I wonder if he was a local? My family owned a ranch in Lemhi County many decades ago. We moved from there when I was seven but the area attracts hunters from all over, many of whom had no business hunting, let alone wandering the wilderness area by themselves. A hunter from California shot one of our horses, a brood mare with a colt, because a pheasant was sitting on her back. A little girl waiting for the school bus was shot and killed because she was wearing a brown coat and the hunter assumed she was a deer.
I think the hunter from CA said there was a pheasant thinking it was somehow a rational excuse.
I think it was in Wisconsin where a LEO was shot while on their horse. We call that Michigan bush hunting. Hear something? Shoot in that direction & then go see what you shot.