PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — A woman was treated and released from the hospital Tuesday after her husband accidentally shot her in the leg while partridge hunting near Togue Pond in Aroostook County, according to the Maine Warden Service.
Richard Botka, 72, of Rangeley fired at a partridge with his 12-gauge shotgun and struck his wife Geraldine Botka, 67, in the leg at about 10 a.m. , Cpl. John MacDonald said in a press release issued Tuesday night.
Game wardens reported that Geraldine Botka had been walking in the woods back toward the couple’s parked truck when a partridge flushed toward the dirt logging road where she was standing.
When the partridge flew, Richard Botka fired one shot and about three dozen pellets made it through very dense foliage, striking his wife in the lower right leg, according to the release.
Richard Botka transported his wife to The Aroostook Medial Center in Presque Isle where she was treated for the gunshot wounds and released, MacDonald reported.
The Botkas were not wearing hunter orange as it is not required by law during this portion of the Maine’s hunting season, according to the corporal.
The incident remains under investigation.
