Hunter was shot out of tree

Authorities are trying to determine how and why a man bowhunting from a tree stand in Loyalhanna Township was killed by a shotgun blast.

State police are searching for leads in the death of Steven Andrew Kachonik, 39, who lived along Route 981 in Loyalhanna. Kachonik was found Sunday morning after his family reported him missing when he did not return from hunting on Saturday.

According to the Westmoreland County Coroner's Office, Kachonik was killed by a shotgun blast to his chest. However, Chief Deputy Coroner Paul Cycak Jr. said the manner of death is being withheld at the request of state police while they and the Pennsylvania Game Commission continue their investigation.

State police Monday asked anyone with information about the incident or anyone who was hunting in the area at that time to call the Kiski Valley barracks at 724-727-3434.

Cycak said no firearm was found near Kachonik's body. Andrew Kachonik Jr., Steven's oldest brother, said the only weapon his brother was carrying was his bow.

"Being he was shot, we don't know if it was an accident; we don't know if it was intentional, and you have that to deal with," Andrew Kachonik said.

The possibility that it could have been intentional is unsettling for him.

"He was a very friendly person," Andrew Kachonik said. "If he had an enemy, I didn't know about it."

John Smith, law enforcement supervisor of the Southwest Region office of the Game Commission, said yesterday that the death "does not appear to be hunting-related."

"It's the state police opinion at this point that the shooting is suspicious in nature, so that agency is taking the lead investigating role," Smith said. "We are sort of looking over their shoulder should it become hunting-related, but for right now, state police are in charge," Smith said.

The victim was found at 7:20 a.m. Sunday by searchers.

"He went archery hunting at about three in the afternoon, pretty much what he always does," Kachonik said.

He said his brother, who had been an avid hunter since he was 12, often hunted near where he lives and where the Kachonik family collectively owns about 40 acres. Kachonik said his brother usually hunted in an area that's within a 15- to 20-minute walk from the house he shared with his girlfriend.

He said some family members went to look for him when his brother did not return shortly after dusk, around 5:30 or 6 p.m. When they did not locate him by 9 p.m., they called Westmoreland 911, and local firefighters were called to aid in the search.

"He had a permanent stand, but on this occasion he was hunting from a portable tree stand that can be moved from location to location," Andrew Kachonik said. "We thought he was in one particular location, but it turned out that he wasn't there.

"He was hunting on the next farm to my Dad's. He had permission. He had lifelong permission to hunt on that property."

State police said Steven Kachonik was found in a wooded area along Route 981, about a half-mile south of Marshall's Market.

Andrew Kachonik said his brother had been perched about 20 feet off the ground, and the shotgun blast apparently knocked him from the tree stand.

"We initially thought he fell out of the tree stand and died from the fall," Andrew Kachonik said.

Cycak confirmed that Steven Kachonik was found on the ground near a tree containing a tree stand.

Kachonik said his brother was wearing a camouflage outfit but was not sure if he was wearing blaze orange, a safety precaution that identifies hunters to each other in the woods.

"There is no public hunting within a mile of that area," Andrew Kachonik said. "We all go hunting out there, and we all feel safe because it is all private property and we know who is supposed to be out there hunting. I always felt very safe out there, and I still do. I just don't know what happened in this situation."

He said there are five brothers and two sisters in their family, and Steven worked for his brother Carl's construction company in the Jeannette area. Andrew Kachonik said Steven was divorced and had two children, Nicholas, 8, and Stephanie, 10, both of whom live with their mother but were on a weekend visit with their father when his death occurred.

"He enjoyed his time with his kids," Andrew Kachonik said. "He loved them dearly. His children were his number one passion."

He said when his brother did not return from hunting on Saturday, a worried Nicholas called his father's best friend and asked, "Can you come look for my Daddy• He never came back from the woods."