MICHIGAN CITY | Charlie Smith was hunting deer when the 40-year old Michigan City man suddenly thought he had become the prey.

He was hunting deer Friday in a wooded area at Hitchcock Road and LaPorte County Road 1100 West, near Michigan City, when bullets from a semi-automatic weapon started hitting tree branches around him.

Smith said at least 40 bullets whizzed by him with one flying just a few feet from his head.

"The bullets were flying everywhere around me," said Smith.

Smith said he got behind a tree and called a 911 dispatcher, who advised him to stay put until the gunfire stopped.

He ran toward his truck when the gunfire momentarily halted, then resumed.

Smith said one of the bullets whizzed just a few feet from his head.

Eventually, Smith said he made it to his truck and started blaring the horn to alert the shooter, who was roughly 150 yards away.

The bullets, though, kept flying.

"I kind of felt I was being shot at at that point," Smith said.

When LaPorte County police arrived, officers stopped a passing vehicle occupied by Benjamin Gaurin Jr.

Gaurin told officers he was target shooting and thought a pile of wood chips as a backdrop was adequate to absorb the bullets.

According to police, Gaurin also said he was unaware there was a hunter in the nearby woods.

He apologized and police ruled the case an accident did not arrest him.

"I was shaking so bad when the cops got there, and I'm not easily shaken. I've been hunting for years," Smith said.