A disabled hunter accidentally shot a woman walking her dog after mistaking her pet for an antlerless deer.
The 47-year-old woman was shot in the abdomen on the second day of gun deer season in Adams County, Wisconsin, said hunter education administrator Lt Mike Weber of the Department of Natural Resources on Tuesday.
She was walking her pup on private property in Big Flats Township early in the morning on Sunday.
A MedFlight helicopter airlifted the woman to a nearby hospital where she was still being treated as of Wednesday, WMTV reported.
Her dog was not injured.
The 62-year-old hunter told the agency he fired because he thought the dog was an antlerless deer. He was disabled but able to hunt from his vehicle, as the state allows.
She was shot at the start of the nine-day gun deer season ending on November 26.
‘It is obviously good idea to have non-hunters during any deer firearm season to consider wearing blaze orange or high visible colors,’ said Weber.
‘And those same people should put high visible colors vests or collars on their pets as well.’
It is not the first accident that has happened so far this season. A man shot himself in the foot while adjusting his rifle sling in the northeast part of the state and was transported to a hospital, according to WKOW.
On opening day on Saturday, Weber had stressed the importance of safety, particularly TABK, which stands for treating every firearm as if it is loaded, always pointing the muzzle in a safe direction, being certain of the target and what’s beyond, and keeping the finger outside the trigger guard until ready to shoot.
‘One of the most important things that we always stress, whether you’ve been hunting for 30 years or you’re just starting for the first time, is to follow the four main rules of firearm safety, which are taught in our hunter education course,’ he said, according to Spectrum1 News. ‘Otherwise known as “TABK.”‘
Sunday’s incident comes after a year after a man was sentenced to life in prison for shooting a woman dead with an assault rifle as she walked her dog near his apartment in Denver, Colorado.
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