Oh deer, something fishy off English coast!

LONDON: A pair of Cornish fisherman came back with a bigger catch than usual, after hooking a live deer which had apparently fallen into the sea, a report said on Wednesday.

Chris Earl and Tony Allsopp were out in their boat to check lobster pots when they spotted the animal, complete with antlers 'and big worried eyes,' swimming through the waves off the southwestern English coast.

"At first I thought it was a big log, but then as we got closer we saw its legs were moving and realised it was a deer," Earl told the Guardian daily. "It's not the sort of creature you expect to see half a mile out."

The two startled fishermen came alongside, threw a line around the beast and hauled it on board by its antlers.

"Luckily it wasn't the biggest of animals or we wouldn't have had a chance. It was about the size of a big dog. It was a good job the sea was flat calm. If there had been a swell we wouldn't have seen the deer," said Earl.

They found the deer near a small island called Gull Rock, apparently heading further along the Cornish coast.

Animal experts said it may have fallen into the sea by nearby woods, adding that deer are known as good swimmers.

Having returned to dry land, Allsopp sitting atop the animal, as there was no other space in the boat, the pair hauled it into Earl's van, and it was later released into the woods, back with its fellow deer.