Hunters most at peril when tracking deer, turkeys

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When chasing wild game, turkey hunters are most likely to be injured, while deer hunters are most likely to die from their injuries, new research from Pennsylvania reports.

According to the study, for every 100,000 turkey hunters, 7.5 are shot during the hunting season, relative to only 1.9 out of every 100,000 people who hunt grouse.

However, after Pennsylvania enacted a law requiring turkey hunters wear orange clothing, the rate of injury among turkey hunters decreased, suggesting that this extra precaution helps, study author Dr. Eugene J. Lengerich told Reuters Health.

"The hunter orange policy for turkey hunters appears to have had noticeable impact upon the rate of injuries in Pennsylvania,” said the researcher, who is based at Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine in Hershey.

Among deer hunters who were shot while chasing deer, more than 10 percent died, the highest fatality rate of any type of hunting. Pheasant hunters were the least likely to die following a shooting accident, with a fatality rate near 1 percent.

In the Journal of Trauma, Lengerich and his team note that in order to reduce hunting-related injuries, it’s important to first investigate who is most often injured while hunting, and why. In Pennsylvania hunting small and large game species is a “popular” activity, they note, making it an “ideal” state to study.

As part of the research, the investigators reviewed information collected after 1,345 shooting accidents that occurred while hunting different species between 1987 and 1999.

Almost all of the people injured while hunting had undergone hunter education training.

Among hunters, those under age 20 were most likely to get injured, often the result of mistakes in handling their weapons, Lengerich noted. “It appears that some young hunters did not have the necessary skill to handle the firepower of the sporting arm,” he said.

When hunting deer, most accidents were caused by poor skill, such as mishandling or dropping the firearm, while mistaking a hunter for game and other types of poor judgment were most often to blame for injuries that occurred while hunting other species.

Lengerich explained that turkey hunters are somewhat unique from other groups. For instance, injured turkey hunters were less likely to be wearing bright orange at the time of an accident than hunters injured while chasing other game. In fact, many turkey hunters were wearing camouflage when they were shot, which may have put them at risk, Lengerich noted.

Also, when hunting turkeys people often imitate turkey sounds, to lure the bird close to them, and other hunters may not realize when a person is right next to a turkey, he said.

“Many hunting-related injuries are probably preventable through increased skill, judgment and wearing visible clothing,” Lengerich added.

SOURCE: Journal of Trauma, March 10, 2005.

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