When I was a youngster with my nose pressed against the living room window watching my father and uncles pack up the truck for a week at deer camp, things were different. Real men smoked Lucky Strikes – even in restaurants. There was no such thing as Scent-Lok hunting togs, or Mossy Oak camo. Their hunting clothes were simple checkered wool, red and black or green and black. There were no hunter orange caps, either. Deer were plentiful. There were no doe permits. You could shoot either sex anytime, but often it didn’t matter. My familial heroes of the woods almost always brought home big bucks and lots of tall stories

That was the upside.

The downside was that in those Fabulous Fifties there were as many as a dozen hunting fatalities every fall. Some hunters were shot by other hunters in a case of what came to be called “mistaken identity.” Some shot themselves accidentally.

Thankfully, we have made enormous strides in hunting safety since those good old days. Mandatory hunter orange clothing and caps, as well as hunter safety training, deserve most of the credit for making hunting one of the most accident – free sports in the country. Still, every fall we have some shooting “accidents.” As the game wardens and state safety officers remind us, “One hunting accident is one too many.”

As hunters, it is important that we never let down our guard. That is when mistakes happen. All of us who take to the woods with firearms need to remind ourselves that “muzzle discipline” and mindfulness about the position of our firearm’s safety button are paramount. If you are fortunate enough to have youngsters carrying on the hunting heritage, make sure that they hear the safety message over and over. If they have not taken a hunter safety course, enroll them now. If they have, enroll them again. My boys went through the hunter safety course twice at my insistence.

Some parting thoughts on how to be a safer hunter. Remember that Maine has a target identification law. It says in a nutshell: Don’t take that shot unless you have an unobstructed view of the animals head and torso. Most of Maine’s hunting related gun wounds are self-inflicted: empty your gun before you climb that treestand; don’t feed shells into that lever action while hurrying into the woods to get set up before the “magic hour.” Perhaps most important of all – especially for newcomers to deer hunting – is this. Many hunting accidents have occurred in those exciting, adrenaline-filled moments shortly after a deer has been taken. Before the high fives and picture taking, check and double check your gun to make sure that the safety is on or, in the case of a lever action rifle, that the hammer is not still cocked over a live round.

We at the Sporting Journal wish you quiet moments in the North Woods this November and a look at the deer of your dreams. Have a safe hunt.

V. Paul Reynolds is editor of the Northwoods Sporting Journal. He is also a Maine Guide, co-host of a weekly radio program “Maine Outdoors” heard Sundays at 7 p.m. on The Voice of Maine News-Talk Network (WVOM-FM 103.9, WCME-FM 96.7) and former information officer for the Maine Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. His e-mail address is [email protected].