Police log a pair of Bambi break-ins

BARNSTEAD — It’s not every Thanksgiving weekend that deer bolt through glass windows. But two — the first at an auto mechanic’s shop in Goffstown on Saturday, the second at Barnstead Elementary School on Sunday — are enough to raise a few eyebrows.

Motor vehicle accidents involving deer that dart out of woods across dark country roads are common this time of year, the height of deer mating season, according to the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department. Big animals bounding through windows in daylight — that’s a different story.

“I’ve seen small animals get inside, like mice. Or a toad in my father’s house. To get an animal this size, I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Officer Mytchel Cookinham of Barnstead Police, who responded to a report of a possible breaking and entering at the town’s elementary school on Sunday afternoon. “It was huge. At first I was shocked to just receive a phone call.”

When Cookinham and members of the Barnstead Fire Department arrived at the school on Maple Street in Center Barnstead, a local woman and her two daughters said they’d watched a deer leap through a school window — which turned out to be surprisingly small, considering the height and width of the deer.  Moving closer, the Barnstead Fire Captain looked in and said, “Hello there.”

Cookinham and firefighters peered at 10-point buck loitering in the lobby of the school’s wing that serves the youngest children, linked to hallways that run throughout the building. It burst through a two by three foot window, Cookinham said.   

When the first responders entered, the roughly 200-lb. herbivore struggled to get traction on the polished floor, scrambling frantically for about 30 seconds. It lost one of its antlers in its thrashing.

“It was like a movie of Bambi, slipping and sliding on the ice,” said Cookinham. “I wasn’t sure how to get it outside. It had one good horn and I didn’t want to get wacked by it.”

The deer ran around a corner. Then he heard a crash, followed by nothing.  After smashing a glass door, the deer charged through another different window — this one also closed.

“I don’t think the deer was hurt,” said Cookinham. “He had a broken antler and won’t do so well with the ladies. But he jumped out and trotted off through the woods.”

It left part of one antler in the lobby, which Cookinham gave to the witnesses who hoped for a souvenir.

“I’m hoping this is not a regular thing,” said Barnstead Police Chief Paul Poirier. “I’ve been doing this for 36 years. I’ve seen deer run into the sides of cars and smash windows. It’s hunting season. Maybe it was trying to get out of the way.”

At Barnstead Elementary, two plate glass windows and a glass door will need now to be replaced. Nothing else appeared to be damaged. Based on hoof prints and spots on the floor, the deer had wandered through most of the building, Cookinham said.

It will take more than routine police work to fathom its motives or determine its current location. But there’s a strange coincidence. Poirier said that on several mornings when he has come to work, he’s spied a 10-point deer (meaning, antlers with 10 tips) standing beside an apple tree outside his window, near a trail that extends behind the elementary school. Monday morning the deer was nowhere in sight.

“We don’t train specifically to deal with deer incidents,” Poirier said. “Most of the time we keep our fingers crossed and hope it ends well.”

Wildlife encounters are a regular occurrence throughout New Hampshire, where humans and creatures compete for space, and deer ambling through fields or backyards are a part of life.

According to Dan Bergeron, a deer specialist for the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, sightings are even common in urban areas with woods nearby. Going through glass? “I wouldn’t call it normal, but it’s not unsual,” Bergeron said.

Fish and Game receives roughly one report a year of deer breaking through glass on a building, and two in one weekend certainly beats the record. “But this time of year, this stuff happens,” said Bergeron. It’s the most active time of year for deer, and the three weeks in mid-November constitute the peak of their rut, or mating season. “Bucks move a lot and have one thing on their mind. They’re not always thinking clearly. They don’t see glass, for one thing. It’s not uncommon for them to go through a window,” Bergeron said.

At Bill Sarette’s Tire and Battery on Mast Road in Goffstown on Saturday, the owner was at home and surprised by a call from police. Bill Sarette met them at his shop. They found the deer in a back room, making a huffing sound.

“My dad started this place in 1965. I’ve worked here since I was 12. I’ve never seen anything like this," said Sarette.

“The deer jumped into a plate glass window at one end of my building, then galloped down to the other end” where it smashed through a two-by-three foot window in the garage door. “We found him inside the back of my shop.”

Sergeant John Babcock of Goffstown Police said the deer leaped through glass at the auto repair station, located on a bustling end of Mast Road, and stayed inside for about an hour before it escaped the same way it entered.

Sarette consulted his costumers who are hunters, who believe the deer may have charged at his own reflection.

“We go to a lot of motor vehicle incidents with deer, especially this time of year,” said Babcock. “We’re smack dab in the middle of the woods, so we have a lot of game running around”- including black bear and bobcats. This past season was active for bear, said Babcock, with an uptick in sightings. “As we develop their habitat, we’re in their area.”

Deer are anxious by nature, and can become frantic when cornered by humans, and can easily injure themselves trying to escape from an enclosed space, Bergeron said. His advice is to give the deer a wide berth, and back away to let them calm down and leave on their own. If they don’t, it’s important to call Fish and Game, who can remove the deer if necessary.

Poirier advises homeowners, business owners and passersby who witness or experience deer break-ins to stay calm and call 911. Don’t make sudden movements that would startle the animal, he said. “They’re scared when they do this – probably as scared as you are.”

Babcock advises homeowners to clear out of the house until help arrives. “If you catch a buck in the rut, they’re aggressive,” he said, and a cornered deer is desperate.