A Utah hunter was on the mend Wednesday after surviving a gunshot wound from man’s best friend - yes, a dog.
While authorities don't know all the particulars, this much is certain, hospital crews had to extract 27 pellets of birdshot from the man, according to news reports.
The incident happened over the weekend when two men and a canine set up to go duck-hunting in the Great Salt Lake near a bird refuge outside Brigham City, according to CNN affiliate KSL.
Before the hunting could commence, one of the men, a 46-year-old from Brigham City, got out of his boat and laid his 12-gauge shotgun across the bow of the vessel, KSL reported.
From there, it gets weird.
"The dog got excited, was jumping around inside the boat and then it jumped on the gun. It went off, shooting the (man) in the buttocks," Box Elder County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Kevin Potter told the Salt Lake City Tribune. The man was apparently setting up decoys when the gun went off, said Potter.
But how – exactly – did this happen?
The dog "did something to make the gun discharge," Potter told KSL. "I don't know if the safety device was on. It's not impossible the dog could have taken it off safety," he was quoted as saying.
Sunday's accident wasn't the only strange occurrence over the Thanksgiving weekend involving outdoorsmen. In North Carolina, fishermen encountered a great white shark - but it didn't shoot them.
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Ban dogs!!!
I'm with you, Ngetski; we need stricter dog-control laws...
I've heard of people being dogged out before, but wow.
Bad dog, baaad dog.
I've heard that if you let a dog lick your wounds, that they'll heal faster. Maybe he should try it.
Shot in the buttttocks!
Rub his nose in it or he'll never learn.
See, this is why they have leash laws. Let them run loose and you never know what they'll do. I'll bet he planned this all summer.
Herkimer, please stop with the jokes - I'm eating lunch at my desk and giggling every 30 seconds. Now i have a picture in my mind of everytime the owner was not nice to the dog, as soon as he left the room, the dog pulled out a reporter's notebook and wrote down the offense and rubbed his paws together thinking, "just wait, bucko!"
Clearly pre-MUTT-itated. Seriously though when the reporter says "From there, it gets weird." he/she demonstrates lack of knowledge about guns, duck hunting, etc. People who supposedly know gun safety shoot themselves all the time, probably every day. Why is it weird when a dog trips over the trigger of a loaded gun while in the tight quarters of a duck boat?
Those right wing dogs in Washington have been jumping around on duck hunting boats with loaded guns for years!!
Plain and simple, damn poor gun handling on the man's part.
It is a pity that hunted animals ca not carry a weapon, good for the dog, the SPCA should make a follow in case something happens to the dog.
hunted animals don't have Opposable thumbs.... this would make the task quite daunting.
Not the dogs fault. The hunter made a choice to bring the dog on to a boat in the first place. Not much room and a loaded gun with the safety off. An accident waiting to happen. Hope the man is doing well.
This will go on the "Top 10 Best Excuses" when he can't go to work.
Lies, the hunter who got shot is just covering for Dick Cheney!!