As about 500,000 hunters prepare to take part in Missouri's most popular hunting season, the Missouri Department of Conservation is urging them to keep in mind basic and potentially life-saving safety tips.

From Saturday morning through Nov. 24, hunters of all ages will head into the woods for the state's main firearms deer season. And regardless of a hunter's age or experience, the conservation department said there are safety precautions they need to follow.

"Hunting smart can provide you a very rich experience," said Dee Dee Dockins, an outdoor skills specialist for the Southeast Region who also leads hunter-education courses.

Ron Hartline adjusts a new scope range on a customer's Winchester model 7mm magnum Wednesday at Shooters Gun Shop in Cape Girardeau. (Laura Simon)

Since establishing mandatory hunter education in 1987, there has been a 66 percent decline in hunting incidents, Dockins said, adding an incident means a person suffered a gunshot wound while hunting, regardless of whether it's fatal.

"However, that said, one fatality is one too many," she said. "People think it'll never happen to them."

About 20 to 25 hunting incidents are reported statewide each year. Last year, there were eight incidents during the main firearms deer season, said Lucas Bond, news services coordinator for MDC.

"We investigate all hunting incidents," Dockins said. "We want to make sure hunters stay safe out there. There are ramifications to causing a hunting incident."

Dockins said hunters always should know where they're hunting in advance, scout out the area and ensure they can get to the area in the dark. They also should let someone know where they're going and when they're coming back, because they may not have cellphone reception.

"You have to stick to that plan," Dockins said. "One of the main problems we have when we get a phone call is someone's in the woods and we don't know exactly where that is. There might be a lot of time wasted in getting to that person who needs some help."

It could take an hour to get there and more than an hour to transport the person.

"So, we have to be very diligent in planning our trip," she said.

Hunters also must follow simple tips that seem like common sense, Dockins said, including keeping the muzzle pointed in a safe direction at all times, keeping fingers off the trigger and leaving on the safety until ready to shoot.

"And always, I can't stress this enough: Visually identify your target 100 percent of the time and what is beyond it," she said. "Keep in mind you are legally responsible for that bullet from the time it leaves your barrel until it hits the ground. In some instances, that may be over three miles."

Hunters should assume every movement in the woods is another hunter until they can identify otherwise using binoculars, not a scope, she said, adding most firearms incidents can be avoided by keeping the muzzle pointed in a safe direction.

"Sometimes hunters will climb a tree stand with a loaded firearm," she said. "We've had fatalities in the last 10 years for that very mistake."

Even when hunting on private ground, people should not assume other hunters are not there.

Deer hunters also are required to wear vests and caps that are hunter orange, the only color that does not occur in nature.

"So, you can see that from a far distance," Dockins said.

One of the most common accidents is tree-stand falls, she said, although those numbers aren't tracked in Missouri.

Hunters need to use a fall-arrest system chest harness and should know how to use it correctly.

"I ask in my classes, 'How many of you all have a chest harness?' Maybe a third of the people will raise their hand," she said. "Then I'll ask, 'How many of you all know someone who has fallen out of a tree stand?' Almost all of them raise their hand."

Dockins said she refers to hunter education as the only life-insurance policy that's free.

"Just a small bit of planning will save a lifetime of hurt," she said.

"Because most of these incidents occur with someone either you're related to, you're friends with or you love very much, which makes it doubly hard when you meet them in the hospital."

To learn more about the hunter-education course, visit mdc.mo.gov or call the Southeast Regional Office at (573) 290-5730.

klamb@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3639