Husband accidentally shoots wife while turkey hunting...thought her arm was a turkey neck

March 28, 2012

By Jeff Dute, Al.com

The Baldwin County Sheriff's Office confirmed Friday that a man accidentally shot his wife after mistaking her for a turkey on March 18.

 Capt. Steve Arthur, Baldwin County's chief investigator, said Janet Bush, 54, of Perdido was struck with shotgun pellets in the right side of her face, hand and arm from a single shotgun blast fired by her husband, William Ernest Bush, 56, also of Perdido, at about 9:30 a.m.

 The couple and a 13-year-old grandchild were hunting near the junction of Pine Log Road and Alabama Highway 59 in the Tensaw community north of Stockton, Arthur quoted from the incident report.

Arthur said the report states that William Bush alerted first responders and Janet Bush was transported by ambulance to North Baldwin Infirmary in Bay Minette. She was treated and released, Arthur said.

When contacted Friday, Janet Bush declined to comment.

Arthur said the report states that William Bush had not expected his wife to be hunting that area and mistook her arm in the bushes as a turkey neck. Her movements while reaching for something in a pocket further convinced William Bush that what he saw was a turkey.

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