CULLMAN COUNTY, Alabama - A Cullman County hunter was killed Sunday after he was mistaken for a deer his friend had just shot.

Thomas Tucker, Jr., 37, was killed just after 3 p.m. Sunday the Crane Hill area of Cullman County. He was pronounced dead on the scene.

Tucker is one of a handful of hunters killed in Alabama accidents in January alone. Two people were killed in unrelated incidents on Jan. 12, in Tallapoosa and Blount counties. On Jan. 4, a Birmingham man was killed in a hunting accident in Sumter County.

Cullman County sheriff's Chief Deputy Max Bartlett said Tucker and a friend were hunting near County Road 202 and the Big Bridge area. Bartlett said deputies and rescue workers were called to the scene near Smith Lake RV resort.

Once they arrived on the scene, deputies and Crane Hill volunteer rescue workers had to be transported by boat across the lake to the shooting scene. "It was very difficult access,'' Bartlett said.

There they found "T.J." Tucker dead. He had been shot with a blast from a 12-gauge shotgun, or buckshot, Bartlett said. According to the family member who was hunting with Tucker, the family member saw a deer come through the woods and shot it. He fired several rounds.

As he moved closer to the deer, he heard some rustling in the brush and thought the deer was moving so he fired another round. Instead, it was Tucker in the brush, Bartlett said. "The deer was within 30 feet of the victim,'' he said. "The last shot fired was the one that struck Tucker."

Bartlett said the shooting appears to be accidental. They will present the case to the Cullman County District Attorney's Office to determine whether charges are warranted.

"The man that did the shooting was related by marriage. They are all just devastated,'' Bartlett said. "It is a very difficult situation for the family and our prayers go out to them. We hope they find some peace."