Irwin County Buck Has A Bad Day: Crushed By Falling Tree During Storm

Bucky Tyler, of Ocilla, found this Irwin County 8-pointer dead under a pine tree. Bucky believes the buck was bedded down in an area of tall grass when a thunderstorm with high winds sent the pine tree crashing down, killing the buck.

If a tree falls in the woods and nobody’s around, does it make a noise? It probably did for one Irwin County 8- pointer, that was pinned under a pine tree that likely fell during a strong thunderstorm.

“That kind of blew my mind,” said Bucky Tyler of Ocilla.

Bucky found the deer at the end of August on a piece of property that his family leases for farming rights.

“Me, daddy and one of our helpers were over there irrigating,” said Bucky. “We saw a bunch of buzzards out there in the pines next to the fields. I knew there was something dead, but we were so busy, we didn’t have time to stop. Four or five days later we walked in there, and sure enough it was a deer.”

The dead buck was pinned under a pine tree that appeared to have some pine- beetle damage.

“The tree probably fell during the night,” said Bucky. “The weather got really rough the week before we found it. Two or three times we had some strong thunderstorms come through. It blew down some trees around the house.

“I guess he was bedded up. There was some briars, dog fennel and stuff. I reckon he was getting out of the rain and wind, and one of those trees whacked him across the back.

“I guess he was at the wrong place at the wrong time. He was kind of stretched out, but there wasn’t a whole lot of digging where he was trying to pull out from underneath it. I guess it probably just killed him on the spot.”

Bucky said the 8-pointer scored about 130 inches.

If you see strange things in the woods while hunting this fall, snap a picture and email GON at [email protected].