How does Flag die in The Yearling?

In Chapter 32, Flag jumps the fence again, destroying the family's corn and pea plants. Jody has no choice but to face his mother's wrath, and she gives him a tongue-lashing before sending him to his father's bedside. Jody says he fully understands the problem and his father's orders, but he just can't shoot the deer. So Ma is given the job, and she tries, but she only wounds Flag in the foreleg. Jody finds him floundering on the ground, and then the yearling runs from him. Penny struggles from his bed, falling to his knee, and begs Jody to finish the job and put the deer out of his misery. Jody snatches the gun and runs after Flag, hurling curses back at his parents. He cannot catch the frightened deer, and Flag falls over and over, finally coming to rest at the sinkhole. Jody mercifully shoots him in the neck. Then he flings himself on the ground and sobs and claws at the earth until he feels nothing and senses nothing.