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Medford hunter charged with manslaughter By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune A 40-year-old Medford man was jailed Thursday on a manslaughter charge stemming from what authorities say was the reckless shooting of a boyhood friend during a Nov. 4 hunting accident near Butte Falls. A Jackson County grand jury on Thursday indicted Ryan Leon Wilson on a charge of second-degree manslaughter for killing Donald Hauser. Wilson told police he heard rustling noises in some brush but did not actually see his target, but that he fired because he thought the noises were a black-tailed deer. The bullet, however, struck and killed Hauser, a 34-year-old Pepsi service man who was clad in camouflage clothing. Armed with an arrest warrant, Jackson County sheriff's deputies went to Wilson's Pepper Street residence and took him into custody. He was lodged at the Jackson County Jail in lieu of $150,000 bail, and will be arraigned today. The manslaughter charge alleges that Wilson consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk that he might be shooting at something other than a deer. If convicted, Wilson faces a minimum of six years and three months in prison. In handing up its indictment, the grand jury concluded that prosecutors presented enough evidence that warranted the charge against Wilson. Wilson was not present during the closed-door proceedings of the grand jury. Hauser and Wilson were two of about 10 people hunting together in the Fredenburg Road area. Jackson County sheriff's deputies said Wilson recalled hearing deer moving through the brush. After first yelling to signal his hunting partners, Wilson fired his .338-caliber rifle at some movement in the brush, then realized instantly that he had shot Hauser, according to police reports. After the shooting, an apparently distraught Wilson disappeared into the woods and hid, police said. He hiked out later that night and went home, where he as interviewed by police the following morning. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.