11/30/2005  -  DES MOINES - The first of Iowa's two shotgun deer seasons opens Dec. 3, and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources estimates more than 75,000 hunters will be in the field.

Rod Slings, recreation safety program supervisor with the Iowa DNR, said deer hunters need to maintain the good safety record they established from 2004. "We had zero fatalities and the lowest number of incidents on record," Slings said. "We want to maintain hunting as the safe sport it is."

Slings said hunting incidents occur most often when somebody decides to do something different than the plan. "Layout you hunt. Discuss how the hunt will proceed and outline each persons role, including where everyone will be at all times," Slings said. "Plan your hunt, and hunt your plan."

Good investigations of past hunting incidents show the number one factor contributing to hunter injuries is shooting at a running deer. "Hunters need to know their target and what is behind their target. When they shoot at a running deer, they do not know what is behind their target and that is when hunters get injured," Slings said.

One way to help identify a hunter is to wear blaze orange. Iowa law requires deer hunters to wear external, solid blaze orange that covers the torso: a vest, jacket, coat, sweatshirt, sweater, shirt or coveralls. Simply wearing a blaze orange hat for deer hunting does not meet the minimum requirement.

"The sandwich style blaze orange vest does not show much from the side," Slings said. "We want you to be seen from 360 degrees. Adding a hat helps you to be seen. The more blaze orange, the better the chance that you will be seen."

Iowa's second shotgun deer season begins Dec. 10 and an estimated 60,000 hunters will be participating.

For more information, contact Mick Klemesrud at 515-281-8653 or Alan Foster at 515-281-8874.

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