Authorities name Wichita man killed in hunting accident when dog stepped on gun

Authorities have identified the 30-year-old Wichita man who was killed in a hunting accident when a dog stepped on a rifle.

At 9:47 a.m. Saturday, first responders were called to a rural area of Sumner County between Udall and Belle Plaine after Joseph Austin Smith was shot in the back while sitting in the front passenger seat of a truck, according to the Sumner County Sheriff’s Office.

First responders performed CPR but Smith died at the scene.

Smith and his friend had been hunting doe, according to Capt. Roger Church.

The back seat of the truck had hunting gear and a rifle, the sheriff’s office said in a news release. A dog belonging to the owner of the truck stepped on the rifle, causing the gun to fire.

The gun also belonged to the friend, Church said.

Kansas Department of Wildlife & Parks operations captain Larry Hastings said he knows of at least one other time someone was accidentally shot by a dog while hunting since 1991, when he joined the department. He didn’t remember where or when it happened but said it involved a dog jumping onto the tailgate of a truck, causing the gun to go off. The hunter didn’t die in that case, he said.

This story was originally published January 24, 2023 at 3:15 PM.