Saskatchewan Hunter Harvests Buck Carrying Rival's Deadhead

Later on that evening, Maksymiw received another image notification confirming that what he saw was no trick of the lens. It wasn’t a big buck shaking its head or some prank played by local punk kids. He confirmed with his coworkers that what he was looking at was, in fact, a buck dragging a deadhead, locked together from battle.

Although Maksymiw was encouraged to call in sick to work Thursday morning, his camera wasn’t refreshing, so he decided to wait until he had the day off on Friday to go after the buck with a bonus rack. “And just my luck,” Maksymiw told MeatEater. “Pretty much as soon as we got underground for work, my app rebooted, and sure enough, he was there. I was stressing all day.”

Maksymiw works in a potash mine full-time and is also slowly starting up a small business on the side, so he’s busy more often than not. Everyone can likely relate to how difficult it is to get in hunting time with the rest of life’s demands. “Of course, with the way my season’s been going, I’m thinking someone is going to get him before I even get a visual of him,” he said. “Thursday night, I was pacing back and forth, packing up my gear, getting the truck ready.”

He went out early, maybe even a little too early, getting to the field at about 5:50 a.m. with chilly temps about -13 Fahrenheit with the windchill. When the dawn started to break, Maksymiw got a look at the buck. “It was the longest 20 minutes of my life waiting for shooting light,” he said.

Then legal time finally came around. “It’s go time!” Maksymiw thought to himself. “Shakingly, I tried calming myself but said, ‘screw it, I got this.’ And definitely missed. He was gone.”

Maksymiw waited, thinking the buck might come back. But 8:30 a.m. rolled around and he had to leave to make a pediatrician appointment with his youngest. “The whole time, I never stopped thinking about the buck,” he said. “I phoned my friend whose 6.5 PRC I was using (my .300 was a no-go this year). He said it’s possible I hit the buck, and maybe there’s blood.”

Around noon, Maksymiw got back out into the field to see if he made contact. He didn’t find blood but had a hunch that with the food and water available in the area, the buck wouldn’t go far. “I decided to walk into the bush and follow trail,” he said. “I made it about 15 yards when I saw his head.”

Adrenaline pumping, Maksymiw triple-checked; this was the buck. “I loaded the gun and pulled,” Maksymiw said. “I know I hit this time!”

The buck took off, and Maksymiw ran to check for blood. Sure enough, there was a trail on the ground. “I followed the trail for about 80 yards to where I found him lying dead,” he said. “I was so excited I called my fiancé and she came out for photos. I even had a neighbor out who came and gave a helping hand on pulling him out of the bush and helping me load him up. We chatted and took a bunch of photos in amazement. Something we will probably never see again.”

Maksymiw immediately tried to contact a conservation officer to make sure it was alright to take the attached dead head but kept getting voicemails. So he called the poaching hotline, where he immediately got connected. “Within about 10 minutes of that call, I received another from them, explained what happened, and sent in a few photos,” he said. “I applied for a permit, and by the time the deer was hung, the permit was approved.”

Strange enough, this isn’t the first buy-one-get-one-free buck this year. Another hunter in Saskatchewan also harvested a buck dragging its dead foe earlier in November.

Maksymiw said the heads are currently at the taxidermist, and he plans to mount them just as they were—locked in life and death. Now, he just has to figure out where he can find space in his house to hang such a wild mount.

“I can not put into words how grateful and thankful I am for all who helped and who were there,” Maksymiw concluded.

Images courtesy of Brock Maksymiw.