Local News
Man Shot in Leg After Dog Stepped on Gun During Duck Hunt
A Van Dyne man is recovering after being shot in the leg
while hunting near the Horicon Marsh earlier this week. 55-year old Stewart
Henderson was out hunting with his dog just outside of Burnett in
when he sent the dog out to retrieve a duck.
Lac
Deputy Ryan Waldschmidt tells us the shooting was a strange incident, as “the hunter had set his shotgun down after shooting some ducks, had sent his dog out to retrieve the ducks, and as he pulled the dog back into the boat, the dog stepped on the side of the trigger, which deactivated the safety, and then also pulled the trigger as he took a step forward and the gun went off. And certainly there’s some simple safety rules that could be followed that would have prevented something like that.”
Waldschmidt adds that “it’s best to – once you’re done shooting and you’re going to be working with retrieving the ducks and working with your dog getting them in and out of the water safely – want to unload the weapon and leave the action open and empty. So even if the dog does step on the gun or the gun slips and falls or something like a freak accident like this wouldn’t happen because the gun is unloaded.”
He does admit that sometimes the excitement of the moment can make people forget simple safety measures. Waldschmidt says “you get excited when you’ve got a duck down in the water and your dog’s going to retrieve it and simple safety rules can get kind of forgotten about with the excitement of watching your dog. It’s what you train your dog for and you’re out there for a fun, leisure activity and it’s a good time when you’re successful in your hunt and now you’re retrieving your game – but certainly that would have protected him in this case, had he had the gun unloaded.”
Waldschmidt says about nine
pellets of the bird shot ended up in
leg, but he was able to get his boat back to shore, hitch it onto his vehicle,
and drive back to
du Lac