An Arkansas hunter’s good fortune turned tragic when he was killed by the same deer he had just shot.
“I’ve worked for the (Arkansas) Game and Fish Commission for 20 years, and it’s one of the stranger things that’s happened,” Keith Stephens, communications chief for the agency, told KY3.
Stephens said 66-year-old Thomas Alexander was hunting with a muzzleloader near Yellville, Ark., when he shot a buck.
“I don’t know how long he left it there,” Stephens said, “but he went up to check it to make sure it was dead. And evidently it wasn’t.”
That’s when the deer got up and attacked Alexander.
“It got back up, and he had several puncture wounds on his body,” Stephens said.
Stephens said the hunter managed to contact his family, who, in turn, called for emergency help. Responders were able to transport Alexander to the hospital, but that’s where he died. Authorities aren’t certain whether Alexander died from puncture wounds or another medical condition, such as a heart attack.
Stephens said no autopsy is planned, “so we may never know what actually happened.”
Stephens reminds hunters to be certain the deer is not moving for about 30 minutes before approaching it.
“When you get up there, be really careful around it because it may not be dead,” Stephens said. “But if you let them lay there for a while and they don’t move, and he may have done that. We just don’t know.”
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