Horns of a dilemma have residents saying ...

PORT MANSFIELD — Chuck Theiss received on Monday morning one of the strangest requests he’s ever had.

“A friend called and said there were two deer locked up and asked what I could do about it,” said Theiss, who owns a marine repair business in Port Mansfield.

By this time, the bucks had moved to the middle of town off Laguna Drive, one of the small fishing village’s main thoroughfares.

Theiss contacted game wardens who informed him there wasn’t much they could do about it, but he did receive permission to try something on his own.

Theiss and five other men — Ken Nolte, Fred Longoria, Oscar Ramirez, Chris Anderson and Howard Steussey — were determined to free the exhausted deer.

“When I got there to look at the situation, the deer were so tired their tongues were hanging out,” Patsy Nolte, Ken’s wife, said.

“They could barely stand up,” said Ken Nolte.

Theiss said each of the bucks weighed about 100 pounds. One was an eight- pointer and the other had 10 points. He said the deer probably got into a fight during the rut, when bucks battle among themselves for breeding rights.

There was a sense of urgency in the rescue because the deer had ventured precariously close to the marina. If they slipped into the water, a rescue would have been much more difficult and drowning was a possibility.

To unlock the antlers, the men first had to subdue the deer. They grabbed their hind legs, forced them to the ground and four of the men held down the deer while the other two tried to free them, Patsy Nolte said.

“Howard was working the antlers and just about got them unstuck, except for one tine,” she said.

Anderson used a hacksaw to saw off the tip of the troublesome tine and free the bucks.

By this time, news had spread throughout Port Mansfield and dozens of people showed up to cheer on the rescuers and watch the drama unfold.

After the antlers were unlocked, there was another little problem to overcome: beating a hasty retreat to avoid being gored.

“Someone said, ‘One, two, three,’ and we got up and ran,” Ken Nolte said. “But, the deer were too tired to come after us.

“Everyone was clapping and high-fiving it,” Ken Nolte said.

In the meantime, one of the bucks stumbled into the water, swam around a little, walked around a cove and disappeared, Theiss said. The other got up, ran toward the water, then headed west to freedom.

Both deer appeared to be OK, just exhausted.

The drama took about an hour, but was worth it, Theiss said.

“Yeah, I’d do it again,” he said. “I really want to give the animals a fighting chance.”

For Ken Nolte, freeing the bucks left him with a good feeling.

“We were all very happy,” he said. “One lady yelled out ‘You guys are our heroes.’”