Wisconsin’s 2019 gun Deer Season closed recently. Of the state’s 72 counties, 71 allow hunting. During the nine-day 2019 Deer Season (November 23 – December 1) 564,664 licensed hunters legally pursued big game with firearms. 160,569 deer were legally harvested.
During the nine-day hunt, there were a total of four reported shootings among all 71 counties. Three of these injuries were negligent discharges where the hunter injured himself, and one involved a hand injury where a hunter’s negligent discharge injured a member of his hunting party.
This puts the injury ratio at 1:141,166, or 0.0007%. 99.9993% of Wisconsin’s hunters in 71 counties took to the field and woods with loaded firearms in pursuit of deer for nine days without incident.
The National Safety Council had previously reported twenty years ago that deer hunting typically saw seven injuries per 100,000 participants, making it slightly safer than table tennis (ping pong) and about twenty times safer than golf.
https://firearmusernetwork.com/lessons-learned-of-hunter-education/
https://firearmusernetwork.com/lessons-learned-of-hunter-education-2/
Current trends indicate hunting continues to get even safer.
https://firearmusernetwork.com/deer-hunting-getting-safer/
Wisconsin’s 2019 data indicates this continued increase in safety is still improving and hunters are even safer than ever, going from about seven incidents per 100,000 to one incident per 141,166.
Milwaukee is Wisconsin’s lone county disallowing hunting. During that same nine-day period, Milwaukee county reported 25 people were shot, including seven murders. Good thing they banned hunting!