An Australian goose hunter survived a crocodile attack after wrestling the reptile and poking it in the eye.

The attack happened last Friday night in Peppimenarti, about 320km southwest of Darwin.

Stephen Moreen, 20, said he waded out into water in the Northern Territory to grab some geese his cousin-brother and him had shot last week when a crocodile about 2 meters long jumped out of the water and grabbed onto his right arm.

The crocodile then went into a death roll. “Lucky for me when [he] went underwater I saw him and poked his eye. He let go and he ran for the bank. My cousin-brother shot him,” Moreen said.

Moreen was given first aid by his brother’s wife and then taken to the nearby Wadaduk Outstation by quad bike where he waited for an ambulance and drank some beer to numb the pain.

Moreen said he wasn’t in pain because he had been “a little tipsy” when the attack happened.

“I have a scratch on my back, the rest on my arm. He ripped out a bit of skin and left me with two to three holes,” Moreen said..