Georgia Buck With Face Only Mama Could Love

Branan Dennard, of Milledgeville, hadn’t been hunting in four years until Saturday, Oct. 24. He and his family had just recently fixed up their old stand and placed it on some private property in Baldwin County.

“I got in the stand about 7 that morning, and it wasn’t windy but damp. I knew it was going to be a good day,” Branan said.

That Saturday Branan would kill his biggest—and an extremely unusual—buck. The buck’s nose, jaw bones and face were quite askew, to put it mildly.

After sitting in the stand for just a short period of time, Branan said he saw the buck running toward him. It briefly stopped about 15 yards away in front of his stand in an opening in some thick brush. Branan had to make a quick decision.

“I’d never seen the deer around here before,” said Branan, “I didn’t see anything unusual when I looked through my scope.”

He took his shot, and the buck ran approximately 30 yards and then crashed. After approaching the deer, Branan noticed the buck’s deformities. His nose was completely to the side and looked as if he only had one working jaw. The top jaw of the buck was completely caved in, and all of its teeth were missing except one back molar.

“His antlers are perfect though, and he wasn’t skinny. It’s just really strange,” said Branan. “Perhaps he was barely clipped by a car, and he healed the best way possible.”

After calling his uncle to help retrieve the buck, the two continued debating what could have happened to the deer and when. All of the wounds were completely healed, and there were no scabs or blood.

“It was just a resilient animal and probably the ugliest deer,” said Branan.