BY SHANNON HAAR

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Remember when Vice President Dick Cheney was involved in a quail hunting accident back in 2006 when he shot the Texas attorney, Harry Whittington?

History may have repeated itself this past week, but this time the injured was in fact supposed to be the prey.

In Rockaway Township, a young male deer was spotted, wandering through out the 10-acre farm of Susan Darrah, with an arrow piercing its snout, reported nbcnewyork.com. The arrow went all the way through, sticking out of the other side of its nasal cavity.

Fortunately, the arrow did not damage any major organs and has now been successfully removed, according to New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife Officials.

NJ.com reported that upon first spotting the deer, Darrah noticed that it was not bleeding or appearing to be frightened. She immediately called animal control and followed their recommendation to put out corn for the deer in the hopes of luring him back to her backyard.

A Fish and Wildlife representative was able to tranquilize the injured deer while it was feeding on the corn, then follow it to the woods and bring it back to Darrah’s home once completely sedated. Biologists were then able to remove the arrow and give the deer antibiotics.

The deer headed back into the woods after a quick nap, apparently unharmed. According to nbcnewyork.com, a New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection agent, Larry Hajna, said the deer’s chances of survival are “excellent”.

Well, at least in terms of recovering from this incident. New Jersey is in the middle of bow hunting season.

“I know a lot of hunters and I know that nothing was done intentionally,” said Darrah to NJ.com. “I’m sure if any hunter saw him, they would have been kind enough to put him down”, she remarked.

Although this is the first time Darrah has seen a situation like this one, deer are no strangers to her property.

Some believe that deer populations are out of control and need to be reduced, even though they may be encroaching on human territory due to habitat destruction by humans in the first place. Other reasons for hunting include for sport and for food.

Nbcnewyork.com reported that Darrah does not oppose hunting, but many others do not agree with her stance, with reasons ranging from over-hunting endangering the species to animal cruelty.

In order to hunt deer, you must have a permit and follow all of the statewide regulations, such as what hours you are allowed to hunt, which can be found on the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife’s website. They state that last year alone the deer harvest was 49,942 total.

Darrah jokingly told the Star-Ledger that she nicknamed the deer “Steve Martin” because of his well-known stand-up routine with a fake arrow through his head.