Alexi s Vaughan,17,sat tiredly in the passenger seat of her dad's car.The early Saturday morning run with her father,Michael,was part of the punishment.She stared sadly out of the window at the cornfields. An experienced hunter,Alexis let her eyes lazily search for wildlife.She was shocked when a deer came into view about 200 yards in front of them.Mule deer never appeared in plain sight ten days before hunting season.It was a buck--a male deer with sharp,three-pronged antlers . Suddenly Alexis heard a scream and saw an arm fly up near the deer's head.She realized the buck was attacking a woman.Sue Panter had been Out for her morning run.The deer had appeared from the tall corn and begun following her.Having lived in the countryside of Idaho for years,Sue knew that most deer got frightened by humans.But this deer moved closer,even when she threw a handful of small stones at it. "I knew I was in trouble,"she says. The buck rushed forward,lifted her up with its antlers and threw her into the air. Sue could feel the antlers made small holes in her leg and blood ran down her leg. When the Vaughans pulled up,the buck was throwing Sue like a rag doll. Before her father had stopped the car,Alexis rushed out of the car and down the slope toward the buck."1 was kicking and hitting it hard with my fists to get its attention so that It will leave the woman,"she says.However,the animal was not frightened at all.Then Michael pushed the buck away from the woman by the antlers. Alexis helped Sue up the slope and into the Vaughans'car.Then she tied a tourniquet to Sue's right leg.Her neck was cut.Then she heard her father shout loudly. Michael had been knocked to the ground,his right leg seriously cut by the buck. Alexis took a hammer from the car and ran to where Michael lay on his back in the dirt.She beat the buck's head and neck,but the blows didn't frighten it away."I was losing faith,"she says. "A couple more strikes,Alexis,"said Michael."You can do it."Alexis closed her eyes and hit with all her strength at the deer's neck with the hammer. When she opened her eyes, the deer was running away. A1exis got in the driver's seat and sped toward the hospital in Franklin,hearing her dad's breathing grow difficuIt and unsmooth as the blood from his wounded leg had flowed through the T--shirt he'd wrapped around it.In the backseat,Sue looked unconscious. After doctors treated Sue and Michael,Sue tearfully thanked her rescuers." _ What was wrong with Michael after fighting with the deer?
His neck was seriously cut. Both his legs were badly wounded. There were bloody holes in his left leg. He had difficulty breathing because of blood loss.