WILDLIFE -- A mule deer buck was killed on Saturday after being aggressive to runners and goring two helpers during the Half Ass Half Marathon north of Davenport.

The buck came onto the Porcupine Bay-area road used for the 13.1-mile course and began acting aggressively and chasing some of the runners, says Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Police Officer Curt Wood.

“Two men who were manning a water station tried to chase the buck away but it turned and began attacking them,” Wood reported.

One man drew a .45-caliber handgun he carried with a concealed weapons permit and fired two shots at the deer’s feet but the buck “didn’t even flinch,” witnesses told The Spokesman-Review.

As the two men approached the buck, “It flicked its head and ripped Cody’s left hand and then got me in the inside of the left thigh and bruised the other leg,” said a 66-year-old victim who asked not to be identified.

“That’s when the deer was shot. We didn’t want to shoot a deer in front of kids, but we had to,” he added, noting that 30 stitches were required to close his leg wound.

"It could have been a lot worse," he said referring to the close call with his femoral artery.

A local hunter was allowed to tag and salvage the deer, Wood said.

Both of the injured men were treated at the Davenport Hospital and released.

The event is a fundraiser for an area resident with cerebral palsy.