Duck hunter shot in apparent accident, dies

A Placer County man died Saturday after he was shot in the back in an apparent hunting accident in southern Glenn County, investigators said.

Sam Whittaker, 44, of Lincoln was shot once in the upper back and pronounced dead at 9:21 a.m., according to Glenn County sheriff’s Sgt. Todd James.

“The investigation is pointing strictly to an accident at this point,” James said.

The victim was hunting at the Upper Butte Basin Duck Club on Howard Slough near Afton with his older brother Frank Whittaker, 55, of Orangevale.

The older brother was walking behind the victim when he slipped and fell, causing his .12 gauge shotgun to discharge into the victim, James said.

Two off-duty registered nurses, also hunting in the area, heard the older brother yelling for help and assisted.

Emergency responders waded through knee-deep marshes to find the victim who had been hunting in a flooded ricecheck, James said.

He said both brothers were hunting legally.

This is the first hunting-related death in Glenn County this year, James said.

He said he could not remember the last similar incident.

“We’re fortunate that this doesn’t happen often,” he said.

Contact Rob Parsons at 934-6800 or rparsons@tcnpress.com.