Country music star Luke Bryan’s red stag has been shot and killed on his Tennessee farm, local authorities say.
The property of the 43-year-old musician behind the hit songs “Knockin’ Boots,” “What She Wants Tonight” and “Country Girl” was targeted sometime between the evening of Dec. 4 and the morning of Dec. 6, according to a bulletin on the Maury County Sheriff’s Office’s Facebook page.
A $5,000 reward is being offered for anyone able to identify the shooter.
The deer was shot from outside Bryan’s property, Barry Cross of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency told the Tennessean, adding a rebuke to the person responsible.
“As an agency we appreciate our hunters who do the right thing and follow the bylaws, and it takes a second for someone to ruin it for all of us,” Cross said.
Red stags are not native to the US and can grow up to 8 feet tall and weigh around 530 pounds.
This isn’t the first time the “American Idol” judge faced a personal tragedy this year. In February, he and his wife, Caroline Boyer, adopted an 18-year-old rescue dog, Poochie, who died just a week later.
Bryan and Caroline have two sons, Thomas Boyer Bryan, 11, and Tatum Christopher Bryan, 9.
The four-time Entertainer of the Year for the Country Music Association will launch a new tour on Jan. 18, 2020.
Bryan’s representatives could not be reached for comment.
