BEMIDJI, Minn. (AP) — Beltrami County authorities say an Anoka man was injured in a grouse hunting accident in northern Minnesota.

The sheriff's office says 23-year-old Thomas Patrick Peterson was one of four members of a party hunting north of Fourtown on Thursday. It says a hunting companion told authorities he fired at a flushed grouse in a thicket, and Peterson was struck by shotgun pellets.

MELROSE - A 14-year-old Melrose boy will spend the night in the St. Cloud Hospital following a hunting accident.

The Stearns County Sheriff's Office responded to the scene near the intersection of  290th Street and Highway 4 in Spring Hill Township. When they arrived they found a teenager was wounded in the upper leg by a shotgun slug.

The boy had been hunting with his father and 12 other men at the time of the accident. Police say the group did what's called a drive which caused a deer to run. Four men shot at the deer and a slug hit the boy in the left leg.

FAHLUN TOWNSHIP, Minn. (WCCO) ― A 13-year-old boy is in the hospital Saturday after a reported hunting accident, according to the Kandiyohi County Sheriff's Office.

Deputies said they responded to the report just before noon in Fahlun Township, near County Road 3 and County Road 44.

The boy was airlifted to North Memorial Hospital. His condition hasn't been released, but he is expected to survive.

A father accidentally shot and killed his son after mistakenly taking the boy for a turkey while the two were hunting in Belle Plaine, Minnesota.

Two duck hunters died after their boat overturned Thursday morning in the Spring Lake section of the Mississippi River north of Hastings.

Other hunters found the boat about 10:40 a.m., said the Dakota County Sheriff's Office. Hunters found the body of Dennis Portz, 53, of Lake Elmo at about 11 a.m. along the south shore of the lake in Nininger Township. Authorities found the body of the other hunter, Dennis Evans, 49, of Hastings, at about 4:20 p.m., also along the south shore, said Chief Deputy Sheriff Dave Bellows.

The statistics are clear: Hunting is safer than ever. Far fewer hunting-related injuries or deaths occur in Minnesota each fall than decades ago.

Firearms safety classes and blaze-orange clothing are two reasons for the improvement.

"When you consider there'll be almost a half million people out hunting on the deer opener Saturday, and there might be only a few accidents, hunting is very safe," said Ryan Bronson, Department of Natural Resources hunter recruitment and retention coordinator.

But one place that remains dangerous is the deer stand.

WILLMAR, MN -- A man was shot during the opening day of deer season in Kandiyohi County.

The sheriff's department says the 72-year-old man was shot in the left leg above the knee while hunting south of Lake Solomon in Dovre Township, north of Willmar.

The shooting happened at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. The man was treated at Rice Memorial Hospital and released.

A hunter north of Two Harbors, Minn., looked through his rifle scope twice Wednesday morning before firing at the deer he thought he saw 180 yards away. Instead, the man mistakenly shot and killed his best friend.

Peter Josie, 45, of Zimmerman, had just left his deer stand and started to walk toward his hunting buddy, who was sitting in a second deer stand about a mile away, according to the Lake County Sheriff's Office.

KANDIYOHI, Minn. (AP) - A 13-year-old Kandiyohi (kan-dee-YOH'-high) boy is recovering from a hunting accident.

Brady Damhof was wounded Saturday while duck hunting near the west-central Minnesota town of Svea. Authorities say another member of his hunting party apparently stumbled, and his gun went off.

His mother, Betty Damhof, says Brady was in stable condition Monday after surgery at North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale. She says the eighth-grader was shot at "very close range" in the left shoulder and back area, but no vital organs were involved.

CROSSLAKE, Minn. (AP) ― A25-year-old Crosby man has died in a hunting accident on the opening weekend of Minnesota's firearms deer season.

Crow Wing County Sheriff Todd Dahl says it appears Christopher Stirewalt accidentally shot himself Sunday while hunting in Fifty Lakes Township, north of Crosslake. He was wounded in the shoulder area.