A hunting dog pulled a real boner last week when it jumped on a loaded shotgun resting in the bow of a duck boat, discharging the firearm and sending a hunter to the emergency room with non life-threatening injuries.

Box Elder County Sheriff’s Deputy Kevin Potter reports the waterfowl hunter received a well-peppered posterior on Sunday, Nov. 27, when he and a friend were preparing for a morning on the water at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge on the north end of Utah’s Great Salt Lake.

“One of the hunters was inside the boat with the dog, and the other hunter was in the water,” Potter told the Salt Lake Tribune newspaper. “The guy in the water had put his 12 gauge shotgun across the bow of their boat.”

The unsuspecting victim was placing decoys in the water as the exuberant retriever leapt around the boat in excited anticipation of the forthcoming hunt.

“The dog got excited, was jumping around inside the boat, and then it jumped on the gun. It went off, shooting the [decoy setter] in the buttocks,” the deputy said.

The peppered hunter was transported to Brigham City Community Hospital, where doctors removed the shot from his butt cheeks.

Despite being hit by 27 pellets, the hunter’s pride was likely more seriously injured than his bottom, as the waders he was wearing prevented most of the shot from penetrating.

The story has received worldwide coverage, but perhaps the funniest comment from deputy Potter, albeit unintentional, was made to Salt Lake’s television station, KSL.

“It would have been really hard for the dog to accidentally chamber a round, instead of just hitting the trigger,” he said.

Spot on, deputy. Besides, if the dog had loaded the gun, that could have made the shooting premeditated.

News reports neglected to specifically identify the victim, but if you know a 46-year-old duck hunter hailing from Brigham City, Utah, who had difficulty sitting down last Monday morning, chances are his retriever is still in the doghouse.