OSSIPEE, N.H. — A New Hampshire deer hunter accidentally shot himself in the right hand while trying to lift his loaded rifle into a tree stand using a rope tied around the weapon.

A state conservation officer says a branch or stick apparently got stuck in the trigger of Robert Lapointe’s .50-caliber muzzleloader, setting it off at around 1:45 p.m. Saturday.

Mark Hensel of the state Fish and Game Department said the 63-year-old from Somersworth was hunting in Ossipee on the first day of muzzleloader deer season.

Hensel said Lapointe was taken to Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine. A nursing supervisor there says he’s being evaluated.

Hensel says Lapointe is expected to survive, but “shouldn’t have been doing what he did.”