Alaskan Hunter Killed In Wisconsin

Tragedy in Wisconsin: an Alaskan hunter was killed there during a hunting accident last weekend.

Here’s CBS Minnesota via the Associated Press with more:

An Alaska man died after his hunting companion apparently shot him during opening weekend of Wisconsin’s gun deer season — the first firearm-related fatality during the season in three years, state officials said Monday.

The 39-year-old Fairbanks man was hunting with a 35-year-old Wisconsin woman in Columbia County on Sunday morning, state Department of Natural Resources Warden Jon King said. The man apparently tried to hand a loaded rifle to the woman, who was in a tree stand. The woman had mittens on and grasped the gun near the trigger when the weapon discharged. The man was struck just below the armpit, King said.

Both hunters had valid licenses to hunt in Wisconsin, King said. He declined to release either hunter’s name, saying the incident was still under investigation. He didn’t know if the hunters were related.

“It’s a very unfortunate case,” King said. “We tell people to never carry a loaded firearm in and out of the tree stand.”