FLINTSTONE, Md. — Robert Verbeck is done turkey hunting. 

Verbeck, 70, who has been a hunter for 25 years, was scheduled for surgery on Tuesday to remove shotgun pellets from his skin after fellow hunters confused him for a turkey and shot him in the head and face on April 20 near in Green Ridge State Forest.

“I’ve hunted there for 25 years, but I’m done turkey hunting now. That did it for me,” Verbeck said.

In a news release provided the day of the shooting, the Maryland Natural Resources Police said the shooter was a 16-year-old from Cecil County, Maryland, who was accompanied by his father and a friend.  

NRP said two shots were fired.

“I still have 10 (pellets) in me,” Verbeck said during a phone interview on Monday. “The doctor said they have to put me out to remove the one in my jaw. I also have them in the back of my head and the right side of my head. I’ve been having a lot of headaches.”

According to a narrative by NRP Officer First Class Erica Minnick, the two shots fired at Verbeck were 3.5-inch shells from a 12 gauge semi-automatic Remington. The shooter told officers he fired at what he believed to be a turkey.

“The people who shot me helped me get to the road and there was a paramedic there,” Verbeck said, adding that the paramedic called his brother who was hunting elsewhere on the state forest.

Verbeck was treated and released that day at the Western Maryland Regional Medical Center.

The surgery on Tuesday will take place in St. Marys, Pa., Verbeck said.

 An investigation is pending and any charging will be done through the Department of Juvenile Services, according to Minnick’s report.

All hunters were properly licensed and the shooter had completed a hunter education course, NRP confirmed.

Sawyers writes for the Cumberland, Maryland Times-News.