Kansas game warden frees tangled deer with single gunshot

WICHITA, Kan. – A Kansas game warden is getting attention for a video that shows him firing a single shot from a handgun to disentangle the antlers of two whitetail stags.

The Kansas Wildlife, Parks & Tourism agency released the video from the warden’s body camera showing his sharpshooting skills earlier this month. Neither deer was hurt in the effort.

The agency says a bowhunter contacted a game warden on Jan. 7 to report seeing the entangled deer in rural Jackson County in northeastern Kansas. Two game wardens responded and after some time, were able to throw a towel over the ensnared animals’ heads to get them to freeze.

One warden is then seen taking careful aim before firing and shooting part of one deer’s antler off. The startled animals, suddenly free, bound off in opposite directions.

Stags commonly fight and occasionally become entangled, but are usually able to release themselves.