An Arkansas whitetail buck that may have been attacking its own reflected image in a home's window ended up inside the dwelling and had its neck broken by the homeowner's father after a 40-minute struggle that left the walls splattered with blood.

An excerpt of the AP story carried on Washington Post:

(Wayne) Goldsberry was at his daughter's home when he heard glass breaking. He went back to check on the noise and found the deer.

"I was standing about like this peeking around the corner when the deer came out of the bedroom," said Goldsberry. The deer ran down the hall and into the master bedroom -- "jumping back and forth across the bed."

Goldsberry entered the bedroom to confront the deer and, after a brief struggle, emerged to tell his wife to call police. After returning to the bedroom, the fight continued. Goldsberry finally was able to grip the animal and twist its neck, killing it.

Goldsberry, sore from the struggle, dragged the dead animal out of the house.

"He got kicked several times. He was walking bowlegged for a while," Deputy Doug Gay said.

At this time of year, a buck that sees its reflection in a window often charges, believing it is fighting off a rival, Gay said.

Goldsberry intended to have the deer processed for its meat.

Wow. Give Mr. Goldsberry full credit for having big cojones, but I think I would have used a more passive approach to deal with the problem.

It's unfortunate the deer got out of the first bedroom, but leaping through the window in the first place may have left it with some serious cuts. The animal may not have gone out the same way voluntarily anyway.

When it went into the second bedroom, why on earth did Goldsberry not just lock the door and wait for the cops to arrive? Was there a deck door that could have been opened from the outside?

Wild animals are pretty damned strong. Goldsberry's quite lucky he didn't take a horn in the eye (which, as we all know, is the point where something ceases to be fun -- although getting a swift hoof to the nuts isn't exactly a fast track to ecstacy for most men).

The story is just too short. I'd love to know whether Grapplin' Wayne Goldsberry would do the same thing all over again.

While he got deer meat out of the deal, there's no word on whether any home video was recorded. I suspect that would be worth big bucks (pun intended).

A few things I wonder about:

Which talk show booked him first?

What possible product endorsements could Goldsberry now be in line for?

Will the U.S. gun lobby use this as an example as to why everyone should be armed: You just never know when a deer will see its reflection in the mirror and do a home invasion. :^)

There's wide interest in this little bit of junk news. A Google News search on 'Wayne Goldsberry' found 142 links from Australia all the way to Pravda, whose taste in 'fun stories' normally tends to lean to the raunchy.