Pennsylvania Game News - November 2019 - 4

The influx of hunters pushed license
sales, which was great for wildlife conservation. But having so many hunters afield
in dense brush and forests led to increases
in injuries and deaths caused by hunter
firearm discharges.
By the late 1960s, Pennsylvania was
selling more than 1 million hunting
licenses for the first time ever. Opening
days and Saturdays often were crowded
afield.
And with hunting accidents in some
years exceeding the 500-mark, a voluntary
hunter education was made mandatory
to ensure young hunters received safety
training before heading afield.
The results quickly were evident by the
reduced number of accidents.
The last year hunting-related-shootingincidents (HRSIs) exceeded 400 was
1970. After 1991, Pennsylvania's HRSIs
never again exceeded 100. Over the past
six hunting license years, HRSIs have not
exceeded 29.
They are the six safest years on record
for Pennsylvania hunters since the agency
began keeping records in 1915.
"Over the past six years, the average
annual rate of hunting-related-shootingincidents has been three incidents per
100,000 hunters," Thorpe noted. "It's a
tremendous accomplishment and a direct
result of the nearly 2,000 dedicated volunteer hunter-education instructors who
teach this program statewide."
Volunteer instructors have been integral to the Game Commission's huntereducation program since at least the early
1960s. Today, they are the backbone of the
agency's six-hour program used to teach
all first-time hunters - regardless of age.
"We have had a substantial number

of instructors teach this course for more
than 50 years, reaching and influencing
thousands of Pennsylvania hunters," noted
Game Commission Executive Director
Bryan Burhans. "Their passion to teach,
to make hunting safer, to give back to a
heritage that is an important part of their
lives, shows in the statistics that measure
hunter safety in Penn's Woods.
"Hunter-education instructors work
year in and year out to make the state's
forests and fields safer for the millions of
Pennsylvanians who use them. They are
dedicated to safety and making hunting
the enjoyable pursuit it's intended to be.
They truly are responsible for the safer
conditions we find afield today."
Hunter education always has been
about teaching new hunters how to handle
sporting arms safely and how to make
responsible shooting decisions. It also
offers guidance on ethics, as well as the
need for wildlife management and to support the tenets of fair chase and fair share.
The course provides every successful graduate with the knowledge he or
she will need to hunt safely and legally
in Pennsylvania. From teaching how to
properly hold a firearm
and where to point
a gun's muzzle to
where to ethically
shoot at a quarry,
hunter education
creates a foundation that
helps new hunters mature
into principled sportsmen and
sportswomen, who will guide the
next generation of hunters.
Teaching hunter education just might
be the best way to give something back to
the sport in which so many hunters have

Pennsylvania Game News - November 2019

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