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Hunter incidents

Hunter incidents

2023 Michigan DNR Law Enforcement Division Hunter Incident report

Last updated: January 2, 2024

# Date County Animal Hunted Casualty Type Self Inflicted Equipment Used Shooter Age Victim Age(s) Shooter Violation Victim Violation Pending or Final Comment
1 01/02/2023 Kent Pheasant Injury No Shotgun Unknown 60 Yes No Final Shooter and victim were part of the same group. Victim was working with a dog and flushed a pheasant. Several hunters in the group shot at the pheasant and the victim was struck in the face by some pellets. It was not determined which of the 4 shooters pellets struck the victim. (Fail to ID beyond Target).
2 01/10/2023 Shiawassee Pheasant Injury Yes Shotgun 33 N/A No N/A Final While afield, the subject was holding a dog on a leash and resting her loaded shotgun on the ground with the barrel facing upward, while waiting for other hunters to plant birds. The dog became excited and was jumping on the subject. During this time, the dog's paw struck the trigger on the gun, causing it to fire. (Careless handling of a firearm).
3 01/23/2023 Osceola Pheasant Injury Yes Shotgun 16 N/A No N/A Final While hunting for pheasant, the hunter paused to rest for a minute and rested the firearm with the barrel on his foot. While adjusting his grip on the firearm, his finger and/or bulky glove depressed the trigger, causing the firearm to shoot. The shot struck him in the foot, causing substantial damage to the foot. (Careless handling of a firearm).
4 03/02/2023 Wexford Squirrel Injury Yes Rifle 38 N/A No N/A Final Shooter shot the tip of his left index finger while shooting at a squirrel. (Careless handling of a firearm).
5 05/08/2023 Wexford Turkey Injury No Shotgun 25 67 Yes No Final The shooter seen the victim's decoy spread of turkey and mistook for live turkeys. The shooter parked down the road and snuck up on the decoy spread, low crawling to the crest of a hill where he could see the head and beard of the Tom decoy. The shooter shot at the decoy and the shot struck the victim, who was sitting in the wooded area on the other side of the decoy spread. (Fail to ID beyond Target).
6 11/19/2023 Cass Deer Injury Yes Shotgun 15 N/A No No Final The receiver of the shotgun exploded when the subject fired a shot at a deer, causing injury to his left arm. (Equipment failure).
7 11/22/2023 Berrien Deer Injury No Rifle 23 64 Yes No Final Subject was deer hunting in an elevated treestand. He was struck in the left leg by a stray round from a subject target shooting on an adjacent property.
8 11/24/2023 Gratiot Deer Injury No Rifle N/A 29 Yes No Final A hunting party of 10 individuals was conducting a deer drive on public land when a deer jumped up and ran, causing multiple individuals to shoot. The victim was struck by a bullet in his upper right leg. It was not determined which individual fire the shot that struck the victim. (Fail to ID beyond target / careless handling of a firearm).
9 11/25/2023 Shiawassee Deer Injury Yes Shotgun 36 N/A No No Final Subject accidently discharged a firearm while picking up his firearm to shoot at a deer. The discharge was near his face and the blast caused injury to the facial area. (Careless handling of a firearm).
10 11/25/2023 Newaygo Deer Injury Yes Shotgun N/A N/A N/A N/A Pending Subject accidently shot herself in the foot while standing on a deer drive.