Despite one hunting fatality in St. Lawrence County during this past season, the 2011 hunting season tied 2009 for New York State’s safest year of hunting, the Department of Environmental Conservation announced today.

In the 2011 hunting seasons, 26 personal injury hunting-related shooting incidents were reported, including four fatalities. All of the fatalities occurred during the regular deer season, one of which was self-inflicted.

One fatality was reported in St. Lawrence County this past season. Paul D. Hatch, 49, of 69 Hatch Rd., Russell, was shot and killed in December as he was hunting on his own property off of the Fordham Road in Russell with Tyler M. Soper, 20, 883 Trout Lake Rd., Edwards. Investigators said that Soper fatally shot Hatch, and that the circumstances warranted a charge of second-degree manslaughter, a Class C felony.

The number of hunters in New York State is declining, but the hunting incident rate (incidents per 100,000 hunters) is falling at a much faster rate. Since the 1960s, the number of hunters has declined about 20 percent, while the incident rate has declined more than 70 percent. The past five-year average is 5.3 incidents per 100,000 hunters, compared to 19 per 100,000 in the 1960s.

“Hunting is a tradition in New York state that continues to be safely enjoyed by many” said DEC Commissioner Joe Martens. “New York has an extremely safety-conscious generation of hunters thanks largely to more than 60 years of dedicated efforts of 3,000 volunteer Sportsman Education Instructors. All first-time hunters are required to attend a comprehensive hunter safety course of a minimum of 10 hours taught by DEC’s highly-trained instructors. Their hard work is paying off.”

The hunter safety courses stress safe practices and ethics, along with information on New York’s game species and their management. All courses are offered free of charge, but students must successfully complete the course and pass the final exam before being eligible to purchase a hunting license.

While hunting is safer than ever, accidents do happen, but every hunting-related shooting incident is preventable. Many if not all of these incidents could have been prevented if the shooter or victim had followed the primary rules of hunter safety:

· Treat every firearm as if it were loaded

· Keep your muzzle pointed in a safe direction

· Identify your target and what lies beyond

· Keep finger off the trigger until ready to fire

· Wear hunter orange

For more information, visit the Sportsman Education program section of the DEC website at: http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/7860.html