‘Spooked’ deer injures pedestrian on Fripp Island. Family: ‘Pray for her recovery’
A woman was reportedly seriously injured by a large buck deer on Fripp Island last week and family members are asking for the public’s prayers as she recovers.
The accident, which came the day after Thanksgiving on Friday, occurred on Tarpon Boulevard, the main road on the 3,000-acre island of about 1,500 residents 20 miles east of Beaufort and home to the Fripp Island Golf and Beach Resort, according to witnesses.
Cary Kelley, general manager of the Fripp Island Property Owners Association, said the woman was hit by a deer as she walked along Tarpon Boulevard at around 5:30 p.m. Security officers responded and called fire and emergency personnel who transported the woman to Beaufort Memorial Hospital for further treatment.
“This was a tragic accident that occurred last week,” Kelley said. “Fripp Island Community and staff are praying for a full recovery for the injured female.”
The deer struck the woman near the Beach Club, a restaurant on Tarpon Boulevard, said Geoffrey Sobeck. This accident happened near the route of the holiday parade. Sobeck, who was waiting for the parade to pass his home said the parade was delayed for about 30 minutes while the woman received medical attention. The woman, he said, was not part of the parade.
Master Sgt. Danny Allen, a spokesman for the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, confirmed a Nov. 29 medical call to the island in response to a woman who suffered a head injury after being run into by a deer.
Dozens of people commented about the accident on Facebook including Marcia Gaul, who said she was the woman’s mother-in-law.
“She was struck by a big buck who was spooked and running down Tarpon (Boulevard),” Gaul said. “He apparently didn’t know how to avoid people so he struck her, we think possibly trying to jump over her.”
Her daughter-in-law, Gaul said, sustained injuries from the impact with the deer and hitting the pavement, adding, “It was horrific.”
The woman underwent surgery at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, said Gaul, who thanked those who assisted at the scene. The family, she added, was relying heavily on its faith at this time.
“Please continue to pray for her recovery,” Gaul said. “We have seen God answer prayers already. We know where our help comes from.”
Sara Beresford said on Facebook that her family was in a golf cart near the woman who was struck by the deer. “It was a freak accident and very scary,” said Beresford, adding she called 9-1-1.
She believes the deer panicked after it found itself in a crowd. “In the process of making a break for the opening the buck got tangled up with your daughter-in-law,” she wrote to Gaul on Facebook. “Just a crazy thing. I hope she recovers well.”
Fripp Island’s animal population is large
The island is known for its wildlife including large alligators, sea turtles and many deer.
Charles Ruth, the coordinator of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resource’s Big Game Program, said deer have a natural flight response when they get spooked.
“You hate to hear of these situations — and we do hear it from time to time,” he said.
Fripp Island’s deer population is conservatively 600 to 800, which is very high, Ruth said. Low or high populations of deer do not have anything to do with this flight response, he said. At the same time, Ruth added, the buck was probably in a place where a truly wild deer would not have been.
Sharp shooters are employed to cull the deer herds at many gated communities in the Lowcountry, but not at Fripp, Ruth said.
“Fripp has demonstrated to me an extraordinarily high tolerance for deer,” Ruth said.
The sharp-shooting program evolved from efforts beginning in the late 1990s at Sea Pines Resort.
An experimental contraception program to reduce the large deer population was tried at one point on Fripp Island but that ended several years ago.
This story was originally published December 3, 2024 at 2:11 PM.
