Hunter mistakes cow for coyote

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich., Nov. 23 (UPI) -- A Michigan hunter may face criminal charges for mistaking a pregnant cow for a coyote.

Richard Buckner, 42, shot his neighbor's 1,400-pound breeding cow while reportedly looking for coyotes in the woods near his home, The Traverse City Record-Eagle reported Friday.

"I don't know how he hit a several-thousand-pound cow mistaking it for a coyote," Rory Heckman, Benzie County undersheriff, told the newspaper.

The cow had wandered away from its owners' land and ended up in the woods, owner DeAnn Mosher said.

"My husband thought that he should go through some therapy looking at repeated pictures of cows and coyotes because they look nothing alike," Mosher said to the Record-Eagle.

Officials said they want to charge Buckner with attempted larceny, reckless discharge of a firearm, property damage, attempting to take a game animal during closed season and hunting without a proper game license, the newspaper report said.