A man cycling on a road in Mtaħleb is claiming to have been hit with lead pellets on Wednesday morning, as a hunter in the vicinity fired shots in close range.

Johann Mifsud, 62, said he heard shots ring through the air around 8am, then felt lead pellets hit his knee and calf.

One pellet got lodged in the skin on his calf and he had to tweeze it out with his fingernails. The pellet that hit his knee caused some light bleeding, he said.

“I wasn’t hit badly, but it’s just not nice to be on a road and have that happen to you. If the pellets fell in my eye they could have blinded me,” he told Times of Malta.

The hunter was less than 50 metres away in neighbouring fields, and Mifsud said he called out to him as it happened.

“I told him that he had hit me, and he was too close to the road, but he said since it's not a main road, they can fire from close by,” he explained.

Mifsud said he called the police about the incident but did not follow up with a report since it entailed him going to the health centre first, which meant taking the morning off work.

"I expected them to take action there and then," he said.

He also pointed out this was not the first time this had happened to him.

A few years back he was cycling on the road from Rabat to Żebbuġ, and he felt lead pellets hit his helmet.

The autumn hunting season started yesterday and will continue until the end of January.