Pennsylvania Game News - August 2014 - 49

previous year, during which 33 incidents were reported.
Two of the 27 incidents reported in
2013 were fatal. Except for 2012 - the
first year without a single reported fatality related to gun handling in hunting
and trapping in Pennsylvania - at least
one fatality has been reported each
year. The number of fatal incidents has
declined sharply over the years.
In 2013, nine of the 27 incidents
with an identified offender resulted
from individuals with 10 or fewer years
of hunting experience.
It is important to note that no incidents during 2013 involved youth
participating in the Mentored Youth
Hunting Program - a program whereby
hunters under the age of 12 are permitted to harvest certain wildlife species,
if they are accompanied by a licensed
adult. Nearly 34,000 Mentored Youth
Permits were issued during this timeframe.
In its annual reports on HRSIs, the
Game Commission establishes an incident rate by computing the number
of accidents per 100,000 participants.
The 2.85 incident rate reported for
2013 is 20 percent lower than the 2012
rate of 3.52.

An analysis of offender ages revealed
individuals ages 16 and younger had
an incident rate of 3.26 per 100,000
participants.
The leading causes of huntingrelated shooting incidents in 2013 were
unintentional discharge and a victim
being in the line of fire, each accounting for one-third of the total. It should
be noted that incidents resulting from
a sporting arm carried in a dangerous
position decreased substantially from
the previous year (Two incidents in
2013 compared to eight in 2012).
Game Commissioner Timothy
Layton, of Windber, said hunter
education is instrumental in reducing
the number of HRSIs. He thanked
the dedicated corps of 2,280 volunteer
instructors for the crucial role they
play, and the hunters in the field for
continuing to put safety first.
"If there's one thing these numbers make clear it's that hunting
in Pennsylvania is safe and getting
safer," said Layton, who chairs the
commissioners' Information & Education committee. "As hunters, I'm sure
we all can appreciate how far we've
come and look forward to many more
safe seasons ahead."

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AUGUST 2014

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Pennsylvania Game News - August 2014

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