For John Lien of Fargo, North Dakota, Sept. 24, 2005 turned out to be a most unusual day in the woods and one that he would never forget. Earlier in the week, John just had that feeling about being in his favorite stand. Having been bear hunting in Minnesota for the previous three weekends, this would be his first opportunity to chase whitetails. "It was one of those days that just felt right, like something good was going to happen," John says. "The place I hunt has produced some dandy bucks in the past and I've always considered it to be a honey hole for sure!"
John drove the 130 miles to his favorite hunting spot and walked to his stand. The stand is situated in the bottom of a coulee, and a small creek is located about 10 yards from the tree holding the stand. "As I eased toward my stand, something in the creek caught my eye," John said. "To my utter surprise I realized it was the back end of a deer completely covered with mud. My first thought was that it might have fallen into the creek somehow and drowned. As I got closer I thought I was looking at a huge non-typical rack. But then I realized it was not one but two deer locked together and coal black from the mud and muck they had churned up while fighting in the otherwise crystal clear creek. One buck was still standing. He was up to his belly in water and mud. The other buck was lying motionless with his head down in the water. After a few seconds of letting everything sink in as to what I was looking at, the buck still standing moved his ear. This kind of brought me to attention and I nocked an arrow and started sneaking foward. The buck still standing started thrashing about and dragging the dead buck away from me. What a disheartennig scene -- two beautiful bucks locked together and trapped in a creek that had turned into a disgusting mud pit. Not wanting the live buck to suffer any longer, I quickly put an arrow through his lungs. He was down in a matter of seconds."
John called his wife first; then he called the local game warden who showed up within 20 minutes. Together they managed to get the mud-caked bucks out of the creek. "The smaller buck had no business tangling with the larger buck," John insists. "He clearly was sub-ordinate in antler size and body size. He should have known better. I don't know how long they were in the creek, but it appeared as if they had been there for several days. I believe the smaller buck drowned and I think he'd been dead for at least a day or two."
So John's 2005 North Dakota archery buck tag was filled in less than 15 minutes, and it resulted in a one-of-a-kind trophy that he never dreamed he would have. Naturally he plans to have the locked bucks mounted. "If they had been just a few yards down the creek I never would have seen them," John said. "But they just happened to be right there at my honey hole. I think somebody upstairs must have put them there for a very special reason!"

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