From staff reports

McALISTERVILLE — A local hunter who told investigators he accidentally shot and killed another hunter during a deer drive has been charged.

Anthony J. Peachey II, of McAlisterville, is facing a misdemeanor charge for injuring or killing a human being while hunting, according to court documents.

Court dockets state that Peachey is scheduled for a preliminary hearing and arraignment before Magisterial District Judge Joshua Imes at 10 a.m. April 9.

Peachey is accused of acting carelessly when he allegedly fired at a deer and fatally struck Floyd Wengerd, 26, on Dec. 2 in an area off Vincent Tram Road in Milford Township, according to a criminal complaint.

A state game warden responded to a report of a hunting-related shooting shortly before 10:30 a.m., the complaint states. The warden observed a gunshot wound to Wengerd’s right hip as he was being loaded into an ambulance.

Wengerd was transported to a hospital, where he later died. The Mifflin County coroner ruled the cause of death hypovolemic shock due to a gunshot wound to the right hip. The manner of death was ruled accidental.

According to investigators, Wengerd and Peachey were among 22 hunters participating in a deer drive, a tactic in which hunters work together to move deer toward other positioned hunters. Both men were part of the group driving deer.

In the complaint, Peachey is quoted as telling the warden, “It was me,” and said he believed he had struck a branch when he fired, claiming a branch fell after the shot. He also told investigators visibility was poor due to snow and that he did not know the specific locations of other hunters.

“I couldn’t even see the guy above me,” Peachey told the warden, according to court documents.

Investigators said Peachey fired in the direction where Wengerd was positioned and that he reported hearing Wengerd yell immediately after the shot. Authorities said they did not locate a tree branch that appeared to have been struck by a bullet.