SIOUX FALLS, S.D.  — A 16-year-old Minnesota teenager shot by his father in a hunting accident has left a South Dakota hospital and gone home.

Jesse Gess of Bloomington, Minn., was hit by a shotgun blast on Nov. 6 as he hunted with his father, Doug, near Ortonville. The Argus Leader reports that the father was loading the gun when it went off, tearing a half-inch hole in his son’s back.

Dr. Dennis Glatt at Sanford Children’s Hospital in Sioux Falls says Jesse Gess was dying when he was brought in. But the boy pulled through, and on Wednesday he was cleared to go home.

The teenager says the accident won’t stop him and his father from hunting again next year. His dad jokes that they’ll wear flak jackets.