On Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 2021, 28-year-old Zachary Thomas Barse of Gorham was fatally shot while hunting in wooded terrain off Cross Road in Phelps, New York. Barse had shot a deer and was tracking it through brush when an acquaintance, 61-year-old Kevin Hudson of Clifton Springs, fired from a tree stand after seeing movement and mistaking Barse, who was wearing camouflage, for the wounded deer. A single round struck Barse in the upper body.

Hudson descended, discovered he had shot his hunting partner, called 911 and began administering CPR until first responders arrived. Zachary Barse was pronounced dead at the scene. The Ontario County Sheriff’s Office and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation investigated, and Hudson was arrested and charged with criminally negligent homicide.

What details about that morning or the investigation might help clarify how the mistake occurred?