An excited dog set off a rifle, shooting his master, who was driving to a deer hunting spot with a friend in Pasco County on Saturday, authorities said.
Billy E. Brown, 78, was shot in his right thigh and taken to St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa, said Officer George Wells, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Brown is general manager of Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative, company spokesman David Lambert said.
Lambert said Brown underwent surgery and is recuperating. He is in critical but stable condition, his daughter, Laura Brown Melton, said late Saturday.
Brown and a friend were into the woods about 1½ miles from Old Pasco Road and Gillette Road, Wells said.
They were traveling over a bumpy, limestone road when the bulldog, named Eli, "got excited in the truck" and bumped the Browning 308, causing it to fire a bullet into Brown, Wells said.
The name of Brown's friend was not released. The two have been hunting together for more than 25 years, Wells said.
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