Hunter accused of shooting man said he mistook him for a bear, Vermont officials say
UPDATE: The man who was shot, James Cameron, is currently in stable condition, according to WPTZ. The man accused of shooting Cameron, identified as 25-year-old Alex Gaudette, has been charged with aggravated assault and negligent use of a gun, according to the outlet.
The original story is below:
A hunter in Vermont is in critical condition after being shot on Saturday, Sept. 10, by another hunter who said he confused the victim for a bear, according to a release from the state’s Fish and Wildlife Department.
The 35-year-old from Fairfax, Vermont, was in Huntington, a rural town about 60 miles south of the Canadian border, when the shooting occurred, according to officials. He was walking to a treestand in a “wooded area near a cornfield off of Main Road,” game warden Robert Currier told McClatchy News, when he was shot once in the abdomen by another hunter.
After a third hunter called 911, wardens with the Vermont Warden Service, troopers with the Vermont State Police and medical personnel responded to the area, which was on private land,, according to the release.
Currier said the man accused of shooting the hunter told officials that he’d mistaken him for a bear. Vermont’s first of two bear-hunting seasons began nine days earlier on Sept. 1.
The victim was taken to the University of Vermont Medical Center and is in critical condition as of Monday, Sept. 12, according to the release.
Neither hunter was wearing blaze orange, according to the release. While wearing blaze orange, a specific hue worn by hunters that is also called hunter or safety orange, is not required by law in the Green Mountain State, it is highly encouraged by the Fish and Wildlife Department.
“While it isn’t recommended to wear orange during waterfowl and turkey seasons,” Vermont unter education program coordinator Nicole Meier said in a 2020 release, “we certainly still recommend hunter orange when you are going to and from your blind, treestand or calling spot.”
Similar shooting incidents in the state are relatively rare, according to Currier.
“We didn’t have any last year, but we tend to have at least one a year,” Currier said. “Something as serious as this is not as common.”
The name of the accused shooter has not been released since “it’s still a criminal investigation and we haven’t charged him yet,” says Currier, adding that updates will follow in the coming days.
This story was originally published September 12, 2022 at 7:24 PM with the headline "Hunter accused of shooting man said he mistook him for a bear, Vermont officials say."