Statistics from the U.S. Department of the Interior show that hunting remains a popular sport for many. Each year, hunters venture out on more than 140 million hunting trips, pursuing a wide variety of wild game all across the United States. It’s a lot of opportunity for learning and improvement.
Your local State Fish and Game Department is a great resource for hunter safety education training. The training courses offered by each state are designed to prevent hunting accidents and teach each new generation about hunting responsibly, ethically and safely. In many states, hunter education certification is required to get a hunting license.
As an example of the hunting safety instructions provided by these courses, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Resources Division offers four easy-to-remember rules for hunting safety with the acronym A-C-T-T:
A – Always treat every firearm as if it were loaded.
C – Control the muzzle of the firearm at all times.
T – Be certain of the Target and what is in front of it and beyond it.
T – Keep your finger outside the Trigger guard until you are ready to shoot.
These are great basics for minimizing the chance of an accident. Some other good advice they offer includes:
- Never rely solely on the gun’s “safety” mechanism.
- Never use alcohol or drugs while handling a firearm.
- Make sure the gun is unloaded before attempting to clean it.
- Treat a misfire as though the gun could fire at any moment.
With the right hunting safety education and preparation, you can help ensure a safe hunting experience for you, your party and anyone else you may encounter on your trip.
Like any firearms activity, hunting always carries some risk. Consider adding Firearm Insurance to protect your firearms from damage and get Personal Firearm Liability Insurance to protect against hunting accident liability.
Make sure to follow these hunting safety education tips to stay safe. Good luck this hunting season!