Digging out of a winter snowstorm can be a grueling undertaking—just ask anybody living on the East Coast this week.

But for those creatures not blessed with opposable thumbs, excavating oneself from a snowdrift as big as an SUV can require a helping hand.

Case in point: a deer that had to be rescued from a huge snow mound by three do-gooding skiers earlier this month in East Tyrol, Austria.

The three were trekking down a treacherous mountain slope when they noticed something unusual protruding from the ground. On closer inspection, they discovered that it was the antlers of a trapped buck.

After a bit of shoveling and shoving—and with help from a rope and copious amounts of willpower on both sides—the skiers finally got the stag out.

It even spent some celebratory time with its rescuers before galumphing back into the wild. (And if you’ve never met a full-grown stag, FYI: They’re just not that into us.)