Bernie Ellis stands next to the two big, locked-horn bucks that were found along a fence in his back yard last October. Photo courtesy of Bernie Ellis

Just how often does the battling of two bucks result in the death of the participants? The commonly held belief is that such occurrences range from extremely rare to unheard of. However, during the annual breeding right rituals in southwestern West Virginia world of the white-tailed deer, that judgment may not be so hard and fast!

A prominent national outdoor magazine reiterated the long-held judgment as I paged through it while waiting my turn at Logan County's Guyan Barbershop. At this point in life, the reading glasses must be donned for that traditional wait inside the scrolling candy-stripes. With that backdrop, the barbershop (BS!) talk proceeded!

When proprietor Glen Grimmett sat me in the chair for my light trim, I gingerly placed the glasses in my breast pocket. As he started snipping, there was the usual local talk of big buck deer that included some eyebrow lifters.

For example, the guy in the other chair was going on about a recent gubernatorial bowhunt encounter with none other than (then) Governor Bob Wise just across the mountain. Of the Mountain State's assemblage of 55 counties, Logan remains one of its four "bowhunting-only" strongholds famous for its trophy bucks. Coincidental to both the talk and magazine matters, it was just then that I noted some newly framed photos on the wall. Not having the glasses on and all, I asked Glen if they were the pictures of the two locked-horn bucks from Chief Logan State Park superintendent Bruce Collinsworth that made quite a stir a few years back?

Much to my surprise, Glen indicated that the photos were quite recent. Just a few weeks back they had been given to him by Bernie Ellis, a customer up the road. Glen let me borrow the photos and a quick call to Ellis revealed the latest on yet another gruesome and fatal Logan County encounter.

Just maybe, these white-tailed death duels were not so rare after all!

Ellis granted permission to use the photos and related the story that unfolded in his very own back yard. In fact, the mayhem of the battle was unbeknownst to him until he found the corpses.

The antler-locked bucks' bodies were still warm when he discovered them the morning of Oct. 19, 2004. Both bucks were more than amply racked, typical Pope and Young 9-pointers, each having 5 points to their left antlers and 4 points to the right sides.

Apparently, that was a deadly match made some place other than heaven. The weather was unseasonably warm and the deer were bloating. With such an adrenaline- and hormone-induced battle, there may not have been much venison worthy of salvage. However, Bernie and a friend secured the horns that they were eventually able to disengage only after tremendous effort. In hindsight, Ellis wished he had had the heads mounted in the horn-locked position.

The circumstances, photographs and witnesses all told made for an absolutely fascinating event. That this one occurred within a short few miles of the previous one reported within Chief Logan State Park in the fall of 1998 made it ever more amazing.

It again begs the question: Just how many other sparring buck pairs fight to their death via this gruesome horn-locking thing? And how many other battles like this cause fatal or debilitating horn-stabbing injuries like jaw-breaks or blinding that likewise result in the death of battling buck whitetails?

The 1998 and 2004 Logan County battles within or a few miles distant, respectively, at Chief Logan State Park, are defying some commonly held beliefs. The park is an area gemstone where deer gawking is a popular pastime. The 1998 find was actually the skeletal locked remains of a battle that was judged to have occurred there in the fall of 1997.

No coincidence, the bowhunting-only status of the county and the "no-hunting" state park protection allows some of the bucks to grow to their true potential. This as opposed to gun hunt counties where few bucks get to live long enough to sport their maximum potential headgear.

Supervisor Dick Hall concurs with these assessments as far as bucks reaching their primes. However, he has never personally encountered or received a report of any such horn- locking deaths during his long tenure with the state.