Injured deer put down at Dayton Valley Golf Course

Heidi Geisler left for work at 8 a.m. Thursday with a troubling vision in her head.

An injured doe was hunched down on the first hole of the Dayton Valley Golf and Country Club at Legado, near a buck that didn't appear to be injured.

"It was real close to the road," she said. "We couldn't get anyone out here to take care of it.

She called 911, who contacted wildlife management, who sent a game warden down from South Lake Tahoe, where he was in a meeting, to dispatch the animal with a shotgun.

Geisler didn't see the doe's demise, but said it was gone when she returned at 2:30 p.m. She thought the animal had originally been shot, but Nevada Division of Wildlife spokesman Chris Healy said it had actually been hit by a car.

"There seemed to be a bullet hole in the deer and it seemed to be dying a slow death," she said. "It was sitting there with a buck, then the buck left."

Kay Bernston, golf course superintendent, said the doe, bleeding from the abdomen, and the buck showed up Thursday morning with the doe injured.

"They were bedded down under a tree near Number One," he said. "The buck wasn't injured, but stayed until about 8:30 a.m., which is pretty unusual for a buck."

Bernston said he also called the department of wildlife, and that a warden arrived around 2 p.m.

Healy said the animal was killed with a shotgun by game warden Mike McCusker at about 12:30 p.m. and taken away.

- Contact reporter Karen Woodmansee at kwoodmansee@nevadaappeal.com or call 881-7351.