DAWES COUNTY, Neb. (KOLN) - A 16-year-old boy is recovering after he was shot while dove hunting in the Nebraska Sandhills on Saturday.

Nebraska Game and Parks said it happened around 6:45 p.m. MT on a private property southwest of Chadron.

Authorities determined the teen was unintentionally shot at close range by another member of his hunting party, Game and Parks said.

He was taken to the Chadron Community Hospital by his hunting party with birdshot wounds to his face, torso, arm and hand. He has since been treated and released.

Game and Parks said this is the second hunting incident reported this year.

According to Game and Parks, since the introduction of mandatory hunter education and hunter orange requirements in Nebraska in 1972, annual hunting incidents have decreased by over

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