LACONIA, N.H. (AP) – A 15-year-old boy hunting for turkeys with his older brother was wounded by birdshot from a third hunter on the first day of turkey-hunting season Thursday, authorities said.
The teenager is currently in stable condition, with non-life-threatening injuries at Lakes Region General Hospital, New Hampshire Fish and Game Lt. James Goss said.
The two brothers – the older brother is 25 – had been hunting on the opening day of New Hampshire’s spring gobbler season. They were in a stationary position, wearing camouflage, and were calling to bring turkeys in to their location, as is customary in turkey hunting, Goss said.
The third hunter, a 45-year-old man from Belmont who is a veteran hunter, was moving through the woods looking for turkeys – a practice, discouraged by hunter safety experts, known as “stalking”.
Unaware of the presence of the younger men, he fired in the direction of their decoy and hit the 15-year-old hunter in the face, neck and chest area with birdshot pellets, Goss said.
“The Laconia Police Department responded very quickly to the scene and helped preserve crucial evidence,” Goss said.
The incident remains under investigation.
“One of the points we stress intensively in hunter education is that you NEVER stalk a turkey, and this incident points out just why that is such an important rule,” said Laura Ryder, who oversees hunter education programs at Fish and Game. “If you’re hunting turkeys, you should be sitting in one place and calling the turkeys to you.”
AP-ES-05-03-07 1636EDT
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