DANVILLE, Ind. (AP) — Some daring deer approached a group of hunters in central Indiana and one was so unafraid that it licked the barrel of a shotgun and allowed one of the men to stroke its neck.

Perhaps they knew the men were hoping to bag a turkey?

Leon Champine says the young animals didn’t have their mother with them “to teach them what is dangerous.”

Champine, of Indianapolis, told WXIN-TV (http://bit.ly/2pYaKmY ) that he and his friends encountered the inquisitive animals over the weekend in Hendricks County.

One of the men, Corey Cook, recorded video showing the deer wandering toward the camouflaged men who are hidden in the undergrowth. The video shows one nuzzling the barrel of a gun in the waning afternoon sunlight.

Champine calls it a “once in a lifetime encounter.”

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Information from: WXIN-TV, http://fox59.trb.com/news/