Shooting of pugilistic deer ruled ‘justifiable’

Mark Christianson, the Fertile, Minn., area farmer who had a boxing match with a whitetail deer and then shot the buck won’t be charged for shooting a deer out of season. As a matter of routine procedure, a conservation officer with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources investigated and declared the deer the aggressor. “The deer attacked him,” Norman County Attorney James Brue said, chuckling. “It was a pretty justifiable shooting."

Author:
BMTN Staff
Updated:
Mar 8, 2018
Original:
Aug 29, 2012

Mark Christianson, the Fertile, Minn., area farmer who had a boxing match with a whitetail deer and then shot the buck won’t be charged for shooting a deer out of season. As a matter of routine procedure, a conservation officer with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources investigated and declared the deer the aggressor. “The deer attacked him,” Norman County Attorney James Brue said, chuckling. “It was a pretty justifiable shooting."

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Mark Christianson, 66, of Fertile, Minn., bruised and battered with two black eyes, says the deer started it. A gun ended it. “He was pummeling me, standing on his hind legs and hitting me with the front ones. He hammered me good, rapid fire, and I thought, ‘Well, this isn’t good.’ I wasn’t winning, so I grabbed him and tackled him and we both went down on the ground.”

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