A man was driving his SUV in an area of suburban Philadelphia known for a high number of car-deer collisions. This man, who was a hunter, seeing a 16-point buck crossing the road and no one else around to report his illegal "hunting" decided to bag himself a trophy buck using his vehicle as the weapon. Details were pieced together by evidence at the scene.

Apparently, the buck, seeing the SUV hurtling at him at high speed, decided not to go quietly into that long good night. If he had to go, he was taking his attacker with him. Or, maybe he thought the roaring hulk coming at him was challenging him for the right to mate with his does and responded instinctively to the challenge.

The man was found dead at the scene, pinned to the seat of the SUV by the 16 point antlers he had been trying to acquire as a trophy. It appeared that the buck had leaped at the SUV as it approached, cleared the hood, and crashed head-on through the windshield, impaling the hunter. The impact had taken place with such force that the EMTs had to cut off the deer's head and remove the whole kit and caboodle, severed deer head, man and car seat in order to get the man out of the SUV.

The incident was called in by the next person who came along the road and found the SUV with the dead deer's body protruding through the windshield. I don't know what happened to the deer head, but I think it's safe to assume that it did not end up on the hunter's wall.

Submitted on 08/15/2007

Submitted by: Gina
Reference: N/A

Copyright © 2007 DarwinAwards.com

Bruce said:
Maybe Toss: Other
Without verification this could only qualify as a PA, and its certainly unique and entertaining enough to qualify. However, having grown up in the northeast United States I've had my far share of encounters with deer on roadways. The closest I ever came to actually hitting one was while driving about 60 mph on the Taconic Parkway in New York in the middle of a sunny day. Three deer ran right across the highway, and I came within about a foot of nailing one. My reason for voting against this particular story is that the whole lead up to the actual accident is pure conjecture. I know from experience that avoiding a deer in broad daylight can be difficult enough, and this may have simply been a tragic accident where the deer jumped in front of the car at the last second, leaving the driver no time at all to react. As the only witnesses, the driver and the deer, were both killed there's no way of knowing exactly how this happened. Thanks for sharing it though, Gina.

Chip said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
While there is no category for a Personal Account of a Personal Account, with a PA we can suspend belief a bit more than usual. Bordering on Urban Legend, I like this story of the buck that fought back. Thanks for sending it to us, Gina

James said:
Neutral: Urban Legend
We certainly appreciate your sending this one, Gina, but I will have to rate this as an UL. Any story told by someone referred to as "numbnuts" will arouse skepticism in your humble servant. Nevertheless, it is an amusing enough story to keep afloat. BTW I too had a near-miss with a deer on the Taconic Parkway (upstate NY)...only it was in the dark of night! :-)

Graham said:
Neutral: Personal Account
I'm not sure how, based on the information here, this story was pieced together in this way. Could he not merely have hit the deer with his urban assault vehicle, without all the drama? This sounds like watch house 'war stories' to me . . .

Jorge said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
I cannot figure a way to verify this but it is still a good story and a good write up

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