learned a long time ago that, when an animal like a horse --strikes at you with their hooves and you can't get away easily, the best thing to do is try to make a loud noise and make an aggressive move towards the animal. this will usually cause them to back down a bit so you can escape.
the reason i had always been told not to try to turn and run from a horse that paws at you is that there is a good chance that it will hit you in the back of the head. deer may not be s o different from horses after all, besides being twice 