The Missoula area man was scouting for shed antlers in a brushy ravine near Roman Creek Road when he heard shots fired in his direction. Unable to alert and halt the shooters, he hid in a ditch and called authorities on his cell phone. He then hiked out of the mountain and retreated to safety at a nearby resident’s house.
“He was scared to death hours later,” said Missoula County Sheriff’s Sgt. Mike Dominick.
“We found six people up on the ridge shooting without any hearing protection,” Dominick said. “Once they started firing, they couldn’t hear the man yelling, ‘Don’t shoot at me.’ ”
He said a report will be sent the county attorney’s office for possible charges of endangerment. It’ll also be sent to the U.S. Forest Service.
“We’ll see if they want to charge them for shooting in an unsafe direction, shooting at a Forest Service sign and littering,” Dominick said. “The victim was fearful for his life. After extensive interviews by our deputies, we determined that the group did not know he was down in the ravine and were not shooting at him on purpose.”
Dominick said a total of about 11 squad cars n five from the Montana Highway Patrol and six from the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office n responded to the scene.
They ended up interviewing about a dozen people who were nearby playing folf, or Frisbee-golf, who said they heard shots to the north. The players were cleared out of the area, Dominick said.
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