Hunting, What A Great Idea For The Family!

Sibley County Sheriff Bruce Ponath said that Anthony Klaseus, of Belle Plaine, and his [8-year-old] son Hunter were hunting turkey about three miles west of Belle Plaine Saturday evening when Klaseus shot his son in the chest with a 12-gauge shotgun....

Klaseus dialed 911 on his cell phone and carried the boy to a rendezvous with emergency responders, Ponath said. But the boy was pronounced dead at the scene.  "He was absolutely panicked. That would be an understatement," Ponath told The Associated Press.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that Hunter, dressed in camouflage, was 20 to 30 yards away from his father when his father mistook him for a turkey and fired his gun.  The shooting remains under investigation, but the sheriff characterized it as a tragic accident....

Pribyl described the boy as a wrestler and an active and eager student who had recently written and illustrated a book for a class about hunting with his father.

The 39-year-old Belle Plaine man had told the boy, Hunter, to stay where he was -- well out of range -- as he stalked the wildfowl near County Road 6 in Faxon Township, about 3 miles west of Belle Plaine.  But Hunter, caught up in the excitement of the chase and eager to catch up with his dad, headed toward him.  Hunter, dressed in camouflage, was 20 to 30 yards away, in a grassy area near the woods where his father stood, when his father mistook him for a turkey and fired his 12-gauge shotgun, said Sibley County Sheriff Bruce Ponath....

"He was an intelligent little boy," he said. "Fun-loving, full of energy."

There were 23 incidents of hunters being shot at, either by themselves, others in their hunting party, strangers or, in one case, a dog.