Lessons
Learned of Hunter Education
by John M. Buol
Jr.
http://HunterShooter.com/
The
Department of Natural Resources of my native Wisconsin sends all
certified hunter education instructors a compiled list of statistics
from the previous season’s hunt. Being one of the top ten
states for deer hunter participation, this makes an interesting and
accurate case study. Let’s go over the lessons learned from the
compiled numbers and see what we can discover about trends in field
shooting and safety skills of hunters.
First, the good news.
Organized events, even those as rudimentary as basic hunter
education, are marvelously effective at improving safety skills. In
1907, decades before hunter education was established, there were 97
reported firearm mishaps statewide of which 41 resulted in death.
Total deer harvested was about 6,000.
In 2002, over five
decades after the first hunter education program was established, the
number of incidents was less than half that (47 total) despite a much
larger hunting population taking the field: 618,945 licenses sold
with 277,959 deer harvested.
According to the National Safety
Council there is currently an average of seven firearm-related
incidents for every 100,000 hunters in the United States. Wisconsin’s
2002 rate works out to 7 : 92,184; close to the established national
average.
This is yet more proof how safe shooting and hunting
can be IF participants bother attending even the simplest, organized,
skill-building event. Wisconsin’s hunter education course is a
scant 10 hours with a large number of topics in the curriculum and
there is no shooting proficiency test or standard. Twelve-year olds
find the coursework simple. Worst of all, no follow-on events are
offered or even suggested. Yet, the difference between the most
vestigial training and none is astonishing.
Hunter education
instructors and administrators deserve a pat on the back. Not too
hard, though, as there are still a number of embarrassing problems to
iron out.
In other articles and reports I’ve pointed out
that about a third of all hunting “accidents” are
self-inflicted and half are perpetrated by a hunting party member
(someone the offending hunter knew was there.) That means there is no
acceptable excuse for at least 80 percent of the mishaps.
The
2002 statistics prove this yet again. 14 of the 47 incidents (29.78%)
were self inflicted and 24 of the incidents (51.06%) involved a
hunter shooting a member of his own party. These incidents can be
traced to abject incompetence due to unfamiliarity.
Actual
hunting experience, without continuing range experience and training,
is of little help. Tim Lawhern, Wisconsin’s Hunter Education
Administrator, has noted in print that hunters with a number of years
of hunting experience are often some of the worst offenders, not the
new, inexperienced kids. The numbers bear this observation out.
Nearly half of the perpetrators (22 out of 47, 46.8%) were over the
age of 35 and had hunted without mishaps for years. How can this
be?
A new hunter takes basic hunter education and learns
rudimentary skills. The tentative newbie is cautious with the lessons
fresh in his mind. Unfortunately, after this one required event most
hunters do nothing to further their field shooting and handling
skills beyond this kindergarten level. As the years pass with
incident-free hunts, and nothing done to relearn and reinforce
lessons learned, complacency sets in.
We see this with
alarming frequency when adult hunters attend a field day with their
kids - at least when we can get them to actually toe the line and
shoot in front of the class. I’ve learned that the
“experienced” hunter often has to be watched even closer
than the kids at first.
The new student’s safety
procedures are just beginning to approach the Consciously Competent
level. He may have to think about it first, but he knows what to do.
The hunter who has neglected to reinforce these lessons too often
reverts back to the Unconsciously Incompetent level, and doesn’t
realize how much of the little skill obtained years back at the
mandatory hunter education class has been forgotten.
The most
basic safety protocol violations, improper muzzle control and failing
to keep fingers clear of the trigger, have to be watched for and
corrected for a few rounds before the hunter begins to remember them
again. Without a semi-regular refresher, such as a class, match, or
other event, too many hunters learn the hard, painful way and end up
as statistics in reports like this.
I’m continually
amazed and disappointed at the number of really dumb and preventable
gun mishaps. Some typical examples:
“Victim reholstered pistol after a shot with finger on trigger, shot self in thigh.”
“Victim had safety off and finger on trigger, shot self in foot.”
“Victim sat down against tree and gun discharged.”
The
numbers confirm the need for skill-refreshing events. Nearly
two-thirds of the self-inflicted incidents (9 out of 14, 64.2
percent) involved hunter education graduates shooting themselves, and
a exactly three quarters of the perpetrators who shot their hunting
partner (18 out of 24, 75 percent) were graduates as well.
This
is NOT a condemnation of the hunter education curriculum or
instructors, rather, it is further evidence of the need to provide
and promote adequate follow-on activities and sufficient
participation by the majority of hunters and gun owners. As noted
above, the most basic training experience makes a huge difference.
It’s the follow-up, getting rank-and-file gun owners and
hunters to bother to show up to shoots once in a while, where we drop
the ball.
In summary:
Organized, skill building events work! The huge drop in negligence due to Hunter Education proves it.
Follow on experience is essential or the lessons will be lost. A mandatory, one time event is not enough.
Raw number of years spent hunting is a poor indicator of skill. Hunters sometimes wait a year (or more!) between hunts. Refreshing skills in between through organized shooting events is vital.
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