Tulsa World: Data show 13 has become a dangerous age for hunters

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Data show 13 has become a dangerous age for hunters

Seminole resident Blake Auld, 13, was accidentally shot and killed in a 2003 hunting accident. Auld is one of 10 13-year-olds to be injured or killed in Oklahoma hunting accidents since 2001. Courtesy

By GAVIN OFF Data Editor
Published: 8/17/2008 2:05 AM
Last Modified: 8/17/2008 2:27 AM

The boys sat about 12 feet from the ground in the homemade tree stand that gave the two a nice view of the surrounding woods near Seminole.

It was three days after Christmas, pleasant about 60 degrees and the final day of the special antlerless deer season.

The skies were clear, but it was nearly 5 p.m. and getting dark.

Blake Auld, a 13-year-old Boy Scout, held a .22-caliber, single-shot rifle. His friend, also 13, held a .32-caliber Winchester.

They were alone.

According to a state incident report, the boys switched guns so Blake's friend could use the .22 to shoot a bird.

Blake then began to stand up when he either dropped the Winchester or caught it on the deer stand, the report states.

The rifle fired.

Roxie Auld, Blake's mother, said the Winchester fired when it dropped as the two boys were trying to exchange guns again.

"Blake didn't have a hold of it, and the butt hit the tree stand," Auld said.

Blake was shot and killed.

More 13-year-olds 10 since 2001 were shot in hunting-related accidents than persons of any other age, a Tulsa World analysis found. That's more than two times as many hunting accidents than any other age group since 2001.

Three of the 10 accidents were fatal.

In some ways, Blake's death in late 2003 represents many of Oklahoma's recent hunting accidents. Not only was he 13 and inexperienced, but the shooting also involved a tree stand.

Tree

stand injuries have increased in recent years, according to state data. One in five hunting accidents that the state has reported since 2001 involved a tree stand.

And with more young hunters heading to the woods, injuries could climb further still.

A recently passed state law is likely to increase the number of children who hunt or use tree stands, though politicians and hunting experts said the new law will make novice hunters safer.

Oklahoma's outlook

Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation officials said it is difficult to pinpoint a specific reason for the jump in shootings involving 13-year-olds. In recent years, accidents involving these teenagers increased tenfold.

From 1994 to 2000, Oklahoma recorded only one accident involving a boy of that age.

Hunting experts said immaturity and inexperience are likely two causes.

"A 13-year-old boy is supposed to be semi-responsible, but in today's age they're playing video games and going to Wal-Mart, not running around the woods like they used to," said Daryl Howser, Seminole County's game warden of 24 years. "They just haven't matured yet, and they're turned loose."

Auld said the boys decided to go hunting while checking oil wells with Blake's friend's father. She said her son had hunted a few times before with family members and had wanted to get his hunter education certificate. He had even said getting certified would be a good project for his Boy Scout troop.

Oklahoma, like many states, doesn't have an age minimum for hunters. Hunters younger than 10, however, who have not completed a hunter education course, must be under the direct supervision of a qualified adult.

Yet accidents still occur.

On the same day that Blake died, a 13-year-old accidentally shot a man in Canadian County when the boy was unloading a rifle after coyote hunting. The man survived with wounds to his right arm, right leg and left leg.

A year later, on Dec. 28, 2004, another Seminole County 13-year-old was shot when he ran into the firing line of a man targeting a raccoon.

The boy died.

In all, the Department of Wildlife Conservation reported 78 hunting accidents, including 16 fatalities, since 2001, a World analysis found. Nearly a third of the reported injuries happened while hunting deer.

Last year was the safest in recent history, with only four injuries reported, according to the World's analysis. State officials said minor hunting injuries, such as sprained ankles and cracked ribs, could go unreported, however.

Lance Meek, Oklahoma's hunter education coordinator, credited the state's hunter education program mandatory for people wanting to receive a hunting license for helping to reduce injuries. The eight-hour course teaches everything from gun safety and hunting ethics to wildlife identification and tree stand safety.

With the state issuing more than 300,000 hunting licenses each year, reporting just 78 total injuries since 2001 159 since 1994 suggests hunting is remarkably safe in Oklahoma.

"Hunting is a very safe sport," said Micah Holmes, information supervisor for the Department of Wildlife Conservation. "On opening day of deer gun season, there are more people out in the woods hunting than could fill Boone Pickens Stadium and Gaylord Family stadium combined."

National outlook

The International Hunting Education Agency, a nonprofit group based in Colorado, houses a national database of hunting-related injuries dating back to 1994.

Although the group is not given information about every accident, its database provides a strong picture of how hunters are injured, said Wayne East, the agency's executive director.

Of the more than 6,650 hunting accidents reported in the database, nearly 35 percent involved hunters 21 years old or younger. About 150 involved 13-year-olds.

The data cite "skill and aptitude" as a factor in nearly a third of the accidents involving 13-year-olds, compared with about only 16 percent of the accidents involving older hunters.

"Their judgment is just not there," Howser said. "Even a 16-year-old, you just can't turn them loose and say 'go hunting.' "

The national data provide some other insight.

Shotguns caused most injuries - 4,340

Air- or gas-powered guns caused the fewest - 2

Hunters targeting deer were injured the most - 2,317 times

Hunters targeting antelope were injured the least - 3 times

Tree stand injuries totaled more than 660 since 1994

Safe use of the effective, yet sometimes problematic, stands is a concern in Oklahoma, Meek said.

Sixteen of the state's 78 hunting accidents since 2001 involved a tree stand. Some hunters failed to wear a safety harness; others carried loaded weapons while climbing the tree.

Meek said tree stand-related accidents have risen in recent years, as more hunters use the inexpensive devices to gain better views and avoid being seen.

"It's the main place where people are getting hurt, for sure," said Meek, who teaches about five safety courses a year. "And I think those are the incidences that we don't always hear about."

Many tree stand injuries typically caused by falls are minor bumps and bruises. Some are more serious.

In 2003 a 55-year-old man in Lincoln County died when he fell from a wet tree while he was installing a stand.

A 37-year-old man accidentally shot himself in Cherokee County in 2005 when he "dropped his muzzleloader while trying to urinate from a tree stand," records show.

The man survived.

Blake was one of two 13-year-olds injured in a tree stand in recent years. The second, a boy from Nowata County, survived.

Law change

A new state law could increase the number of young hunters in tree stands and in the woods albeit these hunters would be required to have direct adult supervision.

In June, the state reduced the age minimum for hunters seeking an apprentice designation. The minimum dropped from 16 years old to 10 years old and allows children with the designation to hunt with a certified and licensed adult prior to taking a hunter education course themselves.

State Rep. Brian Renegar, D-McAlester, who sponsored the bill, said the 16-year-old minimum was preventing many novice hunters from joining supervised youth hunts. It also prevented those younger than 16 who had not received their hunter education certificate from legally hunting with a parent or grandparent, he said.

Meek, who runs the state's hunter education course, said he expects the new law to increase safety.

"There's something to be said for being out in the woods with your dad," Meek said. "That's a good way to learn safety. Who's going to care more than your dad?"

Meek added that hunters can learn only so much in the classroom.

Howser, too, said the law could reduce the number of accidents. Children can simply learn more in the field with a loved one than taking an eight-hour course and a 50-question test, he said.

Auld said neither the lack of a tree stand nor having a hunter education certificate would have changed what happened to Blake.

"If it had been something where they were just acting stupid, I would have thought it was a teenager thing," Auld said. "But it was an accident."

Gavin Off 732-8106
gavin.off@tulsaworld.com By GAVIN OFF Data Editor

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thedomesticgodess, Eufaula (8/17/2008 8:53:50 AM)

What is it now.. 20 for the licence, 20 for the deer tag..5 for the fhl... 65 for the deer to be processed here... thats just cut up and ground.. cheaper to go fishing... But they are army boys and they like guns so deer season gets very expensive.. with 3 of them going... They have been taught to respect guns etc but i never had a gun in my house till they got to their teens.. No accidents on there part but they did have a friend that fell over a tree stump and his gun went off and lucky it just grazed the other kid on his arm.... It wasnt reported as it was just a graze... but scary none the less...

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