Injured Buck Kills Arkansas Hunter

The Realblog with Stephanie Mallory

Injured Buck Kills Arkansas Hunter

Posted 2019-11-01T23:39:00Z

Hunter suffered multiple puncture wounds after approaching deer he assumed was dead

A muzzleloader hunter thought a deer he'd shot was dead, but he was mistaken. When he approached it, the wounded animal attacked. In an interview with ABC News, Keith Stephens, chief of communications for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, said that 66-year-old Thomas Alexander shot the buck from a stand during the Arkansas muzzleloader season. When he went to retrieve it, Alexander discovered that the deer was still alive. It jumped to its feet and instead of fleeing, it attacked, inflicting multiple puncture wounds to the hunter.

According to CBS News, Alexander was able to call his wife after the attack. Emergency responders planned to airlift him out of the woods, but he stopped breathing before the helicopter arrived, so he was taken by ambulance instead. Alexander was pronounced dead at Baxter Regional Medical Center. An official cause of death has not been released.

"We're not sure that he died from the deer. It could have been other medical issues (like a heart attack). It's my understanding that there's not going to be an autopsy," Stephens said. "The hospital did note that he had several puncture wounds."

Stephens said a similar attack by a wounded deer occurred in south Arkansas in 2016, but the hunter in that case survived.

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