ELMA, Grays Harbor County — The Fish and Wildlife Department says an agent on patrol was in the right location to help save a man’s life after he accidentally shot himself in the leg with a black powder pistol.

Officer Mark James was on patrol this weekend in a remote area south of Elma where he saw the man shooting out a window at grouse.

KXRO reports when the man saw the officer, he began to unload the gun inside of his vehicle and the .22-caliber pistol went off.

James recently went through training for gunshot wounds and applied a tourniquet to stop the bleeding. The hunter was treated at Grays Harbor Community Hospital.

It is muzzleloader season and shooting grouse is legal, but shooting from inside a vehicle is illegal in Washington.