LEVANT – The Maine Warden Service continued its investigation Tuesday into the shooting of a local man whose death marks the state’s first hunting fatality since 2001.

James Griffin Jr., 21, of Levant died Monday in the woods off Route 222 as a result of a gunshot wound to the torso, according to a spokesperson for the state medical examiner’s office. First responders from Levant Fire and Rescue and Capital Ambulance tried unsuccessfully to save him, according to Sgt. Patrick Devlin of the Maine Warden Service.

Griffin was hunting with three other men, one of whom fired the fatal shot, Devlin said.

“It’s just so tragic,” he said Tuesday after a press conference at the Warden Service office in Bangor.

Whether the shooting was accidental remains under investigation and no charges have been filed, he said. All of the men, some of whom are family members, carried rifles Monday, he said.

“We’re still taking statements. We’re still tying up loose ends,” Devlin said at the press conference.

Someone in the hunting party reported the shooting by cell phone shortly after 5 p.m. Monday, he said. Game wardens found Griffin’s body in a wooded lot off an overgrown skidder trail that joins a private dirt road off Route 222.

Warden Service trucks were parked at the end of the private road, the site of a gravel pit, as the investigation continued Tuesday. Game wardens marked the site of the shooting as a helicopter flew overhead to map the location where Griffin was found.

“He’s hunted in that area frequently,” Devlin said. “He lives there and his family owns the property.”

Griffin attended Hermon High School and Bangor Christian Schools and graduated from Eastern Maine Technical College, according to a 2003 announcement printed in the Bangor Daily News. He married his wife, Nicole Griffin, earlier this year.

His family declined to comment on the shooting.

Griffin’s death marks the first hunting fatality since Maine law changed in 2003 to allow hunting a half-hour after sunset, according to Sgt. Douglas Tibbetts of the Maine Warden Service. Hunting should have ended at 4:44 p.m. Monday, and Devlin declined to say whether Griffin’s party was hunting illegally.

From 1999 to 2003, hunters were allowed to hunt 15 minutes after sunset. Even within the extra time allowed under law, Devlin said, conditions can be dark for hunting.

“Look outside at 4:44 p.m. and see what the light conditions are,” he said.

The last fatal hunting-related shooting was in December 2001, when a 42-year-old Canton man was shot and killed.

Of the approximately 170,000 deer hunters in the state, a small percentage are injured or killed each season, according to Warden Mike Sawyer. Hunter education and hunter orange clothing requirements have contributed to safer seasons, Sawyer said.

Devlin declined Tuesday to say whether Griffin was wearing the required hunting attire when he was shot.

Wardens will meet with representatives from the Attorney General’s Office early next week to determine whether any charges will be filed, Devlin said. Detectives from the State Police Criminal Investigation Division are assisting in the investigation, he said.