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/ CBS Colorado
Late autumn to early winter is known as “the rut,” or mating season for deer. In the last few weeks, Colorado Parks and Wildlife has received several reports of deer attacking dogs. One of those incidents occurred in the backyard of a Castle Pines family’s home, and the attack was captured on video.
Tamar Peister struggles to watch the video of the moment her 4-year-old Bernese Mountain dog, Luke, was attacked by a deer.
“I don’t like it with the sound on. It’s absolutely terrifying,” Peister said.
The attack took place on Nov. 30 when Peister noticed a large buck in her yard.
“I was filming the buck, and then Luke went out to go to the bathroom and ran down towards the backyard, and the buck immediately charged him,” Peister said.
The video Peister took captures the attack, along with the family’s shrieks of fear in response.
“It’s attacking Luke!” one of Peister’s children cries out in the video.
“My daughter and I were really scared and worried,” Peister recalled, “we were screaming and then Luke disappeared and ran around the side of the house. We found him inside because the door was open, and his heart was racing.”
The buck stayed in the yard for several hours. Inside, the family realized Luke was bleeding and rushed him to the vet.
“They did say that he was gored deep in the muscle,” Peister said. “And the vet said that if he was any smaller and he didn’t have that several inches of fur, that it would have probably been lethal.”
Luke needed stitches and medication for the deep cut. He has to wear a cone as he heals, and the family is still shaken. They frequently encounter wildlife in their neighborhood, and have even found a bear in their yard, but Peister says they never expected deer to be a threat.
“It’s just devastating, right? I mean, it’s so unexpected, and to think, how could we have prevented it?” Peister said. “Just really surprised, because the deer, they’ve never been scary in the past.”
“As you can see in the video, it’s really terrifying. As a pet owner, as an animal lover, you don’t want to see anything like that,” said Kara Van Hoose, spokesperson for Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
Van Hoose says the buck’s aggression can be attributed to increased testosterone during the mating season.
“This is the time of year when deer are in rut, or mating season, and the male deer, or bucks, kind of just lose their minds trying to mate with as many females as possible. The buck probably thinks the dog is some sort of threat, is some sort of obstacle between him and does,” Van Hoose said.
The rut will last through the end of December. During that time, Coloradans should be more wary of deer, especially males.
“It’s just second nature to let your dog go outside, right out of your back door. But especially during this month of December, deer are out there and they think your dogs are a threat to them,” Van Hoose said.
Olivia Young is a reporter at CBS News Colorado. Read her latest reports or check out her bio and send her an email.
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