Hunter Dies After Being Attacked By The Deer He'd Just Shot

A hunter in Arkansas has died after a deer he had just shot attacked him, KY3 reports.

Arkansas Game and Fish Commission officials said Thomas Alexander, 66, had shot a buck with a muzzleloader while he was out hunting near Yellville in Marion County.

He was found severely injured in the woods on Tuesday night (22 October) with puncture wounds, and sadly later died.

Keith Stephens, the Chief of Communications with the agency, told KY3: "I've worked for the Game and Fish Commission for 20 years, and it's one of the stranger things that's happened."

Referring to the deer, Stephens continued: "I don't know how long he left it there, but he went up to check it to make sure it was dead. And evidently it wasn't."

Stephens explained that this was the moment the deer attacked.

He said: "It got back up, and he had several puncture wounds on his body."

NBC

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission believes Alexander was out hunting by himself, but had been able to call his family.

According to CNN, Alexander's nephew found him - at which point the injured man was alert and talking but clearly unwell.

He had stopped breathing by the time paramedics were able to get him to the hospital, and he later tragically passed away.

Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said it is currently unclear whether the experienced hunter had died from the puncture wounds he suffered, or from something else like a heart attack.

Stephens added: "It's my understanding there's not going to be an autopsy, so we may never know what actually happened."

While Stephens found the incident one of the more bizarre occurrences in the area, he did say something similar had happened once before, a few years back.

He said: "There was somebody that did get stuck by a buck's antlers, and this was about four years ago.

"And it was pretty significant, but they did survive."

PA

Corp. Joe Dale Purdom from the Game and Fish Commission told CNN that injuries resulting from wounded deer are not uncommon.

He said sometimes hunters might approach a deer thinking it is dead when it is only stunned or injured, and sometimes the animal jumps up to run away and can injure hunters in the process.

Purdom explained it is generally good hunting practice to wait 15 to 30 minutes before approaching a shot deer to make sure it is dead.

The wounded buck has not been found, he added.

Topics: deer, News, US News, Hunting, Animals

Jess Hardiman

Jess is a journalist at LADbible who graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Film Studies, English Language and Linguistics - indecisiveness at its finest, right there. She also works for FOODbible and its sister page Seitanists, which are both a safe haven for her to channel a love for homemade pasta, fennel and everything else in between. You can contact Jess at [email protected].

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