THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 1, 1995 TAG: 9501010067
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: ROANOKE LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
Hunting deaths in Virginia doubled this year, a problem game wardens blame in part on the growing popularity of a season when hunters using primitive firearms are not required to wear blaze orange.
``We've been lucky there haven't been more (fatalities) the last two years,'' game warden Jim Croft said.
Croft was called into the Powhatan County woods last month during the state's second muzzleloading season to investigate the shooting death of Charles Gee, 49, who had been stalking turkey with a nephew.
Gee and Anthony Horn, 25, were dressed in drab camouflage clothing and armed with muzzleloaders - guns in which black powder and a slug are packed separately into the firing chamber through the tip of the muzzle.
It used to be that a small number of black-powder purists hunted in Virginia. Many wore buckskins, made their own guns, used leather powder horns and took part in Civil War battle re-enactments.
But after the state Department of Game and Inland Fisheries doubled the length of the muzzleloading deer-season to two weeks, the sport's popularity escalated.
Highland County game warden Mike Humphries said he saw as many hunters with muzzleloaders during their season as he did with rifles and shotguns during their two-week deer season in western Virginia. The game and fisheries agency said the number of licenses for the muzzleloading season has increased from 45,158 in 1992 to 76,457 this season.
``Many of these people could care less about the traditional aspect,'' said Dr. John Eby, a Roanoke dentist and past president of the Virginia Muzzleloading Rifle Association, which has about 350 members. ``They are in it for the extra time to hunt deer.''
When the blaze orange requirement was being debated in 1987, some black-powder purists in the association asked to be exempted because they wanted to wear authentic 19th-century clothing in the woods.
Since muzzleloaders have less range than modern rifles, black-powder hunters reasoned that they would have to be closer to their targets, decreasing the risk that a human in the woods would be mistaken for game.
Muzzleloaders are getting less primitive. Hunters can buy them with stainless steel barrels, synthetic stocks and in-line ignition that makes them resemble bolt-action rifles. Some even buy them with scopes, although Croft said they're not supposed to keep them attached while hunting.
Hill said many people are inexperienced with muzzleloaders, and that may be part of the problem with accidental shootings.
Croft said Horn, who lives in Pounding Mill, was walking through unfamiliar woods when he heard a turkey, saw something move 100 feet away and fired. Gee had been using a turkey call to lure the bird within range. A muzzleloader ball hit him in the back and killed him.
``Hunting accidents tend to involve friends and family, and this is pretty much a tragedy for the shooter and the victim,'' Croft said. No charges have been filed, but the commonwealth's attorney's office is reviewing the case.
Lt. Rex Hill, director of the game department's hunter education program, said, ``If the shooter or the victim had been wearing blaze orange, this probably would not have happened.''
It was one of eight fatal hunting accidents this season, which still has more than a week to go for hunters east of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and the majority occurred during the muzzleloading season. The previous fall and winter, there were four fatal hunting accidents, the annual average for the past six years.
This year's fatality rate is the highest since 13 hunters were killed in 1987, the year before the General Assembly required hunters to wear at least a cap or vest with a brilliant orange color during the general firearms season.
Legislation requiring all hunters to wear safety orange during muzzleloader season is likely to come before the House Conservation and Natural Resources Committee in January, said committee chairman Del. Vic Thomas, D-Roanoke. He opposes the idea, however.
``I didn't vote for blaze orange to start with,'' Thomas said. ``I always wear blaze orange in the woods, except when I'm hunting turkeys because the birds can see color and deer can't. But for me to say you've got to do it. . . thing is, doggone it, you have to know what you're shooting at.''
Croft agreed that carelessness is at the root of many hunting deaths.
``Blaze orange vests are not bullet proof,'' Croft said. ``It's not going to protect someone from the careless use of a firearm.''
KEYWORDS: HUNTING ACCIDENTS FATALTIES STATISTICS by CNB