January 30, 2014
From ClarionLedger.com
The hunter became the hunted when a Clinton, La., man was attacked by a massive deer he had wounded on his property.
According to Bayou Bucks magazine, Bobby Neames was airlifted to a Baton Rouge hospital and nearly bled to death after the buck gored him through his left thigh on Christmas Eve.
Neames told Bayou Bucks that sent a bullet downrange, striking the deer in the neck. The deer ran into the woods, and Neames said he heard it crash shortly after.
Neames began trailing the animal about 15 minutes later and didn’t get far before he found it.
Neames said the deer was facing him and had a gaping wound in its neck. When their eyes met, the hunter became the prey.
“It happened so fast. I was 20 feet away when he lunged up from a squatted position, and within one-tenth of a second, he’d hit me,” Neames said.
With an antler lodged in Neames’ thigh, the buck tossed him to the ground about 8 feet away. “I knew I was in trouble then,” Neames said. “Before I could even get to my feet, he was down on me attacking me again.
“I was lucky enough to grab his horns when he come down on me because he’s just trying to ram them through my chest. I knew I had to protect my heart and lung area and my face.”
As the struggle continued, Neames’ rifle strap became entangled in the buck’s antlers and to make matters worse, it was loaded with the safety off.
“I got to worrying then, thinking maybe the gun was going to go off,” Neames said. “The deer ain’t going to kill me, but the gun’s going to go off and kill me.”
After several more charges, Neames said, the deer gave pause long enough for him to regain composure and on the next charge, he took control.
“When he come at me one time, I twisted his neck trying to choke him or do anything — just trying to get him off — and he actually did a complete flip over me and his horns stuck in the ground, in the dirt, for just a few seconds,” Neames said.
That was the break Neames needed to put some distance between himself and the would-be killer, which looked back at him then ran into the woods toting Neames’ rifle.
While the rifle was later found by Neames’ son, it was the last anyone would see of the buck.
Neames said he had more than 13 inches of tears in his flesh from the buck’s antlers that took 25 staples and an unknown number of stitches to close.