Deer crashes into Taco Mac in Alpharetta

By David Ibata

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A deer walks into a Taco Mac in Alpharetta.

Enlarge photo

Channel 2 Action News An antler fell off when the buck crashed through the glass window of this Taco Mac in Alpharetta.

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No, the buck didn’t order a beer. And truth be told, he didn’t walk, he crashed through a window -- raising a commotion and taking everyone’s attention away from the Sunday afternoon football game on television for the few seconds he was in the place, witnesses said.

“It was about 3:15 in the afternoon,” Adam Buckner, manager of the Taco Mac Windward at 875 N. Main St., told the AJC in a phone interview.

“The deer comes straight through the parking lot, smashes through the window right in front of the host stand and goes around the corner around the host stand,” Buckner said. “At the time, one of our servers is over at our patio door area, and he opens the door and it goes right outside onto the patio, then it gets out from the patio area.”

What drew the animal to the restaurant?

“I have no earthly idea,” Buckner said.

“When I got the phone call from my general manager, I thought it was a joke. We’re right in the middle of Alpharetta – right here where Highway 9 and Windward Parkway meet – and there are no woods or anything like that.”

Aside from a customer who got nicked on the leg by flying glass, no one was hurt in the incident, Buckner said.

“The deer didn’t even hurt itself. One of its antlers came off, but antlers fall off and grow right back.”

It’s the second incident in recent months involving uninvited deer in human spaces.

On Sept. 9, customers and employees at a Publix supermarket at 1000 Peachtree Industrial Boulevard in Suwanee were shocked when the front doors automatically opened and a pair of fawn darted in.

The deer wandered toward the back of the store, where a couple of store workers scooped them up, carried them outside and released them. No humans or animals were injured in that incident.

In the Taco Mac incident, the buck's behavior might be explained by the fact that November is rut season for whitetail deer in Georgia. Think Bambi in the movie, going antler-to-antler against a rival for the affections of Faline.

These days, male deer “have a higher testosterone level, which increases their aggression," said Don McGowan, senior wildlife biologist in the Social Circle office of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

“But it doesn’t really explain why he’d crash through a window unless maybe, perhaps, he saw his reflection and thought it was a rival deer. But that’s just speculation,” McGowan said in a phone interview. Or, he added, the animal “may have been spooked by something and lost his wits.”

“That’s not the first time something like that’s happened, but it’s pretty rare,” he said.

At this time of year, people should be more concerned about untimely deer encounters on the highway.

“They tend to be moving more. … It’s a safety issue for motorists,” McGowan said.

As for keeping deer from crashing through your window, McGowan said, “Gosh, I don’t know if you can do anything to prevent that.”