N Dakota huntin deaths rare

[Lee Borgersen]

North Dakota hunting deaths rare.; 2 to 3 a year the norm in Minnesota


 Nov 20, 2014
 
FARGO — The death of a Minot 15-year-old in a deer gun hunting accident 10 days ago is the first since 2011 in North Dakota, where hunting deaths are relatively rare thanks to mandatory hunter education courses.


 
Meanwhile, the three hunter deaths reported in Minnesota's Mahnomen, Norman and Carlton counties this year are still in the range of normal as the firearms deer season wraps up, officials said.

John Mazur, hunter education coordinator for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, said a law in effect since 1979 requires all hunters born after 1961 to take a firearms safety class. The requirement slashed the number of deaths during hunting season, he said.

In the 15 years before 1979, there were 49 hunter deaths in North Dakota. From 1979 to 1995, that dropped to nine deaths. From 1996 to 2010, there were six deaths. And since 2010, there have been two deaths, Mazur said.

"Making people go through this course and putting that in the front of their head. ... That's an amazing drop," Mazur said. "Incidents happen, but we've reduced them greatly."

There have been eight hunting incidents in 2014, including the death of the 15-year-old boy near Butte.

In 2013, there were seven incidents without fatalities in North Dakota, and five incidents without fatalities in 2012.

In 2011, there were four incidents with one death due to a firearm discharged in a vehicle, Mazur said.

In 2010, North Dakota had 18 incidents, most of them involving pheasant hunters, but no deaths.

In 2009, there were six incidents with one fatality.

And 2008 was "our worst year in a long time," Mazur said. There were 10 incidents with two deaths.

Three deaths in Minn.

There have been three deaths in five hunting incidents so far in Minnesota in 2014.

-- On Nov. 8, a man died of a gunshot wound as he came out of a hunting area in Mahnomen County. The incident is under investigation.

-- On Nov. 9, a man died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound while in his deer stand in Carlton County.

-- On Saturday, a Nielsville man was found dead of a gunshot wound to the chest near Shelly in Norman County. An autopsy is being performed, and the incident is under investigation.

Minnesota averages two to three hunting deaths a year, said Jon Paurus, acting education safety program coordinator for the Department of Natural Resources' enforcement division.

In 2013, there were 17 incidents in Minnesota with one death. In 2012, there were 20 incidents with one death. And in 2011, there were 18 incidents with four deaths, though one of those deaths was the result of a fire in an enclosed tree stand.

Paurus said it's important that young people learn to treat every gun like it's loaded, to watch where the muzzle is pointed, and to watch their target and what lies beyond it.

Minnesota requires anyone born after Dec. 31, 1979, to get a Minnesota Firearm Safety Certificate (hunter education certificate). The minimum age to take hunter education is 11 years. An online hunter education option is available for students who are age 18 or older.

Paurus said requiring hunters to wear blaze orange also led to a big drop in hunting accidents.

There were nine hunting deaths in 1986 and 1989 in Minnesota. There were 14 deaths in 1973 and 1975, DNR records show.

In 1968, there were 19 hunting deaths in Minnesota and 18 deaths in 1969.

The highest number of hunting deaths recorded in any year since 1947 in Minnesota is 29 in 1961, records show.

Two SD deaths in 2013

In South Dakota, there were 25 hunting and shooting sports-related incidents in 2013, two of which resulted in deaths, according to information on that state's Game, Fish and Parks Department website.

Both of the fatalities were medically related and didn't involve the discharge of a firearm or a bow, the Wildlife Law Enforcement Report said.

The number of incidents was up from the 21 seen in 2012, but lower than the 10-year average, the report said.

Nationally, there were 19 hunting deaths reported in 239 incidents in 2007, according to the Hunter Incident Clearinghouse on the International Hunter Education Association's website.

All but a few of the reported incidents involved firearms.