Freaky deer story has legs

Wow, what a day we had here at The Reporter yesterday. The second I got in, I knew it was going to be an unusual day. The e-mails and phone calls poured in all day from media outlets (and interested citizens) wanting to know more about Rick Lisko and his seven-'legged' deer. (Original story ----> here.)

As bizarre it was for me fielding calls, I can't imagine the attention Lisko, a self-described "hermit," was getting (Read related story here). He even had an interview with BBC last night. Despite being "overwhelmed," Lisko seemed to be enjoying the attention the seven-'legged' deer brought him.

For me, part of the fun was checking to see where my story and the Associated Press version of my story ended up as the day wore on. It started with local newspapers like the Oshkosh Northwestern and Appleton Post-Crescent and then branched out to other Gannett-owned papers like the Detroit Free Press and USA Today. Soon it started popping up on countless Web sites and blogs including those from many prominent newspaper, TV and radio Web sites including the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Boston Herald, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Fox News, ABC News, CBS News, WGN-Chicago and many others. I also found it on the Web sites of Canadian, British, African, Russian and Asian news outlets. Many of the Web sites linked back to The Reporter's photo gallery of the deer, which in turn attracted 296,827 page views for the gallery and 486,372 page views for The Reporter Web site as a whole, the most page views in Reporter history.

The headlines for the story also took on a life of their own.

Some were pretty funny:

- Tastes like genetically modified chicken

- Is It a Buck or a Doe?

- Oh, dear! A seven-legged deer

- Wis. deer bucks the norm

- Hunter bags deer with 7 legs -- but that wasn't the strangest part

Others focused on the fact that Lisko ate the deer:

- Hunter Bags 'Tasty' 7-Legged Deer

- Hunter eats deer despite its deformities

- Wisconsin Man Runs Over, Eats Seven-Legged Transgendered Deer

- Man eats a 7-legged, transgendered deer

Others were incorrect:

- Hunter says seven-legged dear still tastes good (Dear tastes good???)

- Wisconsin Hunter Shoots 7-Legged, Trans-Gendered Deer & Eats It (Shoots? He hit it with his truck.)

- Wisconsin Hunter Catches Deer That Has Seven Legs (Catches? Again, he hit it with his truck...)

And most of them were pretty straightforward:

- Deer has odd appendages

- Wisconsin hunter bags deer with 7 legs

- Hunter Comes Across 7-legged Deer

- Seven-legged intersex deer found

- Wisconsin bow hunter finds seven-legged deer

- Seven-legged deer involved in crash

- 7-'legged' deer killed near Waucousta

- Deer has 7 legs, both male and female reproductive organs

- Hunter Runs Into Deer With 7 Legs, 2 Reproductive Organs

- Wisc. man bags a small buck with seven legs, male and female sexual organs

- Hunter Bags 7-Legged, Dual-Gendered Deer

- Bow hunter finds seven-legged deer

- Hermaphroditic deer found with 7 legs

- Man Runs Over Deer With Seven Legs

The one thing that was obvious as the day wore on is that people love bizarre news and this story was very strange. So, if anyone out there knows of any other extra-appendaged animals in the area, make sure to let me know!