Journal Sentinel files

Jay Leggett is seen giving an interview at the 2010 premiere  of his documentary “To the Hunt” in Tomahawk.

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By Kevin Crowe of the Journal Sentinel

A Hollywood actor and comedian known in his native Wisconsin for his love of hunting died Saturday after participating in the first day of the state’s gun deer season in Lincoln County.

Jay Leggett, 50, collapsed and died Saturday afternoon, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department said in a news release.

Authorities also reported six people had been injured in hunting accidents around the state as of Sunday afternoon, double the number of injuries reported last year on opening weekend.

“It’s been high this year,” said John King, a conservation warden with the state Department of Natural Resources.

Leggett, a native of Tomahawk who lived in Los Angeles, co-wrote and acted in the 2004 film “Employee of the Month” starring Matt Dillon and Christina Applegate, appeared in the TV series “In Living Color” and “NYPD Blue,” and produced his own documentary about Wisconsin deer hunting culture, “To the Hunt.”

Emergency crews responded to a call shortly after 4 p.m. Saturday and found family members trying to revive Leggett in a cabin in the town of Tomahawk.

The Lincoln County coroner pronounced him dead at the scene.

Also on Saturday, a stray bullet struck a man while he sat at his kitchen table in Monroe County, the DNR said. The bullet traveled through a window and the back of the man’s chair before hitting him.

The man suffered some bruising, and the bullet broke the skin before falling to the floor.

The DNR is still investigating the incident and has not been able to identify a shooter.

A 52-year-old man was shot Sunday in the back of the leg while hunting in a stand in the Sheboygan County town of Lyndon. Cascade Fire Department members transported the man out of the hunting area using a 6×6 vehicle, the Sheboygan County Sheriff’s Department said.

The Cascade man was then taken to Aurora Medical Center in Grafton. His injuries did not appear to be life-threatening.

The other four injuries reported by the DNR involved hunters accidentally shooting themselves.

The DNR reported selling more than 615,000 gun deer licenses for this year’s season.

‘Favorite place on earth’

Leggett left Wisconsin decades ago to pursue a career as an actor and comedian, but he said in a 2010 Journal Sentinel interview he never lost his love of Lincoln County.

“It’s my favorite place on earth,” Leggett said at the time, during a trip to Tomahawk for the premiere of “To the Hunt.”

He shared a remote hunting camp with his family and friends on 360 acres in western Lincoln County, the article noted.

He had missed only two opening days since he was 12, once as a high school senior to participate in a state theater competition, the other time when he was directing a play in London.

Leggett told the Journal Sentinel his experience at the camp, known as Newwood Club, moved him to embark on a project to document the camps.

“Most people in America have no idea this exists,” he said.