Three whitetail bucks locked horns in battle & drowned together in a creek in Ohio.
Burke couldn’t believe it. “I could see two, but three? I asked if he was sure and he said, ‘Yes.’ I drove down and met him. They were floating in the creek almost like three petals of a flower or something.”
Actually, they were in love.
They knew that the others wouldn’t understand. It was unconventional. Not just bucks, but the three of them, together. Their love wouldn’t further the species, not that they’d get the chance to do that, anyway. There were too many bucks this season as it was. Too many competing for the does. They’d bonded over that reason. Despite being strong, prime examples of their species, their hearts weren’t in it. They let themselves lose fights, much to the disgust of the other bucks around them. But together, they’d found some understanding, some affection, and a feeling of home.
But they couldn’t go on with it. Not season after season being ridiculed, outcast, and unwanted. Their society thrived so much on making families that they truly believed that they would never feel fulfilled without that. And so… they decided to go out together, sharing the heartache of the herd’s disapproval and the small, perfect joy of having finally found love.
Not by car or by hunter, or even starvation… but in the water, where all life began.