November 21, 2007

Greenbrier, AR – Man versus deer is not always a one-sided contest in favor of the human.

Ron Shock of Greenbrier found himself in a second-best situation with a confrontation with a buck on the third day of the modern gun hunting season. The buck whipped Shock then ran off.

Shock, 63, was hunting near Cadron Creek northwest of Guy in northern Faulkner County. A stand used in past years needed repair, so Shock passed it up and used a lightweight lawn chair on the ground.

He spotted a good-sized buck with its head down, apparently feeding and about 50 yards away. “I cocked my gun, and the buck jerked its head up. I shot, and it went down. It jumped back up, and I shot again. The buck went down again then jumped up and came straight it me. I started backing up and stumbled over the lawn chair.

“The deer went after the lawn chair, and it tangled in its antlers. Then it came at me, pawing with its (front) hoofs. It got me on both sides of my face and my left arm that I was trying to protect myself with. Then the buck ran off.”

Shock said, “That lawn chair saved me. It fell off the deer’s antlers not far away, and I just laid on the ground. I was hurting. My son Danny and grandson Michael were hunting with me, and we have a signal we use to contact each other. So I reloaded the rifle and fired four shots. They came to me.”

Bruised, scratched and shaken, Shock immediately concluded that he was lucky in not being hurt worse by the deer. He said, “I’m not sure how big it was. I think it had 8 or 10 points (on its antlers), and it might have weighed 150 pounds. It was a pretty big buck.”

Ron, Danny and Michael Shock found the bent metal lawn chair but could not find any blood. “That second time I shot the buck, it wasn’t more than four feet away from me.”

Back at the same site two days later, Shock saw vultures. He found the buck dead, with it having gone several hundred yards and across Cadron Creek from where the attack took place.

The deer’s hooves caught Shock on both cheeks and on the neck. The deepest marks were on its left arm, the one raised in protection. The parallel marks were wide apart, indicating a good-sized hoof had made them.

The behavior of male deer can change drastically during the rut, the breeding season, according to wildlife biologists. Normally reclusive, bucks often turn bold and aggressive toward other deer, other animals and even humans. They have been known to charge vehicles on roads as well as four-wheelers and even persons riding horses.

Deer in Arkansas are much more numerous than they were a few decades in the past. In 1939, Arkansas had only 5,000 deer, according to Game and Fish Commission estimates. With a statewide restoration program, deer increased to a quarter of a million in the early 1970s and today the state has more than 750,000, perhaps as many as a million.