BALL GROUND, Ga. (AP) -- A Georgia man who kept exotic animals on his property has been killed by a red deer.

Authorities say John Henry Frix was found last night inside the deer's pen on his property. The 66-year old had been gored several times in the upper body by a deer's antlers.

The deer was among the buffalo, llama, horses and other animals Frix raised on his property about 50 miles north of Atlanta.

His relatives told Cherokee County sheriff's deputies the deer had recently been acting hostile, probably due to rut, the period when deer mate.

A family member later shot and killed the animal.

The red deer is a European species that weighs about 400 pounds and is more than twice the size of the native white-tailed deer in the Southeast.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)