Louisiana hunter Bobby Neames was going to get in a quick hunt last Christmas Eve but had to fight for his life against a determined 6-point buck.
Neames survived the harrowing encounter and was airlifted to a local hospital, where his severe wounds were treated. It was a Christmas the 46-year old never will forget because he’s lucky to be alive.
“I’d close my eyes and have it go over and over in my mind,” Neames told Louisiana Sportsman magazine in this vivid story. “I’m looking at this deer holding his horns back, and his eyes were 10 inches in front of my face and his nose was almost touching my face.
“I can still smell his breath and hear him grunting while he was attacking me.”
Neames was just 400 yards or so away from his home on that morning hunt. He shot the 6-point buck in the neck and when he approached the deer, it went into high gear. The deer rammed its antlers in his thigh, threw him about 10 feet and then tried repeatedly to stab him in the body. Neames said his size — 6-foot-4, 240 pounds — was a plus in helping fight off the buck, despite his wound and the relentless attack.
“He’d have killed my wife,” he said. “In 30 seconds, she’d have been dead. He’d have just mutilated her. That’s how vicious he was.”
Neames shot the buck with his .270 while en route to his stand. The deer was in a food plot and his neck shot, Neames thought, was enough to do the job. He walked up to the buck, saw it was still alive and crouched, and then it lunged and plunged an antler into his thigh.
Neames had another round chambered in his rifle, but the deer launched itself so quickly he didn’t have time to react. To make matters worse, his rifle strap got tangled in the buck’s antlers.
“I can remember making eye contact with him, and when I made eye contact it was just a second later,” he said. “When he picked me up and threw me, I felt it just rip. I knew I was hurt bad because I felt it rip my leg open. He threw me like I was nothing.”
Read the rest of the remarkable fight and Neames’ survival in Louisiana Sportsman.