Brother shoots brother in deer-hunting mishap, sheriff's office says

BOSTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WXMI) -- The Ionia County Sheriff's Office says a man accidentally shot by his brother while hunting Saturday afternoon was airlifted to a hospital in serious but stable condition.

The shooting was reported just before 5:30 p.m. in a cornfield near W. Grand River Avenue and Bell Road in Boston Township, north of Clarksville.

Emergency responders met the men after they walked out of the field together.

The brothers had been searching in the cornfield for a deer that one of them had shot earlier with a muzzle-loader rifle.

They weren't able to find the deer and became separated in the dense field, according to a release. The older, 29-year-old brother from Saranac then spotted what he thought was the deer moving in the field. Authorities say after hearing the deer make a noise, he fired the rifle again. He soon realized he instead had shot his 28-year-old brother.

Authorities say everything points to this being an accidental shooting, but they still investigating all of the precise details about how it happened. Deputies also say everyone has been cooperative with the investigation.