Always a good idea to wear orange while hiking this time of year. No guarantees, but from October to December, I also favor hiking in places where no hunting is allowed. (Um, unless I'm hunting...)

http://www.maineaudubon.org/explore/centers/directions.shtml

It's as smart as wearing your seat belt when you go out on the road, for the same reasons. Even if it is "someone else's fault" you're still injured badly or worse.

I can remember the first thing my father ever told me about the gun he handed to me to teach me to shoot.

"You're the brains of this operation. This thing hasn't got a brain or a conscience. It's no more or less dangerous than the person holding it. When you squeeze the trigger, it fires a bullet. It can save a life, take a life, or hit a target and make you feel good. It can put food on your table, or take someone away from theirs'. So, if you've only got one thing you're ever going to be perfect at, let it be this."

It's a tremendous tragedy when an accident happens. The saddest thing is, most of them are preventable.

On the other hand. Some of the rhetoric I hear about this not only borders on downright insulting, it extends way over the line. Hunting, and hunters, have gotten far safer since the 1950's and 1960's, when there were many more accidents and fatalities in the woods. One is too many, but for far too many people, stopping hunting is their method of dealing with the problem.