Thursday, January 26, 2012

Twelve Nebraska Hunting-Related Incidents in 2011

LINCOLN, Neb. - Twelve hunting-related incidents were reported to the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission in 2011. Two of those incidents each resulted in the death of one person.

Seven incidents involved the discharge of a shotgun, three involved the discharge of a rifle, one involved a fall from an elevated stand and one involved a hunter being shot by an unknown person with an unknown firearm.

"All of the incidents occurred because one or more participants were not following safety rules," Nebraska Hunter Education Coordinator Mike Streeter said.

Four incidents occurred while hunting upland birds, three while hunting deer, two while hunting waterfowl, two while hunting furbearers and one while hunting nongame animals.

Historically, the most common cause for a hunting incident in Nebraska is a shooter swinging on a flying game bird and striking a hunting companion with shot from a shotgun.

To view the full Nebraska 2011 Hunting Incident report, visit huntsafenebraska.org and then click on Hunting Incident Report.