FRANKTOWN, Colo. – A 56-year-old man was gored by a deer and received medical treatment at a hospital Wednesday evening. Wildlife officers suspect the aggressive deer was hand-raised by people.
The man was released from the hospital Wednesday evening. The deer was dispatched by a Douglas County Sheriff’s Office deputy after responding to a 911 call from the homeowners. The deer had displayed aggressive behavior towards the officer.
The man and his wife told Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers they saw what was a “friendly deer” fitted with a fluorescent orange dog collar on the other side of their fence around 4:50 p.m. The wife reached over the fence and the deer approached touching her finger with its nose, then the buck came through a break in the fence line. It approached the woman and knocked her back, pinning her into the barb-wire fence.
The husband tried to intervene and the deer attacked, knocking him to the ground and dragging him around the yard. He sustained wounds to his lower body from the buck’s antlers.
The wife ran inside and called 911. She was able to shoot a pellet gun towards the buck, distracting the deer long enough so the man could get up and get behind a boat in the yard to separate himself from the buck.
Wildlife officers believe this deer, a two-year old buck, was one that was domesticated and set-free in the area recently. Prior to Wednesday, CPW had no previous reports of a collared deer in the area.
“Every indication we see points to this deer being raised by people, one from its collar and two from its behavior,” said Wildlife Officer Casey Westbrook. “We suspect somebody was raising it and released it after they couldn’t handle it anymore.
“These are some
