Because I love the outdoors, I will continue to hunt.

After sitting and reading statistics about hunting accidents dating back to 1982 (Dec. 16), I can’t help thinking that hunters have always put themselves in harm’s way while in the woods.

I won’t comment on the latest fatality. I can’t imagine the pain that all parties are experiencing at this time. I, for one, do not believe landowners should be made to wear blaze orange. I also don’t believe that posting land is going to lower the number of accidents in the woods. As a former Maine Guide, op-ed writer Kevin Ellingwood (Dec. 17) should know how safe hunting has become in Maine in the last 35 years. Is one fatality too much? Definitely.

Maybe after being shot at and hit, Mr. Ellingwood should have quit the hunt a long time ago. No one is hiding information from the public. Let’s have a thorough investigation and let the chips fall where they do.

By the way, the next time some drunken driver kills an innocent family on the road, it will be called an accident. The next time some careless snowrider runs it up a tree, it will be called an accident. The next time some careless all-terrain vehicle rider runs off the side of a cliff, it will be called an accident.

Yes, this tragedy was an accident. Unless we can prove intention, it’s an accident. Should it have happened? Definitely not. Will there be more? Most definitely.

As a former Maine Guide, Mr. Ellingwood didn’t take long throwing his fellow hunters under the bus. It looks to me like he might be a real good spokesman for anti-hunters from out of state, who all want hunting to end in Maine.

When drunken drivers kill, it’s not an accident. The same for careless snowmobilers or ATV riders. But I guess it depends on who writes the article. We should get rid of careless hunters at the same time we get rid of careless drivers on the road or in any other type of activity. This will never happen. It’s a sad fact, but true.

I’ve hunted longer than 35 years, and I, too, fear that someone will get careless in the woods, or on the road, after a great day out in the Maine woods.

Norman LaPointe, Lewiston