A Disputanta hunter suffered life threatening injuries today when he was accidentally shot in the head by a fellow hunter shooting at a moving deer in Sussex County, authorities said.
The victim, 61, was flown by Medflight helicopter to VCU Medical Center in Richmond, said Lee Walker, a spokesman for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, which is investigating the incident.
The shooting occurred about 1:40 p.m. during a hunt club outing near U.S. 460 and Georgetown Road outside of Waverly.
Members of the group, called Waid's Hunt Club, were part of an organized deer hunt and they were driving deer with hunting dogs, Walker said.
At one point as a deer was running through the area, a hunter fired his shotgun and struck the victim -- who was standing beyond the deer -- in the back of the head. The deer was killed by the shotgun blast, Walker said.
The victim, whose name was not immediately released, was struck by at least one buckshot pellet. Typically, there can be eight to 12 pellets in a shell depending on the type of gun and ammunition used. The man was wearing blaze orange.
So far, no charges have been placed.
"They never place charges until they've had a chance to do a good, full investigation of what took place," Walker said.
The incident was the 19th hunting related shooting in Virginia since hunting season began in early September, Walker said. ___
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