Deer or Elk or What?

As part of my week I made a trek back home to Barnwell for some time with friends and family. About half way through my trip I ran across a very interesting item . . .

Here we have a lovely bronze statue of a, um . . . does anyone know what this is? I am from the suburbs of Barnwell and did grow-up in the sticks, but I have no idea what sort of mammal this is or why someone would want to place it by a major highway outside their business. Oh, well - I guess it's just a different culture!