What you need to know
- Responsible firearm handling while hunting includes treating every gun as if it’s loaded, keeping the safety engaged until you’re ready to shoot, and knowing what’s beyond your target.
- Other ways to stay safe include wearing hunter orange, unloading firearms before crossing obstacles or climbing, and storing firearms securely while traveling and at home.
- Taking hunter safety courses—and speaking up when someone handles a firearm unsafely—can help reinforce safe hunting practices.
Hunting is a longstanding tradition in Michigan, where hundreds of thousands of people purchase hunting licenses each year. Whether you’re hunting for the first time or have years of experience, reviewing firearm safety before heading into the field can help protect you, your hunting partners, and everyone else outdoors.
“You don’t want to hurt anybody or have an accident happen,” Rena Spears, a Michigan hunter, tells Public Good News. “Safety is the most important part about [hunting].”
Read on for safety tips from experienced Michigan hunters.
Treat every firearm as if it’s loaded
Born and raised in Michigan, Doug Krizanic has been hunting since his youth and learned firearm safety from an early age.
“There’s no reversing a bullet that leaves the barrel of a gun,” Krizanic says. “The way it was taught to me as a young man is to consider a laser coming out of [your firearm], and anything it points at is going to get cut.”
Even if you’re certain a gun is unloaded, always handle it with care. Keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction and keep your finger off the trigger until you’re ready to shoot.
Use your safety
Keep your firearm’s safety engaged until you’ve identified your target and are prepared to shoot.
“When you put the gun back down, you also want to put your safety back on just in case,” Spears explains. “There are incidents where people forget and the gun can fall and fire on its own.”
Wear hunter orange
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources recommends that hunters wear as much “hunter orange” as possible to increase visibility. Michigan law requires hunters to wear it during many firearm hunting seasons.
Check the regulations for your specific season before heading out.
Know your target—and what’s beyond it
A bullet may travel far beyond, or even through, your intended target, so be sure you know where it could go.
“Lots of times, younger hunters get so focused on identifying the target—and then aiming and pulling the trigger—that they miss the step of situational awareness,” Krizanic says. “Before you discharge that weapon, understand what is behind the target and where your projectile is going to end up.”
Unload firearms before navigating obstacles
Climbing into a tree stand, crossing a fence, or getting into a vehicle while carrying a firearm increases the risk of an accidental discharge. Before doing any of these activities, unload your firearm. Use a secure pull system to raise and lower firearms from tree stands rather than carrying them.
Learn more about tree stand safety from the Department of Natural Resources.
Store firearms securely in vehicles and at home
When transporting firearms in vehicles or storing them at home, make sure they’re unloaded and inaccessible to kids and teens.
“We always make sure that our guns are in cases every time we travel,” Spears says. “[At home], our guns are stored in safes. Everything is unloaded before we get home, and we have everything locked up.”
Under Michigan law, guns must be stored unloaded and locked with a locking device or in a locked container when children may be present in a home or vehicle.
You can request a free gun safety kit and trigger lock from Project ChildSafe. You can also find places that offer free gun locks using this map from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
Take a hunter safety course
In Michigan, all first-time hunters born on or after January 1, 1960, are required to complete and pass a hunter safety course before they can purchase a hunting license. Even experienced hunters can benefit from a refresher.
The Department of Natural Resources offers courses covering safe firearm handling, wildlife laws, and more.
Start safety conversations with other hunter
Talking openly about firearm safety helps reinforce good habits and reminds everyone that preventing injuries is a shared responsibility.
“Those who hunt take on an ownership of passing on the etiquette of hunting, which includes the [secure] storage of weapons and handling of weapons,” Krizanic explains. “Just like with anything else, as you get older, you understand things more deeply, and you move from just being a person practicing to also understanding that it’s part of a hunter’s responsibility to encourage and teach those things when you take people out in the field as well.”
That responsibility also means being willing to respectfully point out unsafe behavior when you see it and accept feedback from others.
“In hunting, if someone corrects an action, you don’t take it as an insult—you take it as an improvement of behavior,” Krizanic says.
Find out how to get a hunter safety certificate from the Department of Natural Resources.
This article was supported by the Michigan Health Communications Initiative, a health campaign that receives funding from the Michigan Public Health Institute. Public Good News retains full editorial control over its reporting.