I too get that brief sensation of wicked and deplorable goodness when I hear of these things, but it is always followed immediately by the sickening assuredness of that animal's demise.
Like I have said before, I'm not an anti-hunter, I'm an anti Idiot-Hunter. My sanity rests on the knowledge that capable, intelligent, respectful hunters DO exist, although sometimes the things I hear and see make me feel like I really belong in the same cadre as the Nessie, Chupacabra, and Yeti seekers.

Lately the news has been full of "human predations" and in each instance the troops are rallied and sent forth, guns blazing, to eliminate the offending animal. There were the two mountain lion attacks (one a write-up in Reader's Digest--(complete with color phot of the dead cat, which turned out to be an emaciated male) that reeked of the usual sensationalism-mongering-- and one near Denver) the black bear that killed the little boy and attacked his mom or sibling or something near Chattanooga, and the black bear that got after the hunter in Washington near the Olympic Peninsula.
It usually ends the same, although I don't know if they ever killed a bear-any bear-in retaliation for the sad incident with the 2 year-old.
I am not trying to be disrespectful, and if I lost a child to any animal I cannot imagine how I would feel, I really can't. But we continue to cut off migraton routes, shred habitat with subdivisions, and force animals into smaller and smaller little boxes of space, which also forces them into closer and closer cohabitation with US. Combine this with ever-growing numbers of humans hitting the trails and tromping through the woods and you are going to have troubles. For some reason we have come to either view animals as cute cuddly little creatures on exhibit in our own personal zoos, or else imagine them all as trap-jawed, gore-toothed monsters with a taste for human blood.
This is the one reason why I am split right down the middle on the issue of reintroduction of the bigger carnivores. You are likely setting the animals up for a big run-in with humans, and the minute a bad thing happens, whatever the situation and the details, there will be people clamoring for a dead wolf, a dead bear, a dead mountain lion.

That video is of an "Idiot Hunter." He had put doe scent on himself so that he would attract the buck and get this "attack" on video. By the way, the buck is not attacking the man...he is trying to mate. If the buck was attacking, he would use his antlers. The guy's a genius.

Still gratifying to watch : )

If that's how a buck mates, it makes me glad I'm not a deer :o)

Well spoken dirtgirl Well spoken.

Bucks do use their antlers in defense, but both bucks and does will also make use of their hooves to stomp the crap out of anything they see as a threat. Their feet are incredibly sharp and they drum them, or paw them, very rapidly on whatever they are confronting. I have heard of more than one unlucky beagle hound trailing a rabbit and getting too close to a new fawn and being maimed or killed when mom stepped in.
Last Year at Southern Illinois University, one or two does got after a few students. There are many areas of greenspace on the campus and, like what is happening in lots of urban areas, the numbers of deer have skyrocketed.
THe does had dropped fawns not far from the walkways and when students came by they were perceived as threats. One person had a broken collarbone, major lacerations, and a few other injuries. I remember seeing the news footage and just shaking my head. The deer are kinda like the squirrels or the pigeons...you see them every day and after a while you don't even notice their presence until something bad happens.

Isn't the deer in the video a mule deer? I really don't care to watch it again, but I am a bit curious. I did find it odd that the initial flash of a buck's image looks more like a fallow deer or something but DEFINITELY not the one in the video.

Thanks for the information, dirtgirl! This particular video bothers me because I know I saw this guy on some tv show, and he had applied doe scent to his clothing during rut season so he could get this video. But you are right, during rut season, people do get attacked and sometimes killed. I used to take photos out of my car of deer, and there were times when the bucks got a little too close where the thought of them ramming into my car ran through my mind!
Again, thanks for the info on the deer 'hoof attack' method. ;)

Here is a link that might be useful: Weird Deer stories