Before the 2009 Hurricane Season ends, another “H” time – Hunting Season – is kicking off.  And while the former is clearly the more dangerous, the same rules apply: Preparation is a far better option than recovery.

                  Bow-Hunting, or Archery Season opened Oct. 1, and Small Game Season opened two days later, launching what is among the busiest times of year for agents of the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

                  “Our primary function is to protect the natural resources of the state,” said Sgt. Darryl Galloway, a Wildlife Enforcement Agent with the Wildlife and Fisheries agency.  “But we don’t just enforce the law; we try to educate people.”

                  That education includes passing on knowledge of basic hunting safety to hunters of all ages.  To that end, Galloway and his colleagues work to ensure that hunters are properly trained – not only in the use of firearms and other hunting weaponry but in personal safety, as well.  The state offers a hunter safety course that is, in fact, mandatory for most sportsmen (and women, of course).  “Any person born after Sept. 1, 1969, has to complete the course,” Galloway said.  “All 50 states now require some form of mandatory hunter education.”

                  Galloway said hunters who wish to cross state lines into Mississippi or elsewhere should check the requirements for education and licensing at their destination point, too; because each state is self-regulating, the rules may change.

                  To help hunters comply with Louisiana’s education requirement, most courses are free, and the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries even offers a home study course through its website, so students can study materials on their own time and participate in a single field day exercise to show weapons proficiency.

                  Think it’s not important or that it’s just another government hurdle to having a good time?  Think again.  Galloway points to two cases that illustrate the importance of hunter safety – one in which a man in his 30s mistook his own father for small game and shot him in the back, and another in which a teen-aged boy in north Louisiana shot and killed his best friend after mistaking him for wild game.  Hard to believe?  Not so much.

                  One of the most common hunting accidents, Galloway said, occurs when a hunter crawls through low brush during hog season. Another hunter sees his head protrude from the underbrush, espies hair and mistakes his fellow sportsman for a wild hog.  The results are tragic, and can be deadly.

                  As if such errors in perception aren’t enough, there’s a widespread problem of hunters over-imbibing in alcoholic beverages while wielding weapons.  Drinking while hunting – or hunting while drinking – can have equally tragic consequences.  And hunters are left to their own judgment in this regard.

                  “It’s not regulated, but it is an issue we find a lot,” Galloway said. “Combine the heat and the drinking and people are quite intoxicated with firearms. You wouldn’t get intoxicated and get in a car, because the car becomes a weapon. Why would you get intoxicated and use a gun?”

                  It’s a bigger problem now, during dove and archery seasons, than when the weather turns colder during deer season.  “You don’t find it as much with deer hunting season, but early in the year,” Galloway said. “It’s not the wisest thing to do.”

                  Here in the Sportsman’s Paradise, hunting is often a family pastime, practiced by generations of hunters as an important rite of passage and family time.  And that’s not just OK, it’s encouraged.

                  “Any person younger than 16 may hunt without the hunter education course if accompanied by someone over 18 with a valid license and education,” Galloway said, adding that there is no legal minimum age to hunt. 

                  Only hunters over the age of 10 can receive hunter education certification, but children even younger can accompany hunters of majority age if the older (and wiser) ones are properly licensed, and children under 10 can still receive training, just not certification.  But the older and wiser ones still have to engage some of their wisdom by following basic regulations – and practicing good sense.

                  For example, hunting is only supposed to happen from 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after dusk.  “Just because you think you can see doesn’t mean it’s legal hunting hours,” Galloway said. “Not only are we trying to protect the wildlife and enforce the laws, we’re trying to protect people.”

                  Galloway said one of the most common enforcement problems is hunters who do not wear appropriate clothing in bright hunter’s orange.  State law requires anyone hunting deer to wear 400 square inches of hunter’s orange on his or her torso when moving to and from a deer stand.  The one exception is that on private hunting grounds, hunters can get by with only an orange cap.  But perhaps surprisingly, that’s one of the biggest infractions enforcement agents see, as private-land hunters think they’re automatically safe and don’t need to take precautions.

                  “That’s one of our biggest violations each year,” Galloway said.  Even though some believe they are hunting alone on private land and are therefore safe from stray bullets, Galloway said that’s not so.  “With the trespassing issues today, you don’t know who is hunting on your land.”  

                   And on public lands, the rules are even more strict.  “If you don’t have the hunter’s orange on and you’re on the ground moving around, you’re taking your life in your hands,” he said. “That’s why we’re so adamant about hunter’s orange. We give no warnings.   We have zero tolerance. I do not want to be the one to go tell your family you’ve been killed in a hunting accident.”

                  Those public lands include three state Wildlife Management Areas each in St. Tammany and Tangipahoa Parishes, with more than 60 throughout Louisiana.   And just to be perfectly clear, state Wildlife and Fisheries Agents are also commissioned as federal enforcement agents.  “Our focus is on federal and state hunting resources,” Galloway said. “When it comes to game indigenous to the state, it falls under our hunting laws. We are allowed to enforce federal laws.”

                  So where do you get the required education and licenses? “Anyplace that sells hunting and fishing supplies generally sells licenses, or hunters can buy one online,” Galloway said.   In fact, the Wildlife and Fisheries website – www.WLF.louisiana.gov – is remarkably user-friendly.  “Everything you need can be found on our website,” Galloway said.

                  But Wildlife and Fisheries agents don’t just deal with enforcement.  “We are the lead agency in the state for search and rescue,” Galloway said. “We respond to all hunting- or boating-related incidents, and we work in cooperation with other law enforcement agencies throughout the state.”

                  So while hunters are putting on their camouflage – and hunter’s orange, for safety – Wildlife and Fisheries Agents will be out in force, educating citizens, enforcing the law, and working to keep people safe.  “If I can save just one life,” Galloway said, “I’ve done my job.”