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Deer found watching TV on a couch

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buy this photo Two deer graze for food.

A deer named "Bubba" prompted several calls to deputies Saturday after he pushed over a 2-year-old and scared Elba, Minn., trick-or-treaters, only to be found sitting on a man's couch and watching TV, according to the Winona County Sheriff's Department.

No one was injured during the deer's Halloween ruckus. The 6-month-old buck, adorned with an orange scarf and sign that reads "Hi, my name is Bubba. Please don't shoot me," had been fed by Gary Arthur Thelen, 49, said Chief Deputy Ron Ganrude.

Deputies first got wind of Bubba shortly after noon Saturday, when an Elba mother reported the buck had knocked over her 2-year-old child, Ganrude said. The deer came from behind, leaving a muddy hoof-print on the child's back.

The woman knew the deer from its sign and bandanna, and said a man in town had been feeding it. Deputies couldn't find the deer, but soon heard of its further exploits.

Ganrude said more calls came in at about 6 p.m., when deputies were dispatched back to Elba for a deer harassing trick-or-treaters. A man said he and his small son were charged by the deer with the bandanna.

Deputies and a Minnesota conservation officer then went to Thelen's house. When they went inside, they found Thelen - and Bubba - sitting on the couch, watching TV, Ganrude said. Thelen told deputies he had been feeding the wild deer since it was a fawn and had put the sign on him.

What became of the deer remains a mystery. Messages left Monday for Thelen and the conservation officer who was dispatched to Elba were not returned.

Thelen has clashed with neighbors in a property dispute and with public officials over a storm shelter on his campground that state and local officials say violates city floodplain laws and jeopardizes a state grant to rebuild Elba's main levee.

He was arrested in September after a prolonged fight with Deputy Derek Heyer at Thelen's Wilderness Campground site near Elba. Thelen was shot with a Taser, shocked more than once at close range, kicked, and then wrestled to the ground by Heyer and several bystanders.

Thelen was charged later that week for an unrelated assault, after a man reported in April that Thelen punched him about 25 times in the face and body.

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