Deer hunter dies after reportedly falling from tree

Billy Hobbs, The Union-Recorder, Milledgeville, Ga.
·1 min read

Nov. 1—EATONTON, Ga. — The death of a 46-year-old deer hunter whose body was discovered near a tree stand in Putnam County Saturday afternoon, is under investigation by local and state authorities.

Putnam County Sheriff Howard R. Sills identified the man as Glenn Coker of Stockbridge, Ga.

Coker was pronounced dead at the scene by Putnam County Deputy Coroner Pat Welch.

She said the victim's body was discovered in a vacant lot off Harmony Lane near Sugar Creek.

"His parents had planned to build a house on that property, and he was deer hunting there," Welch said.

The deputy coroner said Coker, who had lived in Florida before moving to Georgia, was in a climbing stand.

"He was in a climbing deer stand, and the wire on part of the climbing stand broke and he fell out of the tree," Welch said. "I'm assuming he was climbing the tree at the time because part of the stand was still in the tree and the other part was on the ground."

The victim's body was taken Tuesday morning to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime Laboratory in Decatur for an autopsy, according to Putnam County Coroner Hollis Harrison.

The autopsy is expected to determine the cause and manner of Coker's death.