Deer

HAGERSTOWN - Two deer ran through downtown Hagerstown Monday morning, and one later died of stress after it was captured and relocated. The deer became corralled for more than an hour in a small area behind the Presbyterian Church of Hagerstown at the corner of South Prospect and West Washington streets. The deer were taken to Indian Springs wildlife area near Clear Spring, where the older one died, officials said. Department of Natural Resources officials released the other deer, a 6-month-old fawn, said Donald Rohrback of the Department of Natural Resources.

A frightened deer crashed through a barber shop window Tuesday night near Port City Java in the Longmeadow Shopping Center north of Hagerstown, according to witnesses. It left broken glass and blood before it bolted back out of the storefront toward Oak Hill Avenue, witnesses said. Anna Marie McDonagh of Hagerstown said she was going to Dollar General at the shopping center about 8:30 p.m. when she noticed an anterless deer running across Potomac Avenue. It went up beside the CVS drugstore before taking off toward the coffee shop, which was hosting live music by a local band.

MERCERSBURG, Pa. -- A Pennsylvania man was flown by helicopter to Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center in Johnstown, Pa., after an accident in which the motorcycle he was operating struck a deer, Pennsylvania State Police said. Robert L. Kring, age unavailable, of Sidman, Pa., was traveling east in the 14000 block of Buchanan Trail West in Peters Township shortly after 11 p.m. Sunday when the Harley-Davidson motorcycle hit the deer, police said. Kring was thrown from the motorcycle, police said.

Two deer got stuck Tuesday night inside a fenced-in area at the Washington County Free Library construction site on South Potomac Street in Hagerstown, city police said. Several residents helped Hagerstown police and Maryland Department of Natural Resource officers corral and free the animals during the 90-minute incident that started about 6 p.m., city police Sgt. Ben Lyncha said. Lyncha said he believed the deer got into the construction site through a small portion of the fence that had been pushed in. Once the deer got out, one took off down a nearby alley and the other down Potomac Street, Lyncha said.

Hagerstown Police Lt. Tom Alexander took this photo of several deer in a local field. One of them appears to be primarily white, a rarity among deer in this part of the country.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - An injured deer was chased through downtown Chambersburg Thursday morning, but efforts to save the animal were unsuccessful. The first call to the 911 center was at 8:13 a.m. from a person who reported a deer in their backyard in the 300 block of South Second Street, a 911 dispatcher said. Several other calls came in as people reported seeing the doe at Southgate Mall and in the F&M Trust parking lot across the street from the Franklin County Courthouse, where several Franklin County Sheriff's deputies tried to corral the deer.

laurae@herald-mail.com DOWNSVILLE - Charlie Settle of Downsville didn't much mind that he came back empty-handed on the first day of Maryland's firearm deer-hunting season. At age 62 and retired, Settle figures he has two weeks to land "the big one," a 10-point buck he's been eyeing. Those trophy deer always show themselves before and after the hunting season, but darn it if they don't seem to hide when hunting season comes around, he said. "He didn't get to be 10-point for being dumb," Settle said with a chuckle.

Maryland Natural Resources police officer Ray Harner said encounters by local residents with deer will become more common as more developments are built. "We're moving into their habitat," he said. "We advise people that if they see a fawn in their backyard, to leave it alone. It's probably normal and OK. Mothers will put them there so they know where they are, and may leave them alone for a while while they feed," Harner said. "Nature takes care of her newborns. Fawns have no scent when they're first born and therefore aren't likely to be found by predators.

shappell@herald-mail.com pepperb@herald-mail.com The man who made Hagerstown famous for saving Bucky the deer last week continued fund-raising efforts for the animal's care and lobbying purposes Thursday, saying the efforts were necessary. Kevin Hall, who had asked prospective contributors to donate money directly to him, has a criminal record dating to 1991. That includes a theft charge in Hagerstown for which he spent nearly a year in the Washington County Detention Center.

A man was taken to Meritus Medical Center with nonlife-threatening injuries Sunday morning after the vehicle he was driving on Interstate 81 near Williamsport hit a large doe, according to an email from Scott Bragunier, spokesman for Williamsport Volunteer Fire & Emergency Medical Services. The man was driving south on I-81, just before the U.S. 11 exit, when the vehicle hit and killed the doe, Bragunier said. The vehicle's airbag deployed, he said. The accident near Maryland's exit 2 for I-81 was reported at 6:53 a.m. Sunday, according to Washington County Emergency Services.

“To the caller who was talking about John Donoghue bringing home the grant to Washington County: Not really interested so much about whether, who brought the grant to the county. What I'm interested in is Gov. O'Malley raising taxes 26 times since he's been governor, and John Donoghue voting for every one of them, along with Mike Miller and Michael Busch, down in Annapolis. All these guys need to be replaced in November.” - Hagerstown “This is in response to the person who heard what they thought were gunshots down in Rest Haven Cemetery.

Almost a year ago, I wrote a column about the meat cutter and his friend, Bucky, a tiny deer rescued from the middle of Porterstown Road by Jeff Shumaker after the little critter's mother had died. Bucky was to have a most unique life. He became a celebrity to all who intimately knew him. Civilization must have seemed a little odd to this visiting fellow. His immediate surroundings did not include thistles, oaks and tall grasses of the valley. Manicured lawns, Little League diamonds and concrete walkways were his paths.

A Western Maryland legislator is trying again to gain passage for a bill that would allow bow-hunters to carry handguns while hunting in some areas of the state. Sen. George C. Edwards, R-Allegany/Garrett/Washington, has introduced a bill similar to one filed last year that passed the Senate but did not get out of committee in the House of Delegates. “(Hunters) are allowed to carry a handgun as they hunt with a rifle … but you cannot carry a handgun and hunt deer with a bow,” he said.

No hunters showed up Saturday morning, the opening day of Maryland's rifle season for deer, for the Rohrersville Ruritan Club's first Hunters Pancake Breakfast. Organizers including Lloyd “J.R.” Smith kept an eye on the front door, but no hunters walked in between 7 and 11 a.m., the stated hours of the breakfast. By 11 a.m., 35 meals had been served, all to nonhunters who came in for the $6 all-you-can-eat breakfast. A sign on the road leading into Rohrersville from Md. 67 announced the breakfast and the hours.

Tens of thousands of Marylanders and people from surrounding states will be taking to the woods this weekend for the start of the two-week firearm season. Last year, approximately 75,000 hunters bagged 98,029 deer statewide, including 34,416 bucks, said Brian Eyler, the Deer Project Leader for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. More than 41,000 of those - including 14,293 bucks - were taken in the firearm season, which runs from Saturday to Dec. 8, he said. “I'm expecting a harvest this year similar to last year,” Eyler said.

Wearing a pink camouflage jacket and carrying a bow, Samantha Elliott walked out of Keystone Sporting Goods this week anticipating the beginning of firearm deer season on Saturday. “This will be the first time in four years I've been out,” the 24-year-old Boonsboro woman said Tuesday. “I've finally gotten out of school and I've got the time ... or I'm making the time.” Elliott said she has been hunting since she was 13 and is looking forward to some time in the woods. “I could probably sit in a tree stand all day and not see anything and still be happy,” Elliott said.

A man was taken to Meritus Medical Center with nonlife-threatening injuries Sunday morning after the vehicle he was driving on Interstate 81 near Williamsport hit a large doe, according to an email from Scott Bragunier, spokesman for Williamsport Volunteer Fire & Emergency Medical Services. The man was driving south on I-81, just before the U.S. 11 exit, when the vehicle hit and killed the doe, Bragunier said. The vehicle's airbag deployed, he said. The accident near Maryland's exit 2 for I-81 was reported at 6:53 a.m. Sunday, according to Washington County Emergency Services.

One person was taken to the hospital Friday morning following an accident involving a deer and three vehicles on Md. 65, also known as Sharpsburg Pike, south of Roxbury Road, Maryland State Police Trooper James Ardinger said. The accident was reported about 6:30 a.m. A van heading north on Sharpsburg Pike struck a deer running across the road, Ardinger said. The impact knocked the deer into the southbound lane and it was caught beneath a Ford pickup truck heading south on Sharpsburg Pike, he said.

A frightened deer crashed through a barber shop window Tuesday night near Port City Java in the Longmeadow Shopping Center north of Hagerstown, according to witnesses. It left broken glass and blood before it bolted back out of the storefront toward Oak Hill Avenue, witnesses said. Anna Marie McDonagh of Hagerstown said she was going to Dollar General at the shopping center about 8:30 p.m. when she noticed an anterless deer running across Potomac Avenue. It went up beside the CVS drugstore before taking off toward the coffee shop, which was hosting live music by a local band.

Two deer got stuck Tuesday night inside a fenced-in area at the Washington County Free Library construction site on South Potomac Street in Hagerstown, city police said. Several residents helped Hagerstown police and Maryland Department of Natural Resource officers corral and free the animals during the 90-minute incident that started about 6 p.m., city police Sgt. Ben Lyncha said. Lyncha said he believed the deer got into the construction site through a small portion of the fence that had been pushed in. Once the deer got out, one took off down a nearby alley and the other down Potomac Street, Lyncha said.