One hunter shot another in the face yesterday morning, critically injuring him.

The wounded man, hit by a shotgun blast, was identified by friends as Jason Davies, 19, of Franklin Park.

He was still in surgery last night at UPMC Presbyterian, said George Steele, a friend of Mr. Davies.

The unidentified man who shot Mr. Davies fled after realizing he hit another person. Allegheny County police called the shooting "a hunting accident," but they were looking for the gunman yesterday.

Beth Fife, a state wildlife officer, said the shooting occurred at 7:13 a.m. in a wooded area on Route 910, near Indianola United Presbyterian Church in Indiana Township. The orange-clad hunter with a shotgun fired into a tree. Mr. Davies, a bow hunter, was perched there, some 30 feet off the ground in a stand, waiting for deer.

He screamed in agony after being hit, but the gunman ran away. A cousin of Mr. Davies, hunting nearby, came to his aid.

By Ms. Fife's account, Mr. Davies waved twice to the man with the shotgun, trying to alert him that a fellow hunter was at close range. But instead of averting a shooting, the movement apparently prompted the man with the shotgun to fire.

Yesterday was the first day of squirrel season, and the man with the shotgun may have been out hunting the rodents.

Mr. Steele said the gunman fired into darkness, a violation of safety standards and common sense.

Mr. Steele said the shooting probably was accidental, but he called the actions of the gunman "cowardly."

"You don't run away. The kid could have laid out there and died," said Mr. Steele, of Evans City.

Mr. Steele said Mr. Davies is a graduate of North Allegheny High School who works in construction. Mr. Davies has been hunting since boyhood, Mr. Steele said.

Police described the shooter as a white man, about 6 feet tall, in his 40s. He drove away in a maroon pickup truck, possibly a late-1990s Chevy or GMC.