A man was shot in the shoulder late Thursday morning while he was hunting in the Caliente Mountain Range near the Carrizo Plain National Monument, officials said.
Six people were hunting deer in the mountains near Cuyama, which border the southwestern part of the Carrizo Plain, Capt. Todd Tognazzini with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said.
One of the hunters saw movement in the brush and fired with a “high-powered rifle,” but instead of hitting a deer, he hit another man in the party in the shoulder, Tognazzini said.
The man, who is in his 60s, received non-fatal injuries and was flown to Kern Medical Center in Bakersfield for treatment, Tognazzini said.
Tognazzini said sheriff’s deputies also responded to the scene and determined that there was no foul play involved.
“There were unsafe hunting practices that led to the injury,” Tognazzini said, noting that to legally shoot a deer in California, the hunter has to make sure the deer is male and has at least one branched antler. “We don’t see those kinds of injuries often here.”
Fish and Wildlife officials are investigating the incident.
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