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Better to be safe than sorry By Mark Freeman CENTRAL POINT � Teen-agers looking to take part in an expanded weekend hunt at Oregon�s wildlife areas need to make a trip to the sporting-goods stores and bone up on their safety measures before they�re allowed afield. Oregon�s juvenile hunting weekend Sept. 23-24, which takes place locally at the Denman Wildlife Area, not only sports more shooting opportunities for young hunters, but also contains a new push toward safety. Stung by a spate of firearm accidents during the special state youth hunts each September, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife sought and received new safety measures that will trade some of the family togetherness in exchange for the likelihood of fewer firearm accidents. Youth hunters must now wear blaze-orange vests along with the bright-orange hats that had been required over recent years. Also, fewer young hunters will be allowed in hunt areas at one time in the hopes that thinning out the crowd will reduce accidents. Young hunters and their parents also will be asked to read and sign a safety-review card that not only underscores the various acts of caution preached in hunter-education courses, but also contains a pledge to follow them. But perhaps most important is the proposal to reduce, from two to one, the number of youths an adult may supervise at one time in the field. The rationale is that, of the four firearm accidents reported in the past two years during the special youth hunts, a couple fewer kids in the field and having less supervisory responsibilities for each adult likely would have prevented accidents. "I think most parents like the idea of more safety," says Mark Vargas, who manages the Denman Wildlife Area for the ODFW. "The 1-to-1 ratio of adults to kids will be the only inconvenience, so parents with more than one kid will have to bring along some extra adults. "But how do you argue against the other (safety) things," he says. More than 200 kids are expected to take part in the two-day hunt. The new safety rules were adopted Aug. 11 by the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission. Normally, the September weekend is set aside for juveniles to pheasant hunt on sections of state-run wildlife areas where adult hunting is off-limits for the two days. Most of the wildlife areas also echo the practice used at Denman in which pen-raised pheasants are bought and released into the shooting units on the eve of the two-day hunt. With the help of the Oregon Hunters Association, 400 pheasants were bought for release at Denman next week, Vargas says. The event is designed to give kids a pheasant hunting experience free from the pressures and crowding by adults, who must look elsewhere for their upland game-birds on the youth-hunt weekend. This year, the ODFW also added waterfowl to the list of birds the young guns can stalk. The agency dropped its lightly used juvenile waterfowl hunt in November and added it to the popular pheasant hunt instead. Brad Bales, the ODFW�s game-bird program manager, says the change is a way to get more use of the waterfowl days by youth hunters. The regular waterfowl season was trimmed by two days Oct. 19-20 in Oregon to make up for the days set aside next week for the youth hunt. The commission made the change after heavy public comment in favor of it this past summer, according to Bales. To pre-register for the hunt, telephone the wildlife area at 826-8774 for reservations that will be taken on a first-come, first-served basis. About 25 reserved slots remain open for Saturday, and about 60 are open for Sunday. Those without reservation can hunt on a stand-by basis. On both hunt days, registration begins as early as 6:30 a.m. and shooting hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Regardless of whether kids go afield in the juvenile hunt, they can take part in a shotgun skills clinic that runs throughout both days. Participants can shoot clay pigeons launched for them. The shooting helps imitate real-life upland game-bird hunting so kids can get a feel for the skills needed when they actually hunt. Hunter-safety certificates are required to take part in the hunt as well as the skills clinic. Kids without shotguns will be provided weapons for use in the skills clinic, but they must have their own weapons to go afield. Staff writer Mark Freeman covers the outdoors for the Mail Tribune. Call him at 776-4470, or e-mail him at [email protected] ) Outdoor Journal Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA