US deer hunters shot dead in row over tree stand

A DISPUTE among deer hunters over a tree stand in Wisconsin erupted into a series of shootings that left five people dead and three others injured.

Jake Hodgkinson, a deputy at the county jail, identified the suspected killer as Chai Vang but would give no additional details. Several news organisations in Minneapolis-St Paul reported the suspect was 36-years-old and from St Paul, Minnesota.

The incident happened when two hunters were returning to their rural cabin on private land in Sawyer County and saw the suspect in one of their tree stands, County Chief Deputy Tim Zeigle said. A confrontation and shooting followed.

The tree stands or platforms allow hunters to see deer without being easily seen themselves. It’s not known who shot first.

Both men were wounded and one of them radioed back to the cabin. Other hunters responded and were shot, he said. Some of the victims may have shot back at the suspect.

He added that the suspect was “sniping” at the victims with a SKS assault-style rifle and was “chasing after them and killing them”.

The dead included four men, including a teenage boy, and a woman. The man who radioed for help was not fatally wounded. Some of the victims were shot more than once.

All five were dead when officers arrived.

Authorities found two bodies near each other and the other three were scattered around the area, which is near the town of Meteor in south-western Sawyer County.

Two people who stayed in the cabin emerged safely after the shootings.

The suspect, who did not have a compass, got lost in the woods and two other hunters, not knowing the man was being sought in the shootings, helped him find his way out, Mr Zeigle said. When he emerged from the woods, a Department of Natural Resources officer recognised the deer licence on his back, given to police by a victim, and arrested him. The man was out of bullets by this time.

One of the injured hunters was in critical condition at St Joseph’s Hospital. Another was listed in serious condition and the third was in fair condition, both at the Lakeview Medical Centre.

Wisconsin’s state-wide season for hunting deer with guns started on Saturday and lasts for nine days.

Bill Wagner, aged 72, of Oshkosh, was about three miles away near Deer Lake with a party of about 20 other hunters at the time of the shootings.

After they got word of a shooting, he and other hunters went to round up the rest of the party.

He said they heard sirens, planes and helicopters and noticed the surrounding roads blocked off.

“When you’re hunting you don’t expect somebody to try to shoot you and murder you,” he said.

“You have no idea who is coming up to you.”

However, he said that the incident would not stop himself and his friends from hunting in future.

“We’re all old, dyed-in-wool hunters,” Mr Wagner said.

“We wouldn’t go home because of this but we will keep it in our minds. We’re not forgetting it.”