ANDAt the risk of annoying my fellow vintage hunters, please remind your hunting partners to keep an eye on you – and you on them – when hunting deer, ducks, turkeys, coyotes or miniature game.
This is especially true when hunting with a firearm, but it is also possible to kill yourself or others with archery equipment. In October 2012, a 50-year-old man in Marathon County, Wisconsin, died when an arrow struck him in the neck and pierced his head while he was dragging a cocked and loaded crossbow into a tree stand with the point up. Something tugged or grabbed the trigger of the crossbow, releasing the shot.
Three other crossbow hunters – ages 40, 42 and 78 – shot themselves in the foot during the 2015, 2020 and 2023 hunting seasons.
While hunter safety receives a lot of attention each deer season, Wisconsin hunters have also been killed in recent years while hunting ducks, squirrels, turkeys and coyotes. In fact, seven of the last 12 deer seasons have had no fatal shootings, including 2023.
But even one death or crippling wound is too many, no matter what we hunt. According to the DNR’s annual “incident reports” (located on the agency’s website), 28 Wisconsin hunters have been killed in 357 hunting-related shootings since 2007, an average of 1.5 fatalities and 20 shootings per year. There were no fatalities reported during either hunting season in 2014 or 2023.
This is a expansive improvement over 1966, when we had a record 264 shootings and 21 deaths in just one fall. The following year, 1967, Wisconsin began offering hunter education courses. These classes, which must include at least 10 hours of instruction, became mandatory in 1985 for all people born on or after January 1, 1973.
Beginning in 1980, Wisconsin also required hunters to wear brilliant orange when hunting deer with firearms and strongly encouraged the wearing of orange when hunting upland birds and miniature game. Another factor that improves safety is that most deer hunting these days is done from tree stands or other elevated stands, which causes most of the bullets to be aimed down into the ground, reducing ricochets.
Moreover, deer rides are less common today and involve fewer participants. Drives can create perilous situations as deer flee unpredictably, sometimes running between drivers and shooters. The share of hunting is also decreasing. Wisconsin sells 100,000 fewer deer hunting licenses annually than it did 25 years ago. Hunting pressure has also dropped on the opening weekend of deer season as more hunters prefer to hunt earlier in the fall with a crossbow.
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Yet older, more experienced hunters regularly cause the most hunting-related shootings, even if they have passed a mandatory state safety course. Of the 357 hunting-related shootings that have occurred since 2007, 47% of them were committed by hunters 40 years of age and older, followed by hunters 18-39 years of age at 33% and hunters 17 years of age and younger at 20%. .
This older age group has resulted in the most shootings in 13 of the last 18 hunting seasons and tied with the 18-39 age group in 2019. The 18-39 age group has resulted in the most shootings over the three years. The youngest age group accounted for 45% of shootings in 2016, the only year to see such disgrace.
In other words, when a hunter is shot or shoots himself, the trigger is probably not a youthful convert. As of 2007, hunters 17 years of age and younger typically account for 17% of all hunting-related shootings. The overall group average of 20% includes the 2016 outlier of 45%. Only once again – 33% in 2022 – did youth account for more than 29% of shootings.
However, it should be noted that these percentages do not take into account the size of each age group. It’s possible that there are more shootings in certain age groups simply because there are more hunters in them. Still, hunters 40 and older accounted for 50% or more of shootings in the state in eight of the last 18 seasons and more than 40% of shootings in the other five seasons.
The patterns are consistent. A 2007 DNR report found that hunters age 40 and older accounted for 66% of the 27 incidents. Of these, the riskiest group was people aged 40 to 49, accounting for 30% of shootings; followed by people aged 50 to 59 – 22% and people aged 60 and older – 14%.
Five years later, the DNR reported 28 shootings during the 2012 fall hunt, with hunters 40 and older accounting for 58% of the incidents. Five years later, the DNR reported 22 shootings, with hunters 40 and older accounting for 55% of shootings in 2017.
Of course, there are differences. In 2018, hunters aged 40 and older accounted for 29% of shootings – the same percentage was caused by hunters aged 12 to 17. Over the past two years, the group of people aged 40 and over overtook the group aged 18-39, accounting for 55% and 42% of shootings, respectively.
The DNR also says hunter education training does not guarantee safety. In 2022, 92% (11 hunters) of shooters had a hunting education. Only 8% of shooters have never taken this course.
A year ago, 18% of shooters had not completed a hunting course, and 73% of shooters were graduates. And still in 2021, 33% of shooters had no hunting education, but 67% completed it.
Matt O’Brien, the DNR’s deputy chief superintendent, said in a recent interview that remedial training could be helpful. After all, the average time between a shooter graduating from hunting school and firing a shot was 20 years.
But O’Brien said reaching older hunters and convincing them they may need refresher classes is arduous. A plain public service ad on TV or radio won’t reach most people, given the decline in local news programs as more hunters get their information from podcasts and social media.
“Not everyone will believe that they are becoming complacent about firearm safety,” O’Brien said. “In some ways, it’s like telling seniors they have to get their driver’s license again. This is not an easy conversation.”
O’Brien said the surest way to improve safety is to avoid complacency.
“Don’t assume you’re alone in the forest. Don’t take shortcuts just because you’ve gotten away with it before,” he said.
O’Brien urges hunters to follow the four “TABK” rules of gun safety: T – treat every firearm as if it were loaded; A – always point the barrel of the gun in a sheltered direction; B – be sure of what is in front of your goal and beyond it; K – keep your finger outside the trigger guard until you are ready to fire.
The acronym “TABK” is associated with layoffs.
“If you don’t do one thing right, you should be fine,” O’Brien said. “With every shortcut you lose redundancy. If you trip and fall without protection and your finger or stick gets into the trigger guard, you’re going to be in trouble.
Also encourage your hunting partners to observe and improve their handling of firearms and to be alert for scratchy handling.
If they don’t appreciate mutual inspections, remind them that complacency kills.
Contact Patrick Durkin at [email protected].
