It was the eve of the deer hunting season in Michigan when Deputy Ryan Swartz responded to a call that a car had hit a deer.

When he arrived on the scene, Dep. Swartz found the deer standing dazed in the middle of the roadway. She was so still that at first he thought she was a decoy.

The scene was captured on the patrol car's camera.

"So I went up and I pet it and I was thinking that would get the deer off the road," he said.

But the deer didn't budge. She was now in danger of being hit by another car. So he simply picked her up and took her to the side of the road.

She stood there, still motionless. "So I went up and I pet the deer behind its ears and it got its wits back together and it took off running."

Sheriff Kelly Hanson said what the deputy did is not recommended, but it worked.

Swartz said he watched the deer in the woods for a while and she appeared healthy.