It sounds too wild to be true, but this story is well-circulated on the Internet, verified multiple times and it even made the front page of the Wall Street Journal today. Enjoy.
MANISTEE, MICHIGAN -- A Manistee man who said he was charged by a deer and spent more than a half hour wrestling with the 200-pound animal before he killed it, was upset that the Department of Natural Resources wouldn't allow him to keep the deer.
"I fought for my life with that deer and I think it should be mine," said David Gutowski, 41.
Conservation officers took the deer from Gutowski's home after he called the DNR to request a permit to keep the carcass. Gutowski said DNR officials told him they needed to perform an autopsy on the deer to check for disease and see if the body offered any clues to why the deer attacked him.
Officers also told Gutowski he could be ticketed because it was unlawful for him to kill the deer by strangling it with his belt and hitting it with a piece of lumber, he said.
Gutowski, a painter, said his strange ordeal began when he was looking for fishing lures along the shores of Manistee Lake.
As he was walking, he said the buck jumped out of the woods about 20 feet away from him.
He said he tried to scare off the deer, but the animal charged and knocked him in the water. Alone and not knowing what to do, Gutowski said he grabbed the deer by its antlers and hung on.
"He was going to spear me in the guts if I didn't," Gutowski said.
What followed was an exhausting wrestling match that went on for nearly 45 minutes, he said.
"It was grunting and going crazy," Gutowski said. "I had my legs wrapped around its rib cage and I was squeezing for all I was worth. I was afraid to let go, for fear that it would kill me."
Holding the deer's antlers with one hand, Gutowski said he managed to undo his belt and wrap it around the animal's neck. He said he choked the animal until it was too weak to move, then used a piece of railroad tie he found nearby to club it to death.
Gutowski said he's hunted deer for more than 25 years with guns and bows, but never before has engaged in hand-to-hoof combat. He came away from the battle with some bruises, cuts from the antlers and a sore back.
"I didn't kill him on purpose; I was scared for my life," he said. "I promise I will never get into a fight with a deer again."
After having an autopsy performed on the animal, DNR officials determined that Gutowski apparently did kill the deer as he described. The also determined, however, that the animal had apparently been hit by a car. There was a severe injury to the deer's hip and a motorist reported hitting a deer in the area the day before.
One DNR official questioned whether the deer actually "charged" Gutowski. But the man who did hand-to-hoof combat with the animal said, "I certainly didn't do that for the fun of it. I was scared fo my life."
After all was said and done, the DNR did allow Gutowski to keep the deer's 6-point rack. He said he's going to mount the antlers, along with the belt he used to choke it.