Drizzt
Member
Hunter safety always an issue
February 16, 2003
J. MICHAEL KELLY
OUTDOORS WRITER
An optimist might summarize New York's 2002 hunting-safety report by noting that more than 600,000 licensed hunters went afield, and only 61 of them were involved in shooting accidents.
Pessimists, on the other hand, would emphasize the fact that 61 accidents is four more than the state's sportsmen and women logged in the previous year.
They'd also observe that the 2002 accident total included two fatal shootings.
Then again, those of us who tend to look at the bright side could reply that two deaths was half as many as law enforcement agencies recorded among hunters in 2001.
Statistics can be bent and manipulated, but the big picture makes it clear that hunters can be proud of their long-term safety record.
During the 1960s, New York hunters averaged 137 shooting accidents a year. By the 1990s, the rate had declined to 66 accidents per annum, and the downward trend is continuing. In 2000, the state set a modern record low of just 43 hunter-shootings.
Of course we can always do better, although a variation of one or two accidents a year per 10,000 participants is statistically insignificant.
One thing that is both encouraging and discouraging - depending on your viewpoint - is the fact that virtually all of accidents are avoidable. Time and again, they occur when the shooter violates a cardinal rule of safety, by pointing a gun in an unsafe direction or firing at a target that has not been positively identified as a legal game animal.
Thirty-eight of last year's accidents, including both fatalities, occurred among deer hunters. There were 10 turkey hunting accidents, five among rabbit hunters, and two among coyote-seekers. One accident victim was after unspecified game when he was wounded.
According to the accident report summary provided by state Sportsman Education Coordinator Wayne Jones, shotguns were used in 45 hunter shootings and rifles in 11. Four accidents involved muzzleloaders and one shooter used a handgun.
http://www.syracuse.com/search/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1045215505127564.xml?syr
February 16, 2003
J. MICHAEL KELLY
OUTDOORS WRITER
An optimist might summarize New York's 2002 hunting-safety report by noting that more than 600,000 licensed hunters went afield, and only 61 of them were involved in shooting accidents.
Pessimists, on the other hand, would emphasize the fact that 61 accidents is four more than the state's sportsmen and women logged in the previous year.
They'd also observe that the 2002 accident total included two fatal shootings.
Then again, those of us who tend to look at the bright side could reply that two deaths was half as many as law enforcement agencies recorded among hunters in 2001.
Statistics can be bent and manipulated, but the big picture makes it clear that hunters can be proud of their long-term safety record.
During the 1960s, New York hunters averaged 137 shooting accidents a year. By the 1990s, the rate had declined to 66 accidents per annum, and the downward trend is continuing. In 2000, the state set a modern record low of just 43 hunter-shootings.
Of course we can always do better, although a variation of one or two accidents a year per 10,000 participants is statistically insignificant.
One thing that is both encouraging and discouraging - depending on your viewpoint - is the fact that virtually all of accidents are avoidable. Time and again, they occur when the shooter violates a cardinal rule of safety, by pointing a gun in an unsafe direction or firing at a target that has not been positively identified as a legal game animal.
Thirty-eight of last year's accidents, including both fatalities, occurred among deer hunters. There were 10 turkey hunting accidents, five among rabbit hunters, and two among coyote-seekers. One accident victim was after unspecified game when he was wounded.
According to the accident report summary provided by state Sportsman Education Coordinator Wayne Jones, shotguns were used in 45 hunter shootings and rifles in 11. Four accidents involved muzzleloaders and one shooter used a handgun.
http://www.syracuse.com/search/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1045215505127564.xml?syr
