Frank Coleman Whiddon, a 37-year-old Pierson resident, was turkey-hunting with his two sons right at sunup Sunday morning in the woods near Bunnell when he was himself mistaken for a turkey by another hunter and shot.
Whiddon was transported by Trauma One, the emergency helicopter, and was stable at first, but his condition was downgraded to critical, according to Bunnell Police Chief Dave Brannon.
The incident took place at 7:30. Whiddon was hunting near Old Haw Creek Road with his son Hunter, who was turning 12 that very day, and Whiddon’s 7-year-old son.
John R. Bennett, who turns 72 this week, was hunting alone. He had entered the hunting grounds from a different location.
Whiddon and his sons had walked in and sat on the side of the road, according to a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission report. (FWC is investigating the incident. FWC, which did not release the incident report until today, referred to the hunting grounds as Bimini East Hunting Club.) Whiddon happened to be behind a turkey decoy.
Bennett was walking along the road. He later told law enforcement that he’d seen three female turkeys on the road. Bennett said he followed the female turkeys and then saw what he thought was a male turkey. He aimed and fired. It was low light still. He soon realized that the male turkey was a decoy. He then heard someone shout they had been shot.
Bennett called 911. Bunnell police officers and Flagler County sheriff’s deputies responded and located Whiddon. He’d been “shot in the head and torso with what appeared to be bird shot,” according to Bunnell police.
“Bennett expressed remorse for the shooting and showed officers where the incident occurred,” a Bunnell police release states. Officers located a shotgun shell about 150 yards east of the location of the 911 call.
