Texas hunting accidents continue decline
Hunting accidents and fatalities in Texas continued their long-term decline in 2007, still down below three accidents per 10,000 hunters in recent years. That compares to about 12 accidents per 10,000 hunters in 1966, the year records began, according to reports from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
Texas had 26 injuries from hunting accidents in 2007, two less than the year before. The state had four fatalities in 2007, the same as in 2006.
Texas accident numbers are small compared to the number of hunters. According to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service national survey, 1,112,099 people hunted in Texas in 2007.
"The statistics show hunting is safe and getting safer in Texas," said Steve Hall, education director for the TPWD. "And we do believe that is directly related to hunter education."
The state's worst year on record for hunting accidents was 1968, when 105 accidents were reported, including 37 fatalities.
The steady decline in the number of accidents per 10,000 licensed hunters tracks the growing number of people who take hunter education in Texas. In 1972, 2,119 people were certified in hunter education. In 2007, more than 3,000 volunteer hunter education instructors trained more than 30,000 hunters across the state. In 1988, hunter education became mandatory in Texas for anyone born on or after Sept. 2, 1971.
Hall said even hunters who are not required to take the education course are more aware of basic safety principles than before.
"It's things like the '10 Commandments of Shooting Safety,' the very basic safety principles that are promoted a whole lot more now than 30 or even 20 years ago," Hall said. "Highlighting the accidents is an education in and of itself."
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