Busby the Buck is on the lam

Bemidji can’t have nice things, apparently.

MNArtists.orgBusby Big Buck has been stolen, the Bemidji Pioneer reports. Busby is the fairly iconic deer sculpture that graces the entrance to the Bemidji Woolen Mills.

Bill Batchelder, the owner of the firm, says the theft of the life-sized statue probably happened overnight on Thursday.

Batchelder said the nearly life-size buck statue, made for the Bemidji Sculpture Walk by longtime veterinarian Dr. James Busby, was in its place Thursday afternoon. He said he remembers the time because he was meeting with some visiting business people and the buck is always a point of conversation.

However, the next time he took notice of Busby, the buck was gone. That was after Friday’s night’s Bemidji Axemen game, he said. A friend of Batchelder lives near the store, and Batchelder said he was giving that friend a ride home when he noticed Busby was missing from atop his pedestal at the corner of Third Street Northwest and Irvine Avenue. He called police.

The sculpture walk in Bemidji is often the target of thieves.