My guess is the buck in the foreground was shot and put in the "shot".
Two different thoughts on this one.
First thought,
It's dead cause his right front leg is folded over, (He actually looks alive because the ears are up?) if he were alive, leg would be out, ready to turn over cause his right antler does not seem to be locked in, giving him the leverage to turn over, so my assumption, he was shot and put into the picture.
The left side deer (#1)died first and it's not plump were lookin at, it's bloating I think?.
Looking at the dirt behind the two main combatants(top left) suggests quite a battle, but they moved into the foreground, #1collapsed of a broken neck and # 2 dragged it forward and died of exhaustion soon after. Enter # 3 (foreground photo conversation piece).
2nd thought,
Colour for # 3 looks darker, fresher. It's possible I guess that he got into the fight much after the first two were locked up? but doesn't make sense.
But anything can happen I guess?
