A Lockwood man charged last fall with accidentally killing his hunting partner has pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide.

Dean A. Brockoff, 54, pleaded guilty Monday to the charge, a felony, in front of Tioga County Judge Gerald A. Keene, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation, which investigated the shooting incident.

Brockoff admitted that on Dec. 9, 2018, he was hunting at 7 a.m., before legal sunrise, and shot at movement without identifying his target, negligently causing the death of his hunting partner David Barden, 73, on property off Miller Hollow Road in the Town of Barton.

Dec. 9 was the final day of the regular firearm season for white-tailed deer in the Southern Tier. Both Brockoff and Barden had…