NH Hunter Gored By Deer Says "It Was Going To Take Me With It"
CORNISH, NH (CBS) - Everett Gray has been hunting all kinds of animals since he was about 12-years-old. But after last Thursday, he says he's done -- at least when it comes to hunting deer.
The Cornish, New Hampshire man was out on his first hunt of the season, after spotting a deer just across the street from his house.
Within two hours he'd bagged an 8-point buck.
After being shot, it lay on the ground. Moments later, when Gray got close, the animal went on the attack.
"You know, I was the enemy, and it was going to take me with it," Gray told WBZ-TV.
"It just bound up, whipped its head, and caught me right here in the side," he said.
The animal drove its horn four inches into Gray's belly. It picked him up off the ground, and threw him down again.
"I landed on my back and we're going down the slope," he described. "The deer is driving with his back legs, pushing me down the slope and just goring his head as we're going down. And I'm holding onto its horns trying to keep him from pulling straight out and ripping my guts out of me, you know?"
When they finally came to a stop, Gray somehow found the strength to pull out the antler and free his legs from under the deer, and hobble back home.
The images from that night -- and the pain -- keep him up at night.
"I just can't forget it you know," Gray says. "I see him bounding up; I know he's coming at me. I've got a knife in my hand. But it's like one of those things where you can't react; it's just gonna happen, you know? You're not gonna stop it."
Amazingly, there was no internal damage from that goring, but there will be a whole lot of time to recuperate along with an incredible story to tell.
"I got five daughters, you know. I got six grand-kids. I don't wanna die. That's what I felt."
