Gwinnett Police Dispatch Buck Hung In Fence

Photos of a large buck stuck in a Gwinnett County residential fence went viral yesterday, Nov. 5, after they were posted on Facebook by an officer who works for the Gwinnett County Police Department. Officer J.K. Brown, a deer hunter and a GON subscriber, was dispatched to the call about 7:30 a.m. and discovered just a few neighbors waiting on him to arrive. 

“I probably got out there about 7:40,” said Brown.

The call was in a residential area near the intersection of Highway 29 and Jimmy Carter Boulevard.

“The neighbors were standing out there waiting on the school bus, and one lady was stopped,” said Brown.

Brown said he’s taken a half-dozen calls regarding deer stuck in fences in his seven years of being a police officer. However, he’s never seen a deer of this caliber hung in a fence.

“I’m like, ’Oh my gosh, that’s a giant!’” was Brown’s reaction as a hunter when he pulled up to the scene of the live buck hanging from the spikes on top of the 6-foot metal fence.

The spikes on the 6-foot fence ripped a tear on the buck that went from the guts to the back ham.

“Who knows how long he was actually hanging up there. I assume not that long. He was still kicking. He was kind of looking at me,” said Brown. “The fence had gone up into the rear of his gut and into the groin area and ripped it all apart. The fence was all the way through a back ham. There was dark blood coming out of its mouth. I knew he was messed up bad, and there was no recovery for him. He wasn’t going to survive that.

“I got another officer there to shut down traffic, and that’s when I shot him.”

The buck was known by several neighbors in the area.

“After I killed him, a guy pulled up and was like, ‘I live right there, and I have trail-camera pictures of him. I was trying to shoot him, but it never worked out,’” said Brown. 

Several other neighbors reported seeing the deer the day before and were even taking daytime pictures of the deer bedded down, and it made no effort to run off.

“None of them mentioned he was with a doe, but his hocks were black,” said Brown. “For him to be bedded and staying right there, I assume there had to be a doe nearby.”

Brown called DNR Law Enforcement, and they took the buck with them. It will be put on display as a European mount but also officially scored as a “pick-up” after the 60-day drying period. The buck had 14 scoreable points, with 6 on the right and 8 on the left. The most impressive feature about the buck was its mass, having 7 and 6 3/8-inch circumference measurements at the bases. The buck wasn’t weighed, but it could have gone upward of 230 pounds. 

“The bases were like Coke cans. I couldn’t touch my finger tips together,” said Brown.

GON is hoping this will be the last story we publish for a good long while of a deer hung in a fence, and we know Officer Brown doesn’t enjoy taking these sorts of calls. 

“Those type fences are horrible,” said Brown. “The spikes are dangerous, but also the fences that have the double railing on the top, where there is like a 6-inch gap, when a deer jumps it, their back hoove will slide right in that gap, and it just breaks their leg.”

When Brown is off duty, he enjoys bowhunting a 400-acre tract in Hancock County and a few places he can hunt near his home. He says he’ll usually break the rifle out when it’s time to take his kids hunting.