Police in Shade Township, Somerset County, are not answering their phone Monday. But Tom Fazi, the commission's information and education supervisor for southwestern Pennsylvania, says a game officer has reported back from the scene that township police believe the incident was a suicide.
Fazi says a game officer responded after 911 dispatchers relayed a call that someone was shot in the head in a hunting-related incident. The incident was reported shortly after 7 a.m. Monday.
Somerset County Coroner Wallace Miller also says he's been summoned to the area, but has no details to release.
Hunting season underway
The Pennsylvania Game Commission says about 750,000 hunters will be out Monday. The two-week general deer season runs through December 11.
Game Commission Executive Director Carl Roe says deer season is the state's top way to manage its population of whitetail deer. Roe says deer season also has a profound effect on the state's economy, mostly benefiting local businesses.
Eight of the state's wildlife management units in central and northeastern Pennsylvania are open for bucks-only hunting for the first five days. The rest of the state is open for hunting bucks and does.
Hunters took just under 309,000 deer last year, the lowest total since 1987.
