Video of bucks brawling on side of Colorado highway highlights dangers of rut season

Evidence of the mule deer rut season is easy to spot along highways in Colorado.

A Colorado Parks and Wildlife intern was driving and saw a large herd of mule deer crossing a county road. Their crossing was followed by two bucks “clashing in effort to earn a mate,” the agency wrote on Twitter.

The bucks’ antlers are entangled as they bash each other back and forth against a highway fence, the video shows.

“After the video ended, the loser bounded back across the road toward the river, where the rest of the herd awaited,” officials wrote on the post. “The winner, accompanied by a doe, leisurely meandered across the road. Definitely the time of year to be deer aware!”

The mule deer mating season, known as the rut, can make bucks act mad. It drives them into a frenzy to mate with does, officials said in another recent post.

“After sharpening their antlers on trees, they wildly chase does and drive off rival bucks, sparring violently,” just like they’re shown in the video.

The rut coincides with other variables, such as the time change and the first mountain snows of the season, making driving during the rut especially precarious.

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