That certainly took long enough.

And we're back, finally.  Here's a brief rundown of what's happened (and yes, I have been keeping up with this, it's just that nothing's really happened lately): Patty ran off into the woods in search of Bucky after Mark said that it appeared the deer had only been grazed by the bullet.  Leaving Patty to her own defenses, Mark visited his pals at the Forest Service in order to learn more about Ken.  It seems that the economy has been less than kind to his logging business and he's had to layoff most of his workforce (which would make anyone angry, I suspect).  After what seemed like an eternity of searching, Patty finally found Bucky, but was horrified to find that his antlers had become entangled with those of another deer, causing her to run off and find Mark, which is where we now join this comic, already in progress.

Thank the stars that Mark still has his great-great-grandfather's saw, otherwise those deer could be locked in combat forever, or at least until their antlers fall off.  It would seem that Patty has actually followed Mark's advice this time, retreating to a distance of about five miles away from the two wild beasts as Mark works to free them from their entanglement.  Now, I don't know about you, but I think that one of those deer is clearly getting the short end of the stick in all of this since the one on the left, who I'm going to assume isn't Bucky, has to get his antlers completely sawed off, while the deer on the right seems to get out of this predicament completely unharmed.  That's favoritism, and that's just wrong.  They should both end up having little stubs for antlers.  That's the only way to be completely fair.  (Plus, if they were that tangled up, I find it hard to believe that one would come out completely unscathed while the other loses everything.  What did you do Mark?  Try out some fancy sawing techniques?  Just because one of those deer happens to be a friend doesn't mean that the other should suffer more.  Dirty pool, old man.  Dirty pool.)   

With the sawing complete, all that's left to do is to see what happens now that the deer have been freed to romp and play in the forest.  (I will not say run, for deer do not run, regardless of what a certain company may say.)  I only hope that they don't turn on their rescuers, which leads me to another question: what if this is all a trick by the Avians to lull Mark's defenses and lure him into a trap?  What if they're all sitting in the trees, watching as Mark takes the bait (for how could be refuse helping the helpless?), waiting for the right moment to attack and rain down death from above, finally defeating our intrepid woodsman, thus taking their places as rulers of the world?  (I mean, they have been hanging around a lot.  Who knows what foul deeds they've been planning.)  Or, maybe the deer will just bound away, seeking the safety of the forest.  You know, whatever works.