3-Year-Old and Mentor Accidentally Shoot, Wound Two Other Turkey Hunters

Pellets from the 12-gauge shotgun struck the 7-year-old’s head, along with the man’s left hand, shoulder, and backside as they hunted turkeys on state forest lands in the Rochester township. Lt. Renee Thok, the Department of Natural Resources’ hunter-education administrator, said the victims were likely facing away from the shooter when hit. DNR investigators do not believe the parties knew each other.

The victims were treated at a nearby hospital. The wounded mentor, age 40, was released Sunday evening (April 12) after receiving treatment, but the child remained in the hospital with non-life-threatening wounds Tuesday afternoon (April 14).

Thok said the DNR would not release names or genders of the two youngsters, given their ages. She also declined to release the names of the mentors, pending further investigation.

The incident occurred when the shooter’s mentor saw movement and thought it was a turkey’s fanned tail. The man then kneeled beside the 3-year-old to help hold, aim, and fire the semi-automatic shotgun at the movement about 35 yards away.

Thok said the woods had a brush understory, but it wasn’t dense. “It wasn’t a field, either, but there was some cover between them,” she said.

A review of online DNR hunting-incident summaries since 2007 found this shooting involved the youngest shooter and victim on record. Previously, a 9-year-old boy shot a 48-year-old man in the upper right arm with pellets from his 20-gauge shotgun while hunting mourning doves in Walworth County in September 2012; and a 13-year-old boy shot a 9-year-old boy in the foot with a .22 rifle while plinking at birds in Polk County in May 2019.

All Wisconsin hunters born on or after Jan. 1, 1973, must pass a state-certified hunter education course to hunt alone or mentor others on hunting. The DNR incident report said the 3-year-old’s mentor did not have a Wisconsin hunter-safety certificate, but he was “military-exempt” because of training received in the armed forces.

Thok wouldn’t predict if the child’s mentor would face prosecution. She said the DNR assigned a recreation warden to investigate the incident. Once the agency finishes its investigation, it will turn over its evidence and findings to the Racine County district attorney.

“The DA will decide whether to press charges,” Thok said. “I’m just glad everyone will be OK. For the sake of both juveniles, I hope this incident doesn’t deter them or anyone else from hunting again, because hunting is a safe activity. This is a reminder that you can’t be complacent about safety.”

Wisconsin is one of an estimated 35 states with no minimum hunting age. Wisconsin’s minimum hunting age was 12 throughout the 1900s, but in 2009 lawmakers lowered the restriction to age 10 for children being mentored. In 2017, lawmakers passed a bill to let parents decide when their children can hunt with a mentor. Under this law, mentors must remain within arm’s reach of the child.

Youngsters must buy a hunting license once they’re 12, but they cannot hunt alone until age 14, provided they pass the state’s hunter-education course.

Wisconsin held its first modern turkey season in 1983 after restoring the birds to the Badger State beginning in 1976. The statewide harvests during the spring turkey season surpassed 50,000 gobblers and jakes in 2024 and 2025. The state’s general spring turkey season opened Wednesday, April 15, and ends May 26.

Turkey hunting in Wisconsin is generally a safe activity, even though hunters wear camouflage clothing from head to foot to avoid being spotted by these sharp-eyed birds, which see colors like blaze-orange extremely well.

While sending out the equivalent of 208,000 to 230,000 hunters each spring the past 20 years, Wisconsin recorded four fatalities in 31 shooting incidents during turkey season. No one got shot during three of the past four seasons, and the state’s most recent shooting fatality during turkey season was 2017.