WI: Teen hunter shot, injury not serious

December 01, 2010

Female hunter shot, injury not serious

A Mindoro woman hunting in Jackson County was among the 12 injured by firearms in the state when her boyfriend grazed her with a bullet.

Dayna M. Zibrowski, 19, was not seriously injured when the bullet struck her right leg, and she was able to walk out of the woods before she was treated and released at a Whitehall hospital, according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

The incident occurred on Nov. 24 at 7:08 a.m. in the town of Hixton when Zibrowski and boyfriend Jesse A. Johnson, 20, Whitehall, were hunting on private land, according to the incident report.

The couple was in a 12-by-8-foot platform deer stand when Johnson shot at and killed a deer with a 7 mm rifle, according to the report. Zibrowski stated she then felt wind on her leg and looked down to find her pant leg torn and blood.

Ed Culhane, west-central region public affairs manager for the DNR, said it appears the two had been standing side-by-side when they saw the deer but Zibrowski eventually positioned herself in front of the bolt-action rifle.

"Fortunately this one was one of the most minor injuries," Culhane said. "It was just a grazing wound. She received a couple stitches and was released."

Culhane said there is the possibility the woman also may have been injured by a muzzle flash.

Culhane said no citations were issued from the situation, and both were properly licensed and clothed.

This is the first hunting-related injury during the gun deer season in Jackson County in at least seven years, according to DNR records that are kept during that timeframe. There have been no hunting-related fatalities in the county since the mid-1990s, according to records on-hand.

"Hunters are very safe in Jackson County," Culhane said.

There were 12 firearm-related injuries during this year's nine-day gun deer season Nov. 20-28 - which is about the state average - but there were no hunting fatalities, which is only the second time that has occurred. The 1974 season was the only other time in recorded history of Wisconsin's traditional gun deer hunt where there were no firearm-related fatalities.

"We're very, very pleased with the performance of hunters," Culhane said. "It's just one more indication that we have some of the best-trained and safest and most courteous hunters in the nation.".

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