A moose hunting trip turned into a drunken brawl Sunday night, resulting in two men arrested on assault charges.
At around 9:30 p.m., Alaska State Troopers received a call from 35-year-old Jeremy Rutherford, who said that he shot his hunting partner, Robert Edwards, in the face after he pointed a pistol at him.
Rutherford told troopers he was moose hunting with Edwards, 29, and another male in the Chistochina River drainage, located in the Copper River region, according to an AST dispatch posted online Tuesday. Rutherford also mentioned that they were intoxicated.
When troopers responded to the Chistochina River trailhead, they found Rutherford, who appeared to have sustained head injuries in a physical dispute and smelled strongly of alcohol.
Troopers then took a snowmachine to the hunting camp and found Edwards and the other male. Edwards had a bandage on his head and other injuries that indicated he’d also been in a physical altercation, troopers say. He also smelled strongly of alcohol.
Edwards was transported to Cross Road Medical Center in Glennallen for treatment. It was determined that his injuries were not from a gunshot wound, as Rutherford initially indicated, but were instead sustained during a physical altercation.
Both Edwards and Rutherford were charged with third- and forth-degree assault and fourth-degree misconduct involving weapons. The two men were held in custody, pending arraignment.