Man accidentally shoots brother, friend while hunting turkey
One man mistakenly shot a friend and his brother while the trio hunted turkey near the southeast Kansas town of Girard on Wednesday morning.
The hunter immediately realized his mistake after firing a single 12-gauge shot into a wooded area on some leased private property at around 8:40 a.m., Crawford County Sheriff Dan Peak said in an e-mailed news release.
The man told authorities he didn’t see his friend and brother, Peak said, because they were lying down and camouflaged behind a fan made of turkey feathers, which looks like a decoy.
The men, who aren’t from Kansas, were all on the same property but had gone in separate directions and ended up all hunting the same turkey, Peak said.
The shotgun pellets struck the friend and brother in their faces and upper bodies. They walked back to their truck, and the shooter took them to Girard Medical Center for help, Peak said. They were later flown to another hospital for additional treatment.
The shooting remains under investigation, Peak said in his e-mail.
Regular season for turkey hunting opened on Wednesday.
Amy Renee Leiker: 316-268-6644, @amyreneeleiker
This story was originally published April 12, 2017 at 5:04 PM with the headline "Man accidentally shoots brother, friend while hunting turkey."