GRAND RAPIDS TOWNSHIP, MI - Two Forest Hills sixth-grade students walked away with minor injuries and an unforgettable story after their class was ambushed by a spooked family of deer as they walked along a wooded trail.

The bizarre encounter Friday afternoon sent Jaggar Gripentrog to a hospital for observation and left both him and classmate Clay Bradshaw with sizable swelling after deer tried to jump over them and knocked the boys in the head.

On Monday, Nov. 11, the 11-year-old boys casually told a story they'll likely remember for a long time.

Jaggar and Clay were among more than 500 students walking from Northern Trails 5/6 School to Northern High School to watch a musical. The classmates were traveling in the woods when they came upon a doe and two fawns standing to their side. The startled animals charged to move out of the way, the boys recalled.

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The doe then tried to jump over the kids, while the fawns followed behind and "bulldozed" their way through, the boys said. The doe's back hoof struck Clay in the temple, knocking him into a bush.

"And I kind of was like laying on my stomach and the doe put its foot right on my thigh. There’s a bruise still there," Clay said.

Jaggar was hit in the back of the head. He dropped to his knees.

"I thought someone chucked a rock at the back of my head, but it was just a deer hoof," Jaggar said. "I was in shock and stuff, and it hurt really bad."

The animals brushed up against two other children, who weren't injured.

Clay and Jaggar guessed the deer were spooked as the group of students approached. Clay later told his mom all he remembered seeing were hooves.

"It was like dropping bowling pins from there," Jaggar said. "(Students) scattered every which way to try to get out of the way. Some kids were dropping to the ground to try to get out of the way."

An ambulance transported Jaggar to a hospital, where he underwent a CT scan and was allowed to go home after being advised to take it easy. Doctors told him he's fortunate antlers weren't involved.

Clay's mom, Allison Bradshaw, picked up her son from the high school, where he sat through the musical performance with an ice pack on his temple. Bradshaw said her son is not afraid to play rough on the football field. Details of the deer encounter at first were tough to grasp.

"I've never heard of anyone getting hit by a deer," Bradshaw said. "At first I'm like, 'A deer?' It didn’t really compute, I'm like, 'How would he get hit by a deer?'"

She was relieved to see Clay wasn't badly injured, and she breathed another sigh of relief upon hearing Jaggar was alright. Naturally, she thought the encounter could've been worse.

Both kids were left with "goose egg" swelling and an interesting story to tell their classmates.

"It's like the headline of our school," Clay said.

Angie Jackson covers public safety and breaking news for MLive/The Grand Rapids Press. Email her at ajackso3@mlive.com, and follow her on Twitter.