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Indiana's deer hunting season gets underway soon with the launch of archery
season on Oct. 1. While deer biologists are predicting that the number of
deer taken by hunters will be similar to previous years, Indiana hunting
safety experts are anticipating a significant drop in the number of hunting
accidents.
"Hunting doesn't have a reputation as a safe sport, but it actually is,"
said Capt. Michael Crider, Department of Natural Resources hunter education
director.
Indiana has around 215,000 hunters collectively spending 2.5 million days
pursuing deer each year.
"We have a handful of accidents annually, and rarely a fatality.
Statistically, hunting is safer than riding in a car," said Crider.
Despite statistically small numbers of hunting accidents, Crider was
concerned when he saw an unusual spike in the number of fatal firearms
related accidents during last fall's deer hunting season. Indiana averages
one fatal firearms related hunting accident a year. Last year, there were
three fatal accidents.
Though there didn't seem to be any specific cause for the spike in
fatalities, Crider and hundreds of volunteer hunter education instructors
worked with renewed vigor this year to prevent hunting related accidents.
DNR officials and volunteer instructors conducted 103 hunter education
courses for nearly 20,000 attendees across the state this year.
Their 10-hour courses covered standard firearm safety rules and tips on
avoiding hypothermia, but they focused more instruction time on a major
cause of hunting injuries and fatalities - falls from tree stands.
"When we looked at the stats, we knew we needed to spend more time on tree
stand safety. Gravity is one of our primary killers," said Terry Hatfield,
a volunteer hunter education instructor from North Salem, Ind.
Tree stand-related accidents continue to be a big problem. Indiana averages
14 non-fatal tree stand falls and 1.25 tree stand fatalities each year.
There were 17 tree stand related accidents in Indiana last year. One of
those was fatal. This means that tree stand related accidents accounted for
over 50 percent of all hunting accidents reported.
Hatfield and his fellow instructors hang students from trees to demonstrate
the effectiveness of tree stand safety harnesses. Participants are first
lifted off the ground in a single belt-type harness and told to signal when
the discomfort becomes unbearable. The demonstration lasts just a few
seconds. Those lifted in a chest harness last slightly longer.
Participants lifted in a full-body harness have little discomfort and can
maneuver quickly to lower themselves to the ground.
"No one who sees this presentation will ever use anything but a full-body
harness again," said Hatfield.
Hatfield also demonstrates climbing safety (always stay attached to a safety
line, whether climbing up, down or sitting in a stand), how to safely lift
bows and firearms into a stand (always unloaded, muzzle down), and tree
stand selection.
"Never buy a stand that is not TMA approved [Treestand Manufacturer's
Association]. If you have a stand that is not TMA approved, throw it away.
Is your life worth the cost of a new tree stand?" said Hatfield.
Crider urges hunters to focus first on safety this hunting season and then
on the game they are pursuing.
"I hope to look back on last year's safety record as an unfortunate anomaly.
I think we'll have a much safer season this year," said Crider.
Chronic Wasting Disease
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Last deer season, DNR and Board of Animal Health (BOAH) officials collected
more than 3,000 tissue samples from hunter-killed deer to test for chronic
wasting disease (CWD). CWD is a serious neurologic disease that affects
deer. The disease has been a serious concern for a number of western states
for the last several years and has been found in deer in Illinois, Wisconsin
and Minnesota.
No signs of CWD showed up in samples tested from Indiana last year.
"The results are certainly cause for relief, but we still need to stay
vigilant in our monitoring for CWD. A CWD-positive deer was found in
northern Illinois, just 70 miles from our border," said Glenn Lange, DNR
chief of wildlife. "We will focus more of our sampling efforts in the
northwest Indiana region and around captive deer farms where deer may have
been imported from other states."
Biologists will continue to collect deer tissue samples at many check
stations throughout the state this deer hunting season.
For more information about CWD and Indiana's CWD surveillance program, visit
http://deerhealth.IN.gov
Deer harvest forecast
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Indiana deer biologist Jim Mitchell predicts this year's deer harvest will
be similar to last year. There are no changes in statewide bag limits or
season lengths this year.
Last year, hunters took 104,428 deer, which was 1 percent more than the
previous year, just as Mitchell had predicted. What was slightly unusual,
however, was that the number of bucks taken dropped 2 percent while the doe
take increased 4 percent.
"This may be the result of the trial one buck bag limit that went into
effect last season, though there may have been other factors involved such
as the increased license cost and hunter concerns about CWD and West Nile
Virus," said Mitchell. "We have seen a trend toward more bucks and a higher
percentage of older bucks versus young bucks in the harvest over the past
few years."
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