Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe ITHACA, N.Y., Oct. 7 (UPI) -- A New York state man who went into his workshop expecting to shoo a deer away said he instead wound up having to kill it with a shovel. Tom Hartshorne of Ithaca said there are normally 10 to 15 deer on his property at any given time so he was not surprised to find a buck standing in front of his door about 11 a.m. Wednesday, The Ithaca Journal reported Thursday. Advertisement However, Hartshorne said he was surprised when the deer shattered a window and jumped into his workshop. Hartshorne said he brought a shovel with him into the workshop to help steer the buck out of his home, but the deer surprised him by lunging at him. "After it lunged at me, I swatted it in the head and the battle was on," he said. "It went on for minutes. There was glass and blood and fur everywhere. It was a total mess." "I went in thinking it would be like shooing a rabbit away," Hartshorne said. "But the next thing I know, I am in the battle of my life. I was just defending myself. It was either me or the deer." Advertisement Hartshorne said he was eventually able to fell the deer with a blow to the head and police arrived to verify the animal was dead.
