A hunter was injured on January 2nd in Fond du Lac county, Wisconsin. This is a very typical sentence to see during hunting season across the country. This isn’t a normal hunting accident, though.

The man, who chose to remain unidentified, was out hunting and thought he got lucky when he shot a female deer with his crossbow. Boy, was he wrong! The deer ran off, injured, so, like a hunter does, the man followed the path this deer took. Little did he know, deer aren’t as “dumb” as hunters think they are. This deer did the unthinkable! Instead of running further away from the man trying to kill her, she turned around. She turned around … and attacked the hunter!

“Apparently the man was going through some thick brush and the deer leaped out and went after him,” said Fond du Lac Sheriff’s Officer Jeff Bonack. “The doe struck him in the leg with her head.”

Deer aren’t normally aggressive animals. Bucks tend to be aggressive during mating season and doe are typically only aggressive when they have their young with them. If someone shot you with an arrow, though, you’d probably be pretty upset too.

Unfortunately, hunting is, in fact, a common way to “deal with” large populations of animals such as deer. As we take over more of their natural habitat, their predators become more scarce, allowing populations to grow to unsustainable sizes. By protecting apex predators, however, we will allow nature to take its course, and balance will be restored the way it should be. We’re just happy this deer made a statement, letting hunters know that her species is not to be messed with.

“I’m guessing the deer got away,” said Bonack.

Image source: Umberto Nicoletti/Flickr