huntnfish43's Link
Hunting is safer – as long as you don’t shoot yourself
Weekly News Article Published: November 9, 2010 by the Central Office
Hunter safety administrator statistics tell the story
MADISON – Wisconsin statistics show hunting is safe and getting safer, but the rate of unintentional self-inflicted injuries is on the rise.
Hunter Education Administrator Tim Lawhern has witnessed both subtle and significant changes in his 22-year Department of Natural Resources career. And changes have been both good and annoying.
“We have had great success in educating hunters to be safe – and with that comes success in the hunt,” Lawhern said.
When Lawhern was named head of the hunter education program in 1994, there were 60 hunting incidents for all seasons combined – 55 injuries and 5 fatalities. The incident rate was 7.6 when compared with incidents per 100,000 hunters. In 1966, the year before hunter education programs began in the state, the incident rate for all hunting seasons was 43.5. Last year, there were 18 hunting incidents – 17 injuries and one fatality – translating into an incident rate of 4.19.
For the gun-deer hunting season, the incident rate in 2009 was 1.26 for 8 incidents.
“These statistics show us that our Hunter Education Program is working. And it shows us our volunteer instructors are doing a good job training hunters to be safe, knowledgeable and responsible,” Lawhern said.
The flip side of the equation is the number of hunters shooting themselves.
“It used to be self-inflicted injuries amounted to roughly 20 to 25 percent of the total number of hunting incidents,” Lawhern said. “Today that number is 40 to 50 percent each year.”
Lawhern says it is not uncommon for a hunter to say the gun went off on its own.
“In nearly all of these cases, the gun has not been the problem. It has been handler error,” Lawhern said. “If the hunter takes care to do two things, these types of incidents will decline.
“One is to never point a loaded gun in your direction or in the direction of anyone else. It must be appointed in a safe direction,” Lawhern said. “And, do not put your finger in that the trigger guard until you are ready to shoot at your target.
“Just doing those two things would wipe out self-inflicted injuries and cut by half the total number of hunting incidents,” he said. “Most of the self-inflicted injuries are just smart hunters momentarily turning stupid. So stay smart and safe this hunting season.”
State wildlife officials are warning hunters not to shoot themselves as the November gun deer season approaches.
Department of Natural Resources Hunter Education Administrator Tim Lawhern says self-inflicted injuries account for 40 to 50 percent of the total number of hunting incidents each year.
Lawhern says hunters should remember to to never point a loaded gun at themselves or anyone else. They also should remember to keep their fingers out of the trigger guard until they're ready to fire.
The nine-day November gun season opens on Nov. 20.
Several seasons ago, I got really nervous talking to another hunter over the fence. He has his hands on the top of his barrel and was moving it around like someone might a walking cane. The but of his gun was in the brush along the fence line. Thought he was going to shoot both his hands off. I actually backed up a few feet to keep his fingers from landing on me.
Already looking forward to next weekend. As much as I love bowhunting, opening weekend of rifle is it's own animal. So much damn fun....
70lbdraw's Link
Good luck if you are going out and be safe.
Turkeyhunter's Link
Go tell your juvenile jokes to the family of someone who suffered an injury or death due to a preventable firearm accident.
Tell it to them to their face.
Not behind the relative anonymity of a hunting discussion board.
...and you are convinced that had they heard the DNR ad they would not have had an accident? Carelessness like that is not fixed by 30 seconds of a reminder to be safe.
Wow dude...chill out. Nobody is making fun of gun safety, but the DNR telling hunters not to shoot themselves is akin to the warning label on a box of rat poison that says "not for human consumption." Well no sh!t.
I'm never snarky about firearm safety - deer, turkey, pheasant, duck. Take your pick. That's because it's really hard to recall a bullet. You don't get many Mulligans misshandling a firearm. It is not a joking matter.
Nonetheless, I believe that snark deserves to be answered with snark.
RC -
I saw a 'Buckle-Up' sign on the way to work today.
I'll bet the big, evil WI DOT spent a couple hundred dollars on that sign. And if you're like me you're probably not happy about our hard earned brass being spent on thousands of these signs all across the landscape. Each of them reminding us of the obvious.
If you're going to have a melt-down over a department of state government you should post about that. That's probably worth a tantrum.
Just trying to be helpful.
Have fun - and more importantly - a safe hunt.
Your pal -
Turkeyhunter
Only with those of us opposed to a nanny state.
Enough said ... a good reminder for all hunters, and perhaps a message for mentors to talk to the 10,000-plus youngsters who'll be afield this weekend the morning of. I had a youngster just miss shooting his foot in the Sandhill youth hunt 20 years or so ago. He said the gun "just went off" ... Yes, keeping the safety on and your finger out of the trigger guard until you were sure of your target was taught in hunter safety and again at the Sandhill workshop, but another eye-to-eye talk that day prior to loading up might have prevented the mistake.
You know me - I love a good laugh.
But this talk of patterning me is troubling.
You're not a stalker too are you?
I agree with you CaptMike.
Which is why I am still sitting here scratching my head over why our friend RC gets his bile up over the little stuff like a simple firearm safety announcement (which cost all of us practically nothing) and might just save a life or limb and he completely ignores the opportunity to have a classic RC Breakdown over big expensive stuff like those nagging 'Buckle Up It's The Law' signs.
Oh well.
I agree with you CaptMike.
Which is why I am still sitting here scratching my head over why our friend RC gets his bile up over the little stuff like a simple firearm safety announcement (which cost all of us practically nothing) and might just save a life or limb and he completely ignores the opportunity to have a classic RC Breakdown over big expensive stuff like those nagging 'Buckle Up It's The Law' signs.
Oh well.
I agree with you CaptMike.
Which is why I am still sitting here scratching my head over why our friend RC gets his bile up over the little stuff like a simple firearm safety announcement (which cost all of us practically nothing) and might just save a life or limb and he completely ignores the opportunity to have a classic RC Breakdown over big expensive stuff like those nagging 'Buckle Up It's The Law' signs.
Oh well.
Nah, not really. I find comedically-challenged, politically-correct people kinda funny!
"Nonetheless, I believe that snark deserves to be answered with snark."
"Snark" is not actually a noun...at least not in the way you used it. How's that for snarky?
"I'm never snarky about firearm safety - deer, turkey, pheasant, duck."
Then you would really disapprove of the annual loaded gun juggling contest that we conduct at our deer camp.
Have a good hunt.
You make for a fascinating study in social dominance behavior. This is usually observed only among primates in the wild. I am at camp now so I have nothing further to say on this thread. I made my point about firearm safety not being a joking matter. Take care and have a great hunt.
BTW - Big Woods - You have a sense of humor. Great riposte!
Here's the full Door report directly from the warden involved. It's the first Door or Kewaunee County deer drive shooting accident that I can recall in 30 years of reporting hunts here. Even one shooting incident is too many. Am not trying to downplay, and have no inside knowledge of their hunt plan. But, properly planned with each hunter given only a certain zone of fire, there should be no accidents.
Way more folks are injured in tree stand falls, and more hunters die of heart attacks during the hunt from dragging deer than from bullets.
From the warden:
On Sat. 11-20-2010, at approx. 1:15pm, in the Brussels Township near Kolberg, four deer hunters were participating in a deer drive in a wooded/brushy area on private property. Three of the hunters were participating as standers and one as a driver. Two of the standers were on one side of a gully together, and the 29 yr old male victim stander was on the other side of the gully alone. All members of the drive were wearing blaze orange and visible to each other. The driver pushed multiple deer from thick cover and the deer ran between the group of two standers and the victim stander. All three standers fired one time at the running deer. The victim stander suffered a pass through bullet wound to the front right thigh. The victim was transported to Door Co Memorial Hospital by a member of the hunting party. The victim remains in stable condition at a Green Bay area hospital. The incident is still under investigation.
They wanted to see deer that were hunkered down in a small patch of thick cover, so they had someone walk into it and get 'em out of bed. Few hunters percentage-wise hunt over bait plots.
Never suggested Walker's administration might be making a change. It's all in how you read it. What I was saying was the way statutes are currently written, b/f would be banned next year (had this been a CWD positive) UNLESS Gov-elect Walker's administration changes the statute. (That's what barring a rule change means). I would have written it the same with a different name no matter who the incoming Gov. was.
That said, some in Walker's camp have suggested big changes in deer management policy are coming that are more customer friendly. That could mean a lot of things, depending on who you talk to.
"What I was saying was the way statutes are currently written, b/f would be banned next year (had this been a CWD positive) UNLESS Gov-elect Walker's administration changes the statute."
Again, that's what "barring a rule change" means.
Have a good night all, I'm out.
What's that even suppose to mean..."depending on who you talk to."
The only people who won't like the changes are people who have a very anti deer on the landscape agenda. The regulare folks who hunt will love to see and be able to kill more deer, the ones that have deer will have a few more no doubt, and if thats a problem they could always allow a hunter or three some access to help with the cull if needed.
Going back to my question, which "who you are talking to" people are you talking about? 90% of the states hunters want a serious increase in herd size!
In addition to keeping the food fresh and allowing the setting of a daily time to feed without human scent/intrusion being added, we'll reduce global CO2 emissions ... that should be an easy sell.
