Another deer hunter in Iowa was accidentally shot Tuesday. It happened late in the afternoon in Poweshiek County. Iowa Department of Natural Resources spokesman Kevin Baskins says 20-year-old Dalton Hicks of Montezuma was hit in the throat with a deer slug while hunting with six other people. Another hunter, who had shot at a running deer, hit Hicks.
“We’ve seen that happen a couple times so far this season,” Baskins said. “We’ve had party hunts and people shooting at running deer have ended up hitting someone else in the party.” Hicks was airlifted to University Hospitals in Iowa City and was last reported in stable condition.
The incident is the fifth serious injury to a hunter in just four days of the first shotgun deer hunting season. Baskins says it’s critical for hunters to wear plenty of blaze orange and always know where other members of their party are located.
“I know at least one of our incidents, one of the people in the party after he had been struck, admitted he had probably moved out of position and the other hunter didn’t know that he had moved,” Baskins said. “So, it’s very important to have your plan in place if you have multiple people in your party – so everybody knows where they’re at and what you’re doing.”
The first shotgun season in Iowa ends today. The second shotgun season begins Saturday and runs through Sunday, December 18.
“Obviously we’d like to see hunters do a little better, from a safety standpoint, than what they did during the first (season),” Baskins said.
Hunters have reported harvesting nearly 61,000 deer so far this fall – which is about 10% fewer than last year.