Hunter killed after dog steps on gun

BAYTOWN, Texas, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- A Baytown, Texas, man was killed while hunting geese after his dog stepped on his loaded shotgun, firing the weapon.

Sheriff's investigators said Perry Alvin Price III was hunting Saturday near the town of Stowell when he shot a goose, but failed to see where the animal landed, the Houston Chronicle reported Tuesday.

Price placed his loaded shotgun in the tailgate of his pickup truck and his tracking dog stepped on the firearm before the hunter could release him to search for the felled bird. The blast went through the tailgate of the truck and struck Price in the thigh.

He was pronounced dead of severe blood loss from his femoral artery shortly after he arrived at a hospital Saturday evening.

Daniel Groberg, who was hunting with Price -- his former math teacher at Baytown's Robert E. Lee High School -- said he tried to stop the bleeding before rushing Price to the hospital.

Chambers County Sheriff Joe LaRive said the dog's paw prints were found on the shotgun.

"It's the strangest case that I've seen," LaRive said. "We couldn't talk to Perry and Groberg was at the front of the truck when he heard the shotgun blast and didn't see what happened."