Despite having relatively short legs compared to their North American cousins, European Fallow Deer can run at speeds up to 25mph and leap over 6.5 feet.
In Bulgaria (where the below video was taken) fallow deer use compact but powerful legs to evade predators like wolves who hunt them year round even in deep snow conditions. When threatened fallow deer will run from predators by using a form of stiff-legged jumping known as “stotting” or “pronking.”
No telling if this deer has a wolf on its heels when it exited a snow laden riverbed and jumped directly over a skier but it certainly seemed motivated to leave the scene in a hurry. Thankfully it appears the deer just missed landing on the skier and didn’t get tangled in her gear as she covered her head and braced from impact.
This is one of those instances where if it wasn’t on video no one would believe it happened.