Lobstermen Rescues Deer Five Miles Off Coast of Maine

A group of lobstermen was able to catch a live deer in open water five miles off the mainland town of Harrington, Maine.

Ren Dorr, one of the lobstermen, told the Bangor Daily News that he was setting up three lobster traps and was about to head to their next buoy when he surprisingly saw a young deer that seems to had given up swimming and carried farther offshore.

He said the deer was going with the current and was not trying to fight the flow or swim against it. He said the wild animal was going along with the float.

Dorr perceived that the deer had likely been in the water for no less than six hours due to the ocean tide. He, however, explained the buck was floating away toward the open ocean.

The lobsterman noticed the deer, weighing about 100 pounds (45.36 kg), was "pretty beat out," hence he told his crew to grab the animal. He did not really figure things out and asked his team to throw the deer in the boat and take him to the land, he said. 

To grip the end of the deer's antler, Dorr utilized a metal hook on the end of a handle. He and his team grabbed the hair of the deer's back and pulled him to the boat.

Dorr said the deer weakened out, and "laid right down like a dog." He said he took him and his crew half an hour to return to Harrington, where the deer was set free.

"I pulled up as close as I could, probably 40 or 50 yards [from shore], I picked him up and set him over the side," Dorr said, adding that the deer was dazed in the corner for a second when the animal was dropped in.

Later in the deer got energized when he saw the land was right there, according to the lobsterman. The animal, once ashore, laid down for a few seconds before climbing to the treeline and started to feed food.

Dorr saw a deer swim before. Deers are usually seen near a local river when hunting activities have driven them there. However, it was the first time he saw such an incident. He said he was happy to be able to help. He added the deer would have been "a goner" if he had not been a Good Samaritan and rescued the animal.

"He was [going to] die, 100 percent. There's no [doubt] - he was a goner," Dorr said. "I couldn't have done that on my conscience. I figured I'd bring the deer in since that is not the person I am," he said.

The lobsterman said in the Facebook post that the crew sailed back out to haul after rescuing the deer.
Dorr added photos of the rescue in his post. It illustrated the young deer floating in the sea, how it pulled in the boat, and the animal swimming to safety close to shore.