While the woman survived the bizarre attack despite numerous puncture wounds, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources is reminding residents that wildlife should indeed stay wild.
On Sept. 26, DNR officers responded to a residence in the Au Gres area for a report of an antlered white-tailed deer having attacked a woman, according to Lt. Brandon Kieft, DNR district law supervisor.
The woman in question, 64-year-old Patty Jean Willis, had been getting ready for church when she let her dogs outside and heard them making a ruckus, she said. Looking into her backyard, she saw a deer standing there. Adding to the oddity was that the deer wore an orange collar around its neck.
Willis’ son and husband went outside and the deer wandered off, she said. About 10 to 15 minutes later, she went outside to tend to her chicken coop before heading to church. “I got about halfway to the coop when I seen that deer coming at me with its antlers down, fast,” Willis said. “It was charging me. Luckily, I saw it , ‘cause it would have got me in my side.”
Willis turned just in time for the deer to hit her head-on.
“It hit me hard and knocked me back at least 10 feet on my back,” she said. “I grabbed its antlers somehow in the process. They were the first thing I could grab. I was in shock.”
Pinned to the ground and grappling with the ungulate, Willis began screaming as her arms grew weaker and the antler points pierced her skin.
“I just screamed, screamed, and screamed as loud as I could,” she said. “I’ve never screamed that loud in my life. I thought, ‘This is it, I’m not gonna make it.’ My arms were failing me.”
Willis 45-year-old son Luke Willis heard the screams and came running. He scared the deer off his mother and helped her to the house, though at one point the deer made another charge toward them, Patty Willis said.
“It hit me hard and knocked me back at least 10 feet on my back,” she said. “I grabbed its antlers somehow in the process. They were the first thing I could grab. I was in shock.”
Pinned to the ground and grappling with the ungulate, Willis began screaming as her arms grew weaker and the antler points pierced her skin.
“I just screamed, screamed, and screamed as loud as I could,” she said. “I’ve never screamed that loud in my life. I thought, ‘This is it, I’m not gonna make it.’ My arms were failing me.”
Willis 45-year-old son Luke Willis heard the screams and came running. He scared the deer off his mother and helped her to the house, though at one point the deer made another charge toward them, Patty Willis said.
This is a good reminder that wild animals are not cute and are well, wild. There is a shoot on sight order for that particular deer now.
