Video of ‘rare sight’ on Tennessee lake before Christmas leads to slew of Santa jokes
A group of boaters traversing a lake on the Tennessee-Kentucky border just before Christmas spotted a herd of deer taking a dip — prompting jokes from wildlife officials about Santa’s preferred mode of transportation.
The herd of whitetail deer was seen Dec. 23 on Dale Hollow Lake, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency said in a Facebook post. Dale Hollow Lake is about 3 miles east of Celina, Tennessee, and has about 27,700 surface acres of water.
At least six deer can be seen in the 36-second clip, their pointed ears bobbing above the surface as the boat idles toward them.
“That’s not something you see every day,” a person behind the camera is heard saying.
Tennessee wildlife officials joked the herd might belong to Santa.
“With Christmas just two days away, maybe St. Nick is ditching the sleigh for a boat,” the agency said in its post.
“Got tired of being yelled at by Santa; so they showed him who’s in charge!” someone said in a response.
“Maybe it was a crash landing?” another said.
Wildlife officials said it’s not uncommon to see a lone deer in the water — “but seeing a whole herd together is a rare sight,” according to the Tennessee agency.
In November, a large buck was spotted riding the waves off the coast of North Carolina at Sunset Beach. Nancy Byrd Bustle of Hartsville, South Carolina, who filmed the encounter, told McClatchy News the animal stayed in the water for more than a hour.
“Yes, he was still swimming after it got dark,” she said. “It honestly seemed to be enjoying the waves. He’d swim out pretty far and then come back into shore.”
Deer are great swimmers and can swim up to 15 mph, according to WorldDeer.org.
The animals will reportedly swim to escape danger or search for food, and adult deer can “swim for long distances without danger of drowning,” the website states. Fawns, however, will exhaust themselves quickly.
While this herd was full of whitetails, Santa usually flies with reindeer, of course.
This story was originally published December 27, 2021 at 6:51 PM with the headline "Video of ‘rare sight’ on Tennessee lake before Christmas leads to slew of Santa jokes."
