Dog Shoots Hunter In Freak Accident

A hunter in France was treated in hospital for gunshot wounds after his excitable dog accidentally shot him in the hand and arm, authorities confirmed.

The 61-year-old man was fetching the woodcock he'd just shot down Monday when the excited dog knocked the firearm to the ground, jumped on the trigger and discharged one of its cartridges, Ouest-France reports.

Lead pellets struck the hunter in his hand and forearm, according to The Local. 

Authorities said other hunters near the small Pyrénées-Atlantiques hamlet of Mesplède, in the south west of the country, called emergency services. He was taken to hospital in nearby Orthez for treatment and doctors expect him to make a full recovery.

"The hunter had set his rifle against a tree and went to collect a woodcock he had just shot," Mesplede's mayor Regis Cassaroume told AFP about the accident.

In October, 25-year-old Allie Carter was hunting in Indiana when she was shot in the foot by her dog -- called Trigger.

Ten people in the U.S. have been shot by their dogs since 2004, according to the Washington Post.  Only one was fatal. Texas hunter Perry Alvin Price III died after taking a shotgun blast to his leg in 2008.

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