Man accidentally shot self in head while fishing for salmon

A Thurston County, Washington man told deputies he accidentally shot himself in the head with his .22-calibre rifle on Sunday afternoon while he was "fishing" for salmon on the Deschutes River.

The man said he fired a shot into the river at about 4:50 pm, but the bullet ricocheted off a rock and struck him in the temple. "He said he scratched the injury with his finger and the bullet fell out of his head in the river," according to a sheriff's report.



The man returned to his home but he would not tell his girlfriend what had happened. He then left the scene in his pickup. He told her not to call 911, but she did anyway. Deputies pulled the man's pickup over and he told them what had happened.

The man's girlfriend told deputies her boyfriend "regularly goes to the river and shoots salmon." He was not badly hurt, but was treated and released from an area hospital. The man was not cited with any criminal law violations.