A trophy whitetail buck shot and killed in Illinois is fathering fawns in Louisiana.
A half-dozen does are pregnant because hunter Mike Toney remembered a study done years ago at Louisiana State University, called the researcher and drove all night to get the animal's testicles to him. Though Jesse Saenz is now studying cats for his doctorate, he spent a Sunday in November extracting and freezing deer semen.
A total of 16 does were inseminated; six became pregnant and are expected to give birth as early as next week.
Dearl Sanders is resident coordinator at the LSU AgCenter's research station in Clinton, about 30 miles from Baton Rouge. He says there are more uses for the technique than breeding what he calls "deer with big horns" as hunter targets.