hunting accidents


ALAN

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Statistically nationwide, it is far and away falls from treestands.

HB

Can't argue with the statistics!

A lot of hunters wear harnesses now. More and more every day! However, most accidents happen as you are going up or down the tree! This is the time a lot of safety harness hunters do NOT attach the harness. (Hey, I'm guilty of it sometimes). We get in a hurry and lets face it, using a harness as we climb a ladder or ascend with a climber is a pain. This is why I bought a 30 foot safety line for my ladder stand. I'm always connected that way. I still need to work on using my line-mans belt with my climber as I go up or down, but I'm getting better.

Seeing bow hunters messed up on the trauma floor I work on is helping me change my behavior.

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i agree with the treestands for injuries and such, but the main reason people get shot... in my opinion... is the lack of people being taught at a early age the do's and dont's of shooting safely.... some newb kid or person, gets a " weapon" and can just go out and shoot the woods up, with little or no training...ethics are not taught

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I still need to work on using my line-mans belt with my climber as I go up or down, but I'm getting better.

Frank, a loop of rope and a prussic knot are all you need with a climber, much easier to use than a linesman belt and probably a little safer too. Simply slide the loop through itself and slide it up the tree up above your head as you climb. Summit stands used to come with that type system, don't know if they still do or not.

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i agree with the treestands for injuries and such, but the main reason people get shot... in my opinion... is the lack of people being taught at a early age the do's and dont's of shooting safely.... some newb kid or person, gets a " weapon" and can just go out and shoot the woods up, with little or no training...ethics are not taught

I agree strongly Dan. Before tree-stands became so popular (and they haven't been for that long), the #1 cause for shooting accidents was failing to identify your target. It's hard to believe there are still yahoos out there who make sound-shots, or shoot in poor light conditions, or just shoot at anything that moves, before properly identifying their target and knowing what is beyond their target..

This principle should be drilled into the heads of young hunters, until they are sick of hearing it. and then drilled in some more.

Another cause of hunting accidents is not being familiar enough of your firearm, and/or using it unwisely, such as pointing it in someones direction whether it be loaded or unloaded, or walking through the bush with the safety off because you're too dang lazy to use it.

I got my tuque blown clean off by a 12 gauge when I was 16 by a very good friend of mine. He was walking beside me and a bit behind me when he tripped and fell. He didn't have his safety on, and we both got the scare of a lifetime. Heck, it almost broke up our friendship too, because I wouldn't hunt anywhere near him for a long time after that.

I'm in no way trying to downplay treestand safety, because it is so very, very important. Don't be too lazy to wear a safety belt, and don't be too lazy to click your safety on, and check to make sure it's on all the time. I got into that habit after that little incident with my friend. My finger was always reaching around my old Stevens 620 pump, just to feel and make sure the safety button was depressed.

Accidents do happen, but most can be avoided.

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More than once? What the heck.

Both times were with a 12 ga shotgun while dove hunting, and both shooters were novices. First time was about 20 years ago when I took 6 pellets in my left shoulder. They only buried about a half inch deep so those weren't too hard to dig out. Second time was 3 years ago when I had the "pleasure" of removing 3 pellets from my face. If I hadn't seen it coming and ducked, it would have been much worse. I would have taken the full load of shot in the face at 35 yards. I think I posted something on here about it at the time.

BTW - Neither of those guys have had an invite to come back...

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Self-inflicted injuries or deaths such as treestand incidents are things that are within our own control. The ones that really worry me are careless target ID and inattention to where that bullet or slug is going. These are the kind of incidents that can happen to me that I have little control over. However, that said, I do try to hunt defensively. Blaze orange is one of my chief first lines of defense. I don't step foot into the woods without it whenever there is a deer season in progress that involves any kind of guns. I don't hunt with others that don't abide by the same attitude toward blaze orange. That one thing tells volumes about a hunter's attitude toward all issues of hunting safety.

I have also trained myself to spot and avoid other hunters whenever possible. I always used to enjoy talking with other hunters to find out what they have seen and just chew the fat for a bit. Not anymore. I have had some of these guys waving their shotguns around toward my mid-section while conversing. I had another who held his gun by the barrel as he rested it on his shoulder with the muzzle pointed right at my neck. There was one guy who stood the muzzle of his shotgun on the top of his boot while he leaned on the butt. Where the heck did he ever learn that trick? certainly not from the extensive mandatory hunter safety training in NY. Talk about a potential self-inflicted gun injury ...... lol.

Another defensive move that I generally practice is to keep a huge tree to my back while I am on stand. i can see what is happening in front of me and off to the side, and move out of harms way if I see something developing that makes me a bit nervous. I like the security of something bullet-proof covering the areas that I can't see.

So I guess what I am saying is that anything that I can do to be a bit defensive while hunting is worth doing. There will always be people out there who probably shouldn't be, and who allow their excitement and emotions to over-rule their good sense and the safety training that they have all had. As best as I can, I try to protect myself from them. I figure that I am the one that has the biggest stake in not getting myself shot, so it's probably up to me to share in the safety activity to try to see to it that something real unhappy doesn't ruin my day.

Doc

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Another defensive hunting safety routine just occurred to me and maybe is worth mentioning. When going to or from a stand in the dark or even twilight times, I use a fairly strong flashlight. And I don't just simply point it at my feet. I keep it moving in all directions so that it will catch the eye of anyone around me. If it happens to catch the eye of some deer, so be it ....... don't care. I try to make sure that if they can see me (even a little bit), they can see that flashlight. I might look like a shadow going through the woods, but that flashlight should clear up any misconceptions regarding exactly what I am. As somebody mentioned before, no one has ever seen a deer carrying a light.

I'd like to hear anyone else's thoughts on defensive hunting. What do you do to reduce the odds of getting shot?

Doc

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i wanna see what you guys think..what do you think is the number one reason for hunting accidents (esp deer hunting) it seems like theres alot of accidents in iowa.. anyone else have alot of accidents??

From what I've read and experienced I believe most incidences are caused by hunters who are so hyped up and intent on getting a deer, turkey, elk, ect., that they for get to focus on what is taught right from the beginning in hunter safety training, BE SURE OF YOUR TARGET and MAKE SURE YOU ARE SHOOTING IN A SAFE DIRECTION. In 1997 I was shot in the thigh(missed the artery by less than an inch) at 105 ft. It was 1:00 in the afternoon, the ground was snow covered and I was wearing a blaze orange hat and a bright red shirt. I don't believe I looked anything like a deer. I could see the guy aiming at me(after the shooting started) and he emptyed his gun(5 shots). A NYS DEC officer came to my house a week or so afterwards to take a second statement from me. He told me that the DEC does not call them hunting accidents, they call them hunting incidents. He said that he'd been investigating these incidents for over nine years and that there was only one incident that he might have called an accident and even then he said that the incident could have been prevented.

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