Wisconsin has recorded its first shooting death of a deer hunter in three years.
Officials at Fort McCoy say 22-year-old Thomas Stamborski of Milwaukee was found dead of a gunshot wound in a designated hunting area at the Army base near Sparta. The incident happened on Saturday.
The fort said the victim was a civilian who was not connected with the Defense Department. The Army’s Criminal Investigation Command is investigating the shooting.
The DNR had gone two straight years without a hunter being shot-to-death, the first time that’s ever happened. Only three November gun seasons in the last 160 years did not have a fatal shooting in Wisconsin.
At least two other hunters died over the weekend from either natural causes or as the result of an accident. 51-year-old Shaun Lemanski of Green Bay died after he fell from a tree-stand in the Marathon County town of Cassel west of Wausau. 51-year-old Steven Jackson of Antigo, the head of the Langlade County Forestry Department, was found unresponsive Saturday evening in a wooded area near Gleason. Foul play has been ruled out, but the death is still being investigated.