The News Minute | September 21, 2014 | 8:35am IST

Sydney : An Australian hunter has claimed to have escaped literally from the jaws of death, saying he saved himself in a crocodile attack by poking the reptile in the eye.

Stephen Moreen, 20, said he waded into water in the Northern Territory to retrieve a goose he had shot when the crocodile grabbed and pulled him under, BBC reported Saturday. When the hunter jabbed the 2m-long (6ft 6in) animal in the eye, it let him go.

The hunter's cousin then shot the reptile. Moreen also admitted that he had been "a little bit tipsy" at the time.

"I have a scratch on my back, the rest (is) on my arm. He (the crocodile) ripped out a bit of skin and left me with two to three holes," Australia's ABC broadcaster quoted him as saying.

The incident happened Friday evening in Peppimenarti, about 320km south-west of Darwin

IANS