DNR hunter education: 50 years of success (2005-03-15)

Hunting fatalities and injuries continue to decrease in Minnesota thanks to a successful hunter safety education program celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

"Minnesota's hunting accident rates have dropped significantly since the safety education program became law in 1955," said Capt. Mike Hammer, safety program coordinator for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

Today anyone born after December 31, 1979, must complete a hunter safety education program before being allowed to buy a hunting license.

Since 1994, Minnesota has averaged about 35 non fatal hunting accidents and less than two fatalities per year. Those numbers are dramatically lower than the 1960s when Minnesota averaged 110 non fatal injuries and about 14 fatalities per year.

"This program has been successful in making hunting a safer sport in Minnesota," said DNR Chief Conservation Officer Col. Mike Hamm. "Better education has led to a sharp decrease in accidents. One fatality is too many. Our goal is to have many consecutive years like 1998 and 2004 when there were no fatalities during small game, big game, waterfowl, wild turkey and prairie chicken hunting seasons."

About 6,000 volunteer instructors administer hunter safety education programs around the state. The instructors are trained at workshops led by DNR recreational safety officers where they learn teaching and training methods and general administrative procedures. Instructors receive a DNR volunteer procedure manual and must teach of course every two years to maintain their certification.

"The volunteer instructors are the backbone of the program," Hammer said. "They deserve all the credit. The volunteers teach more than 23,000 students each year."

Hammer said an interesting trend is the number of women who are becoming instructors. Currently, about 400 of the 6,000 instructors are women.

"More and more women are becoming involved in hunting and that trend is reflected in the increasing number of women instructors," Hammer said.

Classes, available to youths at least 11-years-old as well as adults, generally have more than one instructor who can discuss his or her area of expertise. This "team training" approach is designed to make teaching and attending the four hour course more interesting. Most classes have seven to eight instructors.

The firearms safety course covers safe gun handling, wildlife management, wildlife identification, ethics, survival, first aid and game care. Since 1955, nearly 1 million students have been certified.

The DNR is always looking for experienced hunters to pass on the tradition of hunting safety and responsibility to the next generation. People interested in becoming an instructor should call 1-800-366-8917 or visit the DNR Web site at www.dnr.state.mn.us.

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