Hunters Enjoyed Safe Season In ‘97 Only Five Accidents, One Fatality Last Year, State Reports

Idaho hunters had a safe season in 1997. The Fish and Game Department says the five hunting accidents, which included one fatality, gave the state a rate about half the national average.

The agency said Friday the accident rate, about four per 100,000 hunters, was more impressive because none of the victims were mistaken for game, which usually is the reason for serious accidents. All of 1997’s accidents were caused by careless gun handling.

Fish and Game said one injury was self-inflicted, when a hunter placed the muzzle of his .22-caliber rifle against his left thigh while reading the small lettering on the barrel. The gun discharged and the hunter was wounded in the thigh.

The fatal accident came when a big-game hunter’s rifle became caught on brush, and he pulled on a sling to free it, causing the firearm to discharge. The hunter’s guide, on the trail ahead, was struck by the bullet and killed.

Dan Papp, hunter education manager, said the latest accident rate is only one-third of the rate of the 1980s, when the state averaged between three and four hunting deaths per year.

The yearly average for nonfatal accidents was 35 during the 1960s and 1970s, but there just four last year.