Rudolph the red-state reindeer?

A Texas couple determined to find out who had been damaging a sign in their front yard proclaiming their support for President Obama's re-election bid caught the offender on Wednesday. Tom Priem, a software support engineer in Austin, told FoxNews.com he and his wife, who live on a block where political signs dot front yards, were fed up with seeing only their Obama sign repeatedly defaced.

“The sign had holes poked in it like somebody had stuck a knife through it,” Priem said Friday. “At first I thought it was somebody who didn’t like Obama.”

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Priem said he even called a city hotline to document the incident in case a more insidious offender was to blame. He couldn’t believe his eyes when his wife showed him the surveillance photo she snapped seconds after the campaign sign was destroyed - by a buck.

The varmint's vandalism began about 10 days ago and it’s unclear what the animal has against the sign.

“People across the street have signs and their signs have not been attacked,” he said. “It’s just a weird thing. Maybe they don’t like something in the front yard where they graze.”

Priem’s wife, Beth, captured the deer on camera early Wednesday, just seconds after the Obama sign fell from its antlers. The commotion sent the family’s Yorkshire terrier, Charlie, into a frenzy.

“Charlie chased him until the deer jumped the fence and got away,” Priem said. “I’m just glad it wasn’t a human, either a silly kid or a strange adult.”

The Priems will now bring the sign closer to their home in hopes that the proximity keeps the non-diplomatic deer away.

“It’s just a weird thing,” Tom Priem said. “We were making fun of it, saying the deer must be a Republican.”