YELLVILLE, Ark. (KY3/KSPR/Gray News) – This tragedy is on the list of odd hunting related deaths the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has investigated.

Officials aren’t sure what exactly happened after a hunter was killed by a deer he shot. (Source: KY3/KSPR via Gray News)

“I’ve worked for the Game and Fish Commission for 20 years, and it’s one of the stranger things that’s happened,” said Keith Stephens, the Chief of Communications with the agency.

Officials said 66-year-old Thomas Alexander shot a buck with a muzzleloader while hunting near Yellville.

“I don’t know how long he left it there, but he went up to check it to make sure it was dead. And evidently it wasn’t,” Stephens said.

Stephens said that is when the deer attacked.

“It got back up, and he had several puncture wounds on his body,” he said.

The agency reported Alexander was by himself but able to call his family, who called emergency responders.

He later passed away at the hospital.

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said it is unclear whether Alexander died from those puncture wounds, or from another cause, like a heart attack.

“It’s my understanding there’s not going to be an autopsy, so we may never know what actually happened,” Stephens said.

The chief of communications said the only other time something like this happened was in Ashley County.

“There was somebody that did get stuck by a buck’s antlers, and this was about four years ago. And it was pretty significant, but they did survive.”

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said it’s important for hunters to make sure the deer is not moving for about 30 minutes before approaching it.

“When you get up there, be really careful around it because it may not be dead. But if you let them lay there for a while and they don’t move, and he may have done that. We just don’t know,” he said.

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Read the original version of this article at ky3.com.