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A man was rushed to hospital in serious, life-threatening condition after he suffered a gunshot wound to his neck at a shooting range on Highway 68, near Jumping Pound Creek, early Sunday afternoon.

RCMP say the shooting, which is believed to be accidental, occurred when a shooter fired a high-powered rifle at a metal plate from approximately 30 metres away.

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The bullet ricocheted and hit the shooter’s friend in the neck.

The victim was rushed by his friends from the shooting range, two kilometres south of Jumping Pound Creek, to Highway 1 for help.

An ambulance from Cochrane met the group near the gas station at the junction of the Trans-Canada and Highway 22x shortly after 2 p.m. The man was taken to Foothills Hospital with injuries described by EMS spokesman Stuart Brideaux as traumatic.

The man was in serious, life-threatening condition and undergoing emergency surgery, said RCMP in a prepared news release around 5 p.m.

Mounties said it was expected the victim would survive, and preliminary investigation indicated the shooting was accidental.

STARS air ambulance was initially dispatched to Highway 1 for reports that a hunter had sustained an accidental gunshot wound. The air ambulance was stood down by EMS at the scene and did not transport any patients, said spokesman Mike Haska.

Jumping Pound Creek is approximately 60 kilometres west of Calgary.

aklingbeil@calgaryherald.com