A 46-year-old Rhode Island man took a buckshot pellet in the ankle on the opening day of shotgun season for deer, state environmental police confirmed.

Massachusetts environmental police coastal bureau chief Maj. Patrick Moran said the man was hunting in the Manuel F. Correllus State Forest with a group of about 20 hunters last Monday, the first day of the two-week shotgun season. The man was injured in the morning but was able to walk normally and refused medical treatment on the Island, opting to seek treatment closer to his off-Island home, police said.

Major Moran said the pellet hit the man during a group hunting exercise when some hunters were driving the deer toward other stationary hunters. The man was among the stationary hunters.

“In this case, five people had shot at the deer almost simultaneously,” Mr. Moran said. “We could not confirm which firearm the pellet came from.”

The incident was reported after the fact. Edgartown police responded first, but referred the investigation to the environmental police who met the hunting party in Woods Hole as it returned to the mainland. Mr. Moran said the incident is still under investigation. He added that all the hunters in the party had appropriate documentation and approved firearms.

He also said the incident is not unusual.

“This could have been a lot worse than it was,” he said. “Unfortunately it’s not uncommon. People have got to take better care of where they’re shooting.”

The two-week shotgun season ends Saturday.