1.2 Preventing Hunting Incidents

Hunting is a safe outdoor activity. Each year hundreds of thousands of people hunt safely in Washington State. Unfortunately, each year there are also 10-15 shooting incidents which injure or sometimes kill fellow hunters. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife reviews all hunting incidents in Washington State. Since 1957, we have learned one very important lesson: Almost all hunting incidents can be prevented!

• Treat every firearm as if it is loaded. Always point guns in a safe direction.
• Most firearm deaths happen at home! Be just as safe at home as you are in the field. Practice safety whenever you are around firearms!
• Never handle any firearm if you are unfamiliar with it!
• Always unload and open the action before handing a firearm to anyone!
• Accept a firearm from another person only if the action is open!

The Hunting Incident Summary chart below shows that hunters between 10 and 29 years of age have more firearm incidents than all other hunters. That’s why Washington State requires hunter education training for beginning hunters.

This course will teach you how to handle firearms and archery equipment safely. You will learn other basic hunting skills, too. This book and your course instructor will give you a lot of useful information. However, none of the information in this book can help you unless you use it each and every time you are around firearms. Make safety a habit!