A hunter is being called a hero after successfully capturing a deer that escaped from a wildlife reserve in eastern Ontario a week ago. "We feel so good right now that at least we got Mokie back in," said Wendy Workman, co-founder of the Fallow Deer Reserve near Kingston, after one of three fallow deer bucks still at large was corralled into a horse trailer by hunter Mike Ivanik Thursday afternoon.
"Thank god for Mike ... He's the hero," said Workman.
Mokie and 12 other fallow deer bucks escaped from their enclosure the night of Nov. 6, when vandals apparently cut a hole in a fence. Police are now investigating.
The missing deer are all males or bucks and belong to a species native to Europe.
In total, 10 have been returned to the reserve, two remain at large, and one died after being hit with a tranquilizer dart earlier this week during an attempt to recapture him.
Workman said Mokie was trapped in a corral built with wildlife fencing and attached to the back of a horse trailer.
Ivanik set up a life-size model of a deer at the corner of a wide-open field and sprinkled it with female deer urine to attract Mokie. Nearby, he erected a blind and hunt camp where he stayed, day and night watching for the spotted buck and ready to pull on a rope that would shut the door of the horse trailer.
Food was also put out for the missing buck, and he was eventually lured into the trailer.
Workman said Mokie was back at the reserve Thursday afternoon and seemed relaxed as he stepped out of the trailer.
"He just walked out like, 'Hmmm.... I'm fine,'" she said.
Initially, Workman feared her deer might fall prey to hunters, but she has now come to see the hunters differently.
"We haven't had anyone that's shot at our deer," she said. "They've been extremely helpful in tracking them and keeping us informed as to where they are."
The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources is concerned that the fallow deer could interbreed with native species, said spokesman Eugene DeShane.
"We want to keep the white-tailed strain separate from any other deer species because we want to keep them pure," he said.