A dog is suspected of shooting its owner to death during a hunting trip in southern Russia on Sunday.

The man was reportedly shot when one of his two dogs stepped on his hunting rifle’s trigger, the local Region 64 news agency reported Monday.

“The trigger was presumably pulled when the animals were being moved from the vehicle,” the regional Investigative Committee said in an online statement published Monday, adding that "the dogs had jumped on the man" after being taken out of the car.

Investigators said the 64-year-old victim died of stomach wounds on the way to the hospital. The regional Vzglyad-Info news agency, however, cited a source as saying that the hunter died an hour after being hospitalized.

“The victim managed to tell the medics the circumstances of his death,” the news agency reported.