Buck Attacks Teen And Mom In Woods Behind Madison County Home

A 13-year-old Colbert teen and his mom were fortunate to escape serious injury after both were attacked by a 9-point buck on Feb. 11.

Kyle Watkins, his twin brother Tyler, and two friends were playing with airsoft guns (used similarly to paint-ball guns) in the woods behind the Watkins’ Madison County home when the buck approached.

“My brother said, ‘Kyle, there’s a deer behind you.’ I turned around to look, and it rammed into me,” Kyle said.

Kyle’s father, Daniel Watkins, said, “It hit him in the stomach and just rolled him. As luck would have it, Kyle had a big belt buckle on, or those antlers would have got him. They were sharp.

“He used his cell phone and called my wife at the house, and she thought it was a joke at first. She went down there, and it attacked her. She grabbed it by the antlers and was going around and around a tree with that buck. I was in the shop at first. I went to the house and got the shotgun. I loaded it up with 00 buck — it’s a 12 gauge.”

After the attack on Mrs. Watkins, the buck still wouldn’t leave and acted like it was going to charge again, so Kyle shot the buck from a distance of just 10 yards.

Sgt. Stan Elrod, of DNR Law Enforcement, responded to a 911 call from the Watkins home. He said Kyle was cut on his leg below his knee. Stan said it’s possible the buck was raised from a fawn by someone and turned loose after hunting season. The buck was extremely fat and healthy.

Daniel said his wife and son escaped the attack without serious injury.

“Kyle got a pretty good gash on his leg, and my wife got bruised up, but she didn’t get any antler punctures,” Daniel said.

“It was funny when it was all over with. I told my wife she came up with a new event for the rodeo, bull-dogging deer. It sure wasn’t funny when it was going on, though,” Daniel said.

Kyle said he had never seen the 9-point buck before, and he had not heard of anybody raising or keeping a deer in the area.

“That was my first deer. And it attacked me!” Kyle said.

“This was my first deer. And it attacked me!” said Kyle Watkins, 13, of Danielsville.