By Mathias B. Forrester, BS
Background: Hunting is a popular activity in the United States. However, injuries due to firearms and other weapons may occur while hunting. The objective of this study was to characterize lower extremity injuries due to firearms and other weapons while hunting in Texas.
Methods: Cases were all lower extremity injuries included in the 2002-2021 Texas Hunting Accident Reports produced by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD). These reports provide information on all hunting incidents (accidents) resulting from a discharge of a firearm or bow while hunting which causes the injury or death of any person(s) that are reported to TPWD Game Wardens.
Results: There were 170 persons with lower extremity injuries from hunting incidents involving firearms and other weapons, out of 542 total persons injured (and 424 persons where the body part injured was mentioned). There were 11.8% lower extremity injuries during February-April, 4.7% during May-July, 34.1% during August-October, and 49.4% during November-January. The injury was self-inflicted in 61.2% of the cases. Of the 133 records that mentioned the exact part(s) of the lower extremity that were injured, 72.9% mentioned the lower leg, ankle, foot, or toe. The weapon involved in the incident was 42.4% shotgun, 38.8% rifle, 17.1% handgun, and 1.8% bow.
Conclusions: Lower extremity injuries due to hunting incidents involving firearms and other weapons accounted for 40% of all such injuries. The injuries were seasonal, with almost half of the injuries reported during November-January. Most of the injuries were self-inflicted and the majority involved the leg below the knee.
Hunting is a popular activity in the United States (US). In 2020, over 15 million hunting licenses were sold in the US, with approximately 4.6% of the US population issued a hunting license that year.1 However, injuries due to firearms and other weapons may occur while hunting. Research using data from the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research Firearm Injury Surveillance Study 1993-2008 found that hunting accounted for 2% of all firearm injuries.2 Several studies of firearm injuries managed at rural Midwestern trauma centers reported that approximately 25% of the injuries were related to hunting.3,4
Hunting injuries due to firearms and other weapons can involve any part of the body, including the lower extremity.2,5 The objective of this study was to describe lower extremity injuries due to hunting incidents involving firearms and other weapons in Texas. Texas had the highest number (n=1,120,620) of hunting licenses issued by any state in 2020, representing 7.9% of all hunting licenses issued in the US that year.1
Methods
Data for this study were obtained from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD, https://tpwd.texas.gov/). The TPWD collects detailed reports of all hunting-related fatal and non-fatal incidents. The TPWD defines a hunting incident (accident) as resulting from a discharge of a firearm or bow while hunting which causes the injury or death of any person(s) that are reported to TPWD Game Wardens.6 If a hunting-related incident is reported to a Game Warden, the Game Warden submits a report of the incident to the TPWD Hunter Education Program. These individual reports are compiled in annual Texas Hunting Accident Reports.6
The TPWD Texas Hunting Accident Reports for 2002-2021 are available in pdf format at the following website: https://tpwd.texas.gov/education/hunter-education/accidents
The reports contain both aggregate and incident-specific data. For example, in the Texas Hunting Accident Report 2021, aggregate data are provided first. These aggregate data include the annual number of fatal, non-fatal, and total accidents during 1966-2021. Next, for the most recent five years (2017-2021), the report provides the annual number of accidents by shooter’s age, shooter’s equipment, “additional facts,” main contributing factors (hunter judgment, skill/aptitude, safety, other), and animal hunted. Then the report provides incident-specific information on all fatal accidents, non-fatal incidents, non-forearm/bow hunting related incidents, and non-hunting/firearm related incidents. The information provided for each incident are the date, county, shooter’s age and gender, firearm, animal hunted, self-inflicted (yes, no), hunter education (shooter) (yes, no), comments (brief narrative of the incident), and prevention (a statement on how to prevent incidents such as the one being described).6 A given incident may involve more than one victim or more than one shooter.
The data are publicly available and de-identified. Therefore, this study was exempt from institutional review board (IRB) approval.
Cases were all lower extremity injuries included in the 2002-2021 Texas Hunting Accident Reports. Since the reports do not have a data field specifically for the body part that was involved in the injury, the Comments field for each incident was reviewed for any mention that a lower extremity was involved. An incident may involve injury to more than one body part. The Comments field did not always mention the body part involved, so the cases included in the study are a subset of all such incidents in the reports.
The variables examined were affected lower extremity body part, year and month of the incident, shooter’s age and sex, whether the incident was fatal, whether the injury was self-inflicted, the type of firearm involved, and the type of animal being hunted. The distribution of cases was determined for these variables.
Results
During 2002-2021, there were 170 persons with lower extremity injuries due to hunting incidents involving firearms and other weapons, representing 31.4% of the 542 total persons injured (whether the injured body part was mentioned) or 40.1% of the 424 persons injured where the body part injured was mentioned. The body part injured was 52 (30.6%) foot, 31 (18.2%) lower leg, 31 (18.2%) upper leg, 10 (5.9%) knee, 9 (5.3%) ankle, 9 (5.3%) toe, and 38 (22.4%) leg (exact part not otherwise specified). (A person can have an injury to more than one part of the lower extremity.) Of the 133 records where the exact part(s) of the lower extremity that were injured was mentioned (one record mentioned the leg and the knee), 97 (72.9%) mentioned the lower leg, ankle, foot, or toe.
There were 53 (31.2%) persons with lower extremity injuries during 2002-2006, 40 (23.5%) during 2007-2011, 38 (22.4%) during 2012-2016, and 39 (22.9%) during 2017-2021. The annual number of lower extremity injuries ranged between 2 in 2011 and 2021 and 14 in 2006. By season, there were 20 (11.8%) persons with lower extremity injuries during February-April, 8 (4.7%) during May-July, 58 (34.1%) during August-October, and 84 (49.4%) during November-January.
Of the 167 cases with a reported shooter’s age, 14 (8.4%) were 7-12 years, 40 (24.0%) 13-19 years, 35 (21.0%) 20-29 years, 23 (13.8%) 30-39 years, 25 (15.0%) 40-49 years, 13 (7.8%) 50-59 years, 13 (7.8%) 60-69 years, and 4 (2.4%) 70-75 years; the mean age was 32 years (range 7-75 years). Of the 169 cases with a reported shooter’s sex, 165 (97.6%) were male and 4 (2.4%) female. Three (1.8%) persons died. The injury was self-inflicted in 104 (61.2%) of the cases. The weapon involved in the incident was 72 (42.4%) shotgun, 66 (38.8%) rifle, 29 (17.1%) handgun, and 3 (1.8%) bow. The most frequently hunted animals were hog/feral hog (n=42, 24.7%), dove (n=39, 22.9%), deer (excluding explicitly stated exotic deer) (n=28, 16.5%), rabbit (n=13, 7.6%), waterfowl/ducks/geese (n=10, 5.9%), and quail (n=8, 4.7%).
Discussion
This study examined lower extremity injuries due to hunting incidents involving firearms and other weapons in Texas. Such information is important because lower extremity injuries accounted for 40% of all hunting incidents involving firearms and other weapons where the location of the injury was mentioned.
There were 170 lower extremity injuries due to hunting incidents involving firearms and other weapons in Texas during 2002-2021 or an average of 8.5 such injuries per year. Considering that over 1 million hunting licenses were issued in Texas in 2020 alone, this suggests that lower extremity injuries due to hunting incidents involving firearms and other weapons are relatively uncommon in the state.
The number of lower extremity injuries due to hunting incidents involving firearms and other weapons was highest during 2002-2006 then declined during 2007-2011 and remained relatively stable during the final two 5-year periods. In comparison, the total number of injuries due to hunting incidents involving firearms and other weapons was 178 during 2002-2006, 134 during 2007-2011, 130 during 2012-2016, and 100 during 2017-2021 – a decline over each 5-year period. This difference might be due to reports being more likely to mention the injured body part during the latter parts of the study period. In fact, the portion of records that mentioned the injured body part was 66% (n=118) during 2002-2006, 84% (n=112) during 2007-2011, 79% (n=103) during 2012-2016, and 91% (n=91) during 2017-2021.
Lower extremity injuries due to hunting incidents involving firearms and other weapons in Texas were seasonal, with almost half of the injuries occurring during November-January and 5% during May-July. Although hunting seasons in Texas vary by geographic area and animal, general hunting season is November-January.7
Of those cases where the specific injured part of the lower extremity was identified, 73% mentioned a body part below the knee. The majority of injuries in the study were self-inflicted. Self-inflicted wounds where the injured person was holding the firearm or other weapon, particularly those involving long-barreled firearms such as shotguns and rifles, might be more likely to result in injuries to the lower leg than the upper leg. Of the 97 injuries involving the leg below the knee, 75 (77%) were self-inflicted.
Injuries due to hunting incidents involving firearms and other weapons can be prevented.
The Texas Hunting Accident Reports at https://tpwd.texas.gov/education/hunter-education/accidents provide tips on how to prevent such hunter-related incidents. One way to prevent such incidents is through hunter education. In Texas, hunter education has been mandatory since 1988.6 Examples of ways to prevent hunting incidents include:
- always point the muzzle in a safe direction
- maintain a safe zone of fire
- communicate with hunting companions
- always know where others are positioned, and
- identify the target clearly.
This study is subject to limitations. The study used data from a single state, Texas. The pattern of lower extremity injuries due to hunting incidents involving firearms and other weapons may differ in other states. The Texas Hunting Accident Reports only included those incidents reported to TPWD Game Wardens. If an incident was not reported to a Game Warden, it would not be included in the Texas Hunting Accident Report. The individual records did not always mention the body part(s) that were affected, so the cases included in the study would be a subset of all such incidents. The reports only included demographic information for the shooter; if the injury was not self-inflicted, then demographic information on the person who was injured was not available. Finally, details of the type of injury and management and outcome of the injury (aside from fatality) were not included in the reports.
In conclusion, lower extremity injuries due to hunting incidents involving firearms and other weapons accounted for 40% of all such injuries. The injuries were seasonal, with almost half of the injuries reported during November-January. Most of the injuries were self-inflicted and the majority involved the leg below the knee.
Mathias B. Forrester, BS, is an independent researcher in Austin, Texas. Now retired, he previously performed public health research for various university and government programs for 38 years.
- Maurer A. How many hunters in the US in 2023? (Hunting industry & revenue statistics). January 12, 2023. Available at https://huntingmark.com/hunting-statistics/. Accessed February 9, 2023.
- Loder RT, Farren N. Injuries from firearms in hunting activities. Injury. 2014;45(8):1207-1214.
- Guetschow B, Lilienthal M, Willey M. Unintentional firearm injuries remain prevalent over a 12 year experience at a rural Midwestern level 1 trauma center. Iowa Orthop J. 2018;38:45-52.
- Dodge GG, Cogbill TH, Miller GJ, Landercasper J, Strutt PJ. Gunshot wounds: 10-year experience of a rural, referral trauma center. Am Surg. 1994;60(6):401-404.
- McIlrath MD, Welsh K, Garcia Fleury I, An Q, Buckwalter JA. The rurality of lower extremity firearm injuries. Iowa Orthop J. 2022;42(1):97-101.
- Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Texas Hunting Accident Report 2021. Available at https://tpwd.texas.gov/education/hunter-education/2021-hunting-accident-report.pdf. Accessed February 9, 2023.
- Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. 2022-2023 Hunting Season Dates. Available at https://tpwd.texas.gov/regulations/outdoor-annual/hunting/general-regulations/2022_2023_hunting_seasons. Accessed February 9, 2023.
