In the quiet town of Fulshear, Texas, Officer Kevin Zieschang was on his regular patrol when he got a call that was anything but routine. While calls about mistreated dogs aren’t rare, this one was different. Someone reported seeing a young deer, a buck, tied to a tree in the backyard of a house that was still being built.
Wasting no time, Officer Zieschang rushed to the scene. When he arrived, he found that the construction workers had already stepped in. They had freed the young deer and carefully removed the rope that was tangled around his antlers. Everyone felt relieved, but what happened next caught them all off guard.
As Officer Zieschang looked over the situation, he noticed that this deer wasn’t acting like a typical wild animal. The workers tried to scare the deer away, thinking he would run back into the woods. But instead, the deer walked right up to Officer Zieschang, almost as if he was asking for a friendly scratch behind the ears. The whole touching moment was captured on video.
“He’s just hanging out, man,” someone is heard saying in the footage. Everyone was puzzled—how did this deer end up tied to a tree? The Fulshear Police Department had a guess. They thought that the deer, whom they started calling “Uncle Buck,” had gotten used to being around people. Maybe folks had been feeding him, which would explain why he was so friendly.
Uncle Buck wasn’t shy at all. He would walk up to people, nuzzle them, and even lick their hands like a pet dog. News about Uncle Buck’s rescue spread quickly, and local reporters came to tell his story. And who showed up during the media coverage? Uncle Buck himself! He seemed to enjoy all the attention, putting on a show for everyone there.
“He came back to see me!” Officer Zieschang told ABC 13. The deer even got close to the cameramen, clearly enjoying being in the spotlight. The person recording the video added, “So, Officer Ziechang is out here with the news media talking about the deer that was tied up yesterday, and during the news conference, the deer showed back up.”
“He’s a good kid. I’m going to call him Uncle Buck.”
Even though Uncle Buck was very friendly, Officer Zieschang wanted people to know that he didn’t think the deer was someone’s pet. He also warned the public not to harm any deer that might wander into their backyards within the city. The police were worried about Uncle Buck’s safety, especially if he kept coming back to the construction site.
In the end, they decided to move Uncle Buck to a safer place. “The young deer was sedated by hand and after a brief struggle, he gently fell asleep. The deer was placed in a vehicle and transported to a large animal sanctuary in Katy. ‘Uncle Buck’ is now safe and sound and seems to love his new protected home,” the police department shared on their Facebook page.
And so, Uncle Buck’s story has a happy ending. We have a heartwarming video that shows just how friendly and special he really is.
