VERNON TOWNSHIP — A Meadville man had the doe he shot Monday afternoon taken at gunpoint by three men, according to Vernon Township Police.

“It’s an armed robbery and an assault,” said Sgt. Randy Detzel. “They knocked him to the ground and took his deer.”

The incident happened around 1 p.m. on top of Gable Hill off Route 322, about six miles west of Meadville, according to police.

“I’m really, really upset about the whole ordeal,” Robert Hanna, 42, of Meadville told the Tribune late Monday afternoon. “(It’s) over a dumb deer. If they wanted it so bad I would have said ‘take it.’ ”

Hanna had shot the doe and was unhooking his safety to get ready to come down from his tree stand when he was approached by three men with rifles.

Hanna told the Tribune that he had his back to the deer and didn’t see or hear the men approach.

Two of the men had beards and were dressed in denim coats with orange vests and hats. The third man, who was dressed in orange hunting suit, hauled the deer away.

Hanna said he was ordered by the two bearded men in denim coats with orange vests and hats to empty his rifle by firing it. Hanna also was ordered to open his gun’s breach and throw the gun down.

He said the two men had spoken German.

The two ordered him down out of the stand at gunpoint. Hanna said he then was struck from behind with a rifle by one of the two men and knocked to the ground.

“I didn’t pass out, but it put me right to the ground,” Hanna said of the blow to his back. “It took me a half-hour to get out of the woods.”

Hanna estimates he was 300 to 400 yards off the highway.

He then contacted police about the robbery.

Persons with information are asked to contact Vernon Township Police at 333-6309 or through the Crawford County 911 Center at 724-2545.