Man accidentally shoots himself in head while fishing - and lives to tell the tale

It's a complicated story, but a Thurston County, Washington man says he managed to shoot himself in the head with a .22-caliber rifle while fishing for salmon.

A sheriff's report says the man told deputies he fired a shot into the Deschutes River on Sunday afternoon but the bullet ricocheted off a rock and hit him in the temple.
When he scratched the spot with his finger, the Olympia man says the bullet fell out of his head and into the river.

My mistake: A fisherman in Thurston, County, Washington accidentally shot himself in the head while fishing for salmon in the Dechutes River and lived

'He saw what he thought was going to be his dinner, and took a shot at it. He either missed dinner or hit the rock right next to it, and that bullet ricocheted back and hit him in the head,' said Greg Elwin of the Thurston County Sheriff's Office.
The bizarre incident occurred at about 4.50pm near the 9600 block of Old Highway 99, stated a police report.The man returned to his home nearby and refused to tell his girlfriend how he had been injured but later the tale came to light when after he left again, she called 911. When deputies pulled over the man's pickup truck on the same highway, he told them what happened.

Accident: The man said a bullet from his .22 calibre rifle (possibly similar to the one pictured) ricocheted off a tree and into his temple,Though he declined to talk to KIRO 7 Eyewitness News, his girlfriend's mother, Sadie Meyers, told reporters: 'It's really fortunate he wasn't killed.'

According to the victim's girlfriend, her boyfriend 'regularly goes to the river and shoots salmon.'But, despite reports by local paper The Olympian to the contrary, officials are not happy with the fisherman's hunting tactics.
'What he did is illegal,' Elwin said. 'That is not an acceptable way to go fishing.'
The Olympian also reported that the unidentified man was treated at an area hospital but only sustaining minor injuries, was later released. 
But Ms Meyers told KIRO 7: 'He's going to lose the sight of one eye, I think.'
While The Olympian was told that man was not cited for any violations, KIRO 7 reported that the The state Department of Fish and Wildlife is joining the investigation and that the maximum penalty for shooting a fish with a gun is a year in jail.
Thurston County Sheriff's Office have not responded with comment.