Of the 805 non-fatal injury accidents in 2002, 351 were single party accidents and did not involve another person. These included non-firearm accidents such as failure to wear a safety belt or falling while climbing to or from a tree-stand. The 2002 data included the accident data from all sports reporting injury accidents. The 2004 data shows 433 non-fatal injury accidents and 46 fatalities for a drop of 31% and 12% respectively over the last ten years. My state has required a certified hunter safety course for hunters born after July 1957 since 1973. I don't know about all states, but many, perhaps most also have similar requirements. The class that I took in July of 1973 was comprehensive and required 12 hours of classroom and hands-on work. Still, nationwide, 15% of hunting accidents are caused by failure to identify target. 55% involved a shotgun, 29% rifle, with the remaining divided about equally among bow, handgun, and crossbow. 47% of accidents happened during big-game hunting while the majority happened during small-game hunting such as bird, rabbit, and squirrel. Overall, firearms account for 1% of accidental deaths in the United States while drowning in the bath accounts for 2%, choking on food stands at 5%.
