Man trying to shoot buffalo accidentally shoots man helping him instead

Forgive Duane Helms if he suddenly has a deep loathing for Friday the 13th.

Helms, who lives in Moundridge, was helping a Yoder Meats employee kill buffalo in Yoder on Friday so they could be butchered, according to the Reno County Sheriff’s Office.

The employee, Justin Roddy, was atop a ladder with a rifle, trying to shoot a buffalo confined inside a trailer. The buffalo kept turning inside the trailer, so Helms walked to the tail end of the trailer to get the animal to turn back closer to where Roddy was stationed.

When the buffalo turned, it struck the side of the trailer. That jarred the ladder, knocking Roddy off balance and causing the rifle to discharge.

The rifle round struck Helms in the right calf. He was taken to a hospital for treatment.

“It’s pretty strange,” Reno County Sheriff Randy Henderson said. “You couldn’t make this stuff up.”

Several buffalo had already been killed for processing at the time of the mishap, Henderson said.

This story was originally published January 13, 2017 at 5:57 PM with the headline "Man trying to shoot buffalo accidentally shoots man helping him instead."