A Melbourne man is lucky to be alive after being shot in the head while cycling on a track at Everton, south-east of Wangaratta, in northern Victoria.

Kelvin Tennant, 72, of Ringwood, in Melbourne's east, was about an hour into a bike ride on the Myrtleford-Everton rail trail on Saturday when he saw a dark-coloured car and some people moving towards him from behind a bush.

Then a volley of shots were fired, knocking him to the ground.

He was later found by people walking on the track.

Initially his family was told he had fallen from his bike, but more details about what actually happened emerged several hours later.

His daughter, Natalie Knox, said Mr Tennant suffered eye, chest and stomach injuries and is recovering in the Alfred Hospital.

"He's got some chest wounds [from] some pellets and he's got some pellets either side of his eyes, which will hopefully be removed and he's got some blood at the back of his right eye and they're continually checking that and the pressure in his eye," Ms Knox said.

Wrong place at the wrong time

"We're at a loss to know why this happened," his son Nick Tennant said.

"Dad just observed a dark-coloured car in an unusual place and before he knew it a person jumped out and fired a quick volley of shots at him."

Mr Tennant's family said he was a private man who kept to himself. ( Supplied: Nick Tennant )

Mr Tennant's children could only speculate that perhaps he was in the wrong place at the wrong time and came across something he was not meant to see.

"We've all been very shocked," Ms Knox said.

"It's really upsetting for our family that this could happen to such a kind, caring man."

Nick Tennant said he was thankful his father would recover.

"He's done the right thing all his life and it's a tough one but we're lucky he's got through it," he said.

Making an appeal for information about the incident, Nick Tennant said his father kept to himself and had only spoken to a couple of people before the incident happened.