One shot in Boone County hunting accident

BOONE COUNTY, Mo. (KMIZ)

A 20-year-old man was wounded when his friend shot him in a hunting accident Saturday near Hallsville, the Missouri Department of Conservation said Monday.

Robert Himmelgarn, spokesman for the department's Central District, said the victim was walking across a terraced soybean field when his 21-year-old hunting companion mistook him for a deer and shot him. The victim was wearing orange, Himmelgarn said.

The victim was shot in the hip, though it wasn't clear Monday how serious the wound was.

The Boone County Sheriff's Department also investigated the incident, which happened at about 6 p.m. Saturday in a field near Highway 124.

The shooting was one of two deer hunting accidents on the first weekend of the annual firearms deer season. A man was killed Sunday in Knox County, The Associated Press reported.

Himmelgarn said the conservation department's investigation is ongoing.