The widow of a hunter who was fatally shot by another hunter in November is seeking compensation in a wrongful-death complaint filed in Androscoggin County Superior Court.

Becky Ann Brown, representing the estate of her late husband, Gerard N. Parent, sued Christopher S. Austin of Wales, who has been indicted on a manslaughter charge for Parent’s death and on a charge of firing a gun near a dwelling.

The men lived near one another, and on Nov. 20 they apparently tracked the same deer in the woods between East Road and Route 126, according to the Maine Warden Service, which investigated the incident.

The lawsuit says that along with his wife, Parent is survived by two adult daughters.

Stephen Wade, the attorney for Brown, said that typically a person’s homeowner’s insurance would cover damages. However, this might not be available in the lawsuit against Austin.

“I have been told by his attorney, Scott Lynch, that he doesn’t have homeowner’s insurance,” Wade said Wednesday.

 The indictment by a grand jury in Androscoggin County says Austin acted “recklessly or with criminal negligence” in causing Parent’s death and used a .308-caliber rifle within 100 yards of a building or residential dwelling. Austin was indicted in January and pleaded not guilty at his arraignment. He is free on bail.

 Austin’s criminal case could be on the trial list in August or September, although his next court date is not yet scheduled, according to a court clerk.

 The fatal shooting was the only one of the deer rifle hunting season in Maine, which was from Oct. 29 to Nov. 24. Game wardens were called around 4:19 p.m., about 12 minutes after sunset but 13 minutes before the state-required end of the hunting day.

 Parent, 49, lived at 392 East Road, at the southern end near the intersection with Route 126, and wardens say the shooting occurred near his property. The land slopes steeply down from the road, and the wooded area where he was shot is in a valley.

Lynch, who represents Austin in the criminal case, did not return a phone message left Wednesday.

Lynch said previously that Austin, who lives on nearby Andrews Road in Wales, had hunted in the area before.

Betty Adams can be contacted at 621-5631 or at:

badams@centralmaine.com