MASON COUNTY, MI – Opening day of firearm deer season took a tragic turn in West Michigan Friday when a hunter drowned after his canoe tipped over.

The 48-year-old Grand Rapids area man was hunting deer with his father and brother when the incident on the Pere Marquette River happened around 7:30 a.m. Nov. 5, according to Mason County Sheriff Kim Cole.

The 76-year-old father and 45-year-old brother, also from the Grand Rapids area, were taken to Spectrum Health Ludington Hospital for treatment of hypothermia, Cole said.

“It appears they struck a log and that caused their canoe to overturn and pitch them into the water,” Cole said.

The father and brother were able to get themselves out of the…