the Children's House Montessori School.

Wenum and Crane on Thursday were able to dart the buck and sedate it enough to remove the twine and antlers from around its neck. The deer recovered from the sedation and appeared to be fine.

“We wanted to let everybody know what happened and that it didn't die,” he said. “The deer is in great shape and is back doing deer things.”

Wenum said action was delayed until it became critical to intervene because there are always risks to capturing and sedating an animal.

It's not unusual for a buck to get bailing twine or wire stuck in its antlers or for a deer to get its head caught in a bucket, he noted.