The Buck Stops In Whitehouse, Texas…
Earlier this month there was an unusual “deer attacks man” encounter in the East Texas hamlet of Whitehouse,Texas.
The incident described below is not a Saturday Night Live skit nor a report from one of the correspondents at The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. This is actual news (the story was originally covered by reporter/anchor Nicole Vowell at NBC affiliate KETK in Tyler, Texas) and it actually happened.
National Film Board of Canada. Photothèque. Library and Archives Canada
Around 9 a.m. on the morning of November 16, 2012 Joseph Rose and Cole Kellis were leaving their house when they spotted a buck in their yard. Vowell reported that the deer initially seemed friendly, but then attacked.
Seeking safety, the men swiftly scampered to Rose’s pickup. While the driver’s side door was open, the deer “poked” Rose in the ribs with his antlers. Both men then retreated into the open bed of the pickup.
Then, as hard as it might be to believe the next bit, we’re told it actually happened. The deer stole Rose’s cigarettes…and then the nicotine ‘napper got extremely cranky when Rose tried to retrieve the stolen smokes from the burglarizing buck.
Rather than allowing the deer his smoke break—or offering him a light—the gentlemen called the police department and the game warden to deal with the furry and furious creature. It took five officers scuffling with the scofflaw to subdue the antlered nicotine bandit. One poor policeman had his wrist broken in the melee.
“Rose and Kellis hunt deer all the time, but this time they felt like the roles were reversed,” Vowell said in a
voiceover near the end of the original news segment. (In Smith County, Texas the white-tailed deer season runs from early November through early January).
“I think the deer tried to switch places. I think he was trying to hunt us,” Rose said in the video.
According to Steve Henry, a Captain of the Whitehouse Police Department, all of the police officers who were injured in the encounter with the buck are now back at work. Henry added that at one point the buck in the incident had been in a wildlife refuge, and was used to being around people. He also pointed out that it was rutting season for the deer in the area.
According to Henry, the deer that caused the incident was put down, and the meat was donated to needy families.
This article originally appeared on Austinist.
