Ugh. My stomach was in knots after reading this story. Can only imagine how the boy feels. Know your target people!


Hiker mistaken for a bear, killed by hunter

By Noelene Clark

Seattle Times staff reporter


A woman hiking on Sauk Mountain near Rockport was shot and killed Saturday morning by a boy who was hunting for a bear, Skagit County deputies said.

The 54-year-old woman, from Oso, in unincorporated Snohomish County, was hiking with a friend and stopped on the trail to put something in her backpack. The boy, from near Concrete, mistook the woman for a bear and fired one shot, according to the Skagit County Sheriff's Office.

After being alerted at about 10:30 a.m., search and rescue teams found the woman's body in steep terrain. The boy was accompanied by at least one adult, deputies said.

The Skagit County Sheriff's Office and an officer from the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife are investigating.