Thomas Alexander, 66, was hunting deer Tuesday night in Arkansas during the state’s muzzleloader season when something happened that Keith Stephens, the Chief of Communications with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, said is the strangest things that’s happened in two decades.
Alexander was killed by the deer he shot.
“I’ve worked for the Game and Fish Commission for 20 years, and it’s one of the stranger things that’s happened,” he told KY3.
Officials believe the 66-year-old, who was an experienced hunter, shot the deer and waited an undetermined amount of time before checking on his kill. However, when he went to check on the deer, it wasn’t dead.
“It got back up, and he had several puncture wounds on his body.”
Alexander was able to call his family for help, and they contacted emergency personnel, but he did not survive.
The agency said it’s difficult to tell whether Alexander died from the puncture wounds or a heart attack, and it’s unlikely they’ll ever know as an autopsy will not be conducted.
“Our assumption is the deer did gore him with his antlers,” Stephens told ABC News.
Deer blood was found at the scene.
A similar incident occurred roughly four years ago, but the hunter survived.
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission reiterated the importance of waiting at least 30 minutes before approaching a deer to make sure it’s dead.
“When you get up there, be really careful around it because it may not be dead. 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,” Stephens said.
This is so strange. It’s such a sad story all around. While I’m happy the deer wasn’t killed and I hope it wasn’t fatally wounded, I cannot be happy that a man lost his life.
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