KARE 11 Staff Writer
The Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS -- One person is dead and another wounded following separate hunting accidents on the firearms opener in Minnesota.
The St. Louis County Sheriff's Office says 84-year-old Arthur Joseph Knafla of Maple Grove died around 9:45 a.m. Saturday when his clothing caught fire while he was trying to light a heater in his deer stand near Hibbing.
According to the Duluth News Tribune, a news release says Knafla was attempting to light the propane heater in his partially enclosed deer stand. It says he fell from the stand when his clothing began burning.
In a separate incident in Sherburne County, authorities say 45-year-old Kurt Goenner of Clear Lake was accidentally shot in the arm by another hunter. It happened just after 2 p.m. near the intersection of River Road and 95th Avenue in Clear Lake.
Authorities say Goenner was transported by ambulance to St. Cloud Hospital with injuries believed to be non-life threatening.
No criminal charges are expected as a result of the incident, which is being investigated as a hunting-related accidental shooting.
Saturday was the opening day of Minnesota's firearms deer
season.
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