The afternoon of May 22 was an eventful day for Arizona Game and Fish Service Officer Brian Dietz and Wildlife Manager Seth Scheer. They were dispatched to a canal near Casa Grande, a town in southern Arizona, where two mule deer were half submerged. They were trapped under the canal’s steep cement walls and could not crawl out. With the help of the Pinal County Sheriff’s Department, officers encased the mule deer in a section of the canal they could climb. But at that point the deer was too exhausted to move on its own.
So the officers “called in reinforcements in two young cowboys, Blake and Kyle.” It is unclear how the police tracked down the two young men, and their surnames are not on the record. AZGFD Facebook Post, but they brought the lariat to the scene. Blake expertly roped two mule deer out of the canal for the officers.
Once the deer was safely on dry ground, AZGFD officers released the rope and backed off.
“Cowboys, game wardens and nature itself seemed to collectively hold their breath as the deer came to their senses,” Shear wrote in a Facebook post. “Then the deer gained strength again, jumped forward, flew off into the desert, and regained its freedom.”
Arizona’s mule deer population is estimated to be between 85,000 and 100,000, according to the State of Arizona. data From the Western Fish and Wildlife Service Association. Statewide yields plummeted in his early 2000s, but have steadily increased since then. 10,356 mule deer were caught in 2020.
Casa Grande is located halfway between Phoenix and Tuscon, near the Sonoran Desert. The canals and washwaters that crisscross the area carry vital water throughout the landscape. Much of the land around Casa Grande is used for irrigated agriculture.
read next: Volunteer firefighters rescue giant atypical stag from icy river in Minnesota
One commenter on the Facebook post called for the canal to be fenced off or covered to prevent wildlife from being trapped. Other commenters poured their support and love into the team’s efforts, as well as citing various songs about cowboys. the world needs them more and i wonder where they went.
