SABATTUS – Officials are investigating a hunting accident that left a 10-year-old boy with nonlife threatening gunshot wounds after his father accidentally discharged a shotgun.

The accident happened at about 9 a.m. Wednesday while the father and son were duck hunting on the Sabattus River.

According to Warden Sgt. Terry Hughes, the boy’s father, Claude Bolduc, 52, of Bowdoin, was picking up his shotgun from the bottom of his canoe when the gun went off.

The boy suffered pellet wounds to his lower back and left calf and was treated at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston.

Deborah Turcotte, spokeswoman for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife said the fact that the boy was wearing several layers of clothing, including a life jacket and a heavy jacket and pants, prevented what could have been more serious injury.