Unusual rescue of deer with shotgun blast shown in photos
A professional photographer who reported a deer caught in netting ultimately captured its unusual rescue in photos, including one amazing image showing a game warden shooting off the buck’s antler with a shotgun.
The image shows game warden Ryan Zawada of the Pennsylvania Game Commission kneeling with his shotgun aimed high, smoke lingering around it, the shotgun shell flying off to the right, and the deer freed from the netting with one less antler.
Subsequent photos by Patrick Scott shows the freed deer bounding off and the tangled antler left behind in the nylon netting, which is supported by steel cables and was used by a former winery, as reported by the Courier Times.
The heroic rescue earlier this month was on private property in Earl Township in Berks County.
When Zawada arrived on the scene, he weighed his options and decided against tranquilizing the deer, believing it might do more harm as the animal would be hanging in the air while he tried cutting the net and cable.
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“It would have been hung by its neck while I did it and that could have restricted its airway,” Zawada told the Courier Times. “It would not have been able to lay flat on the ground.”
So he opted to shoot off the tangled antler, instead. Using a 12-gauge shotgun with 00 buckshot, the firearms instructor aimed at the top of the antler from less than 10 yards away. It was a perfect shot.
The antler broke off and the deer ran down a meadow about 500 yards away. It bedded down and rested from its hours-long ordeal.
As amazing as the rescue was, Zawada told the Courier Times the photos documenting it were even more memorable.
“That’s what makes it truly unique,” Zawada told the Courier Times.
Photos courtesy of Patrick Scott via Pennsylvania Game Commission.