Not sure if that's tongue in cheek-- maybe you know in the Alaskan bush where Purina isn't on the menu they stack them up in the back yard like cord wood and they become dog food for the rest of the winter, hence the name
On redds the bucks do some pretty fancy spawning displays---one of them you mentioned. Then there's the "T" formation where competing bucks will broadside each other like pissed off rhinos. They spend so much time fussing in the gravel before finally getting it on, it's no wonder they look 10 miles of bad road once it's all finally over...