Yesterday we were hunting when we got word of this tragic accident. My son Chuck who is a paramedic and works on Mercy Flight got the call on his cell and we all were helping to pin point this downed hunter. I can tell you it wasn't anything I ever want to see again. I almost threw up. My prayers are for him and his family and his hunting buddy.
Hunter, 18, dies of accidental gunshot
Lockport man loses life in Orleans County after bagging deer on opening day By Jay Rey
November 19, 2011, 4:51 PM
A young man was killed when he accidentally shot himself in the face while hunting Saturday on the opening day of deer season in Orleans County.
Authorities identified the victim as Nicholas Renna, 18, of Lockport.
The tragic accident occurred at about 12:20 p.m. on the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge in the Town of Shelby, state police said.
The 18-year-old and his hunting companion were in the woods about two miles north of Lewiston Road and three-quarters of a mile west of Feeder Road, investigators said.
"The two individuals were dragging a deer. They stopped to rest," said State Police Sgt. Ron Lobur.
Renna set down his 12-gauge shotgun.
"It appears the gun was resting up against a tree stump or fallen tree," Lobur said. "At some point while they were resting, the victim's gun fell and discharged."
The teenager was shot in the face. His hunting companion used a cellphone to call 911 for help.
Police located their vehicle parked on the road, while a hunter from another party emerged from the woods to point authorities in the right direction.
Still, it took "a good 20 minutes" to locate the two in the more than 10,000-acre wildlife refuge, Lobur said.
Renna was pronounced dead at the scene.
But time "certainly didn't play into any life-saving effort -- at all," Lobur said.
The investigation is continuing.
"I would say at this point, it's a very tragic accident," Lobur said Saturday evening. "We talked with the family. Obviously, they're very distraught. So is the person who was with him."
It's the second hunting fatality this month at the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge, a federal wildlife refuge straddling the rural communities of Alabama in Genesee County and Shelby in Orleans County.
Two weeks ago, Charles E. Sossong, 42, of Newfane, dropped 35 feet to his death from a portable tree stand while bow hunting at the refuge.
State police were assisted by officers with the state Department of Environmental Conservation, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Services and sheriff's deputies from Orleans and Genesee counties.
Also on location were members of the Alabama, Shelby, Lyndonville and Ridgeway fire companies, as well as medical crews from Medina Ambulance, Mercy Ambulance and Mercy Flight.
