Greg Fonzeno

BY GREG FONZENO

November is here, and that means waterfowl hunting season, most commonly duck and geese season. While all hunting needs to be done safely and with care, hunting on the water comes with special dangers. While many typically think of boating accidents and deaths as summer occurrences, one-third of all deaths on the water happen while hunting or fishing. Hunters are statistically more likely to die from drowning than accidental gunshot wounds.

Many accidents happen in small open motorboats 16 feet or less in length. Seventy percent of hunters who die in boating accidents fall overboard. In 86% of those deadly cases, the hunters were not wearing life jackets, and 47% did not have a life jacket on board. Modern inflatable life jackets and float coats are easy and comfortable to wear while hunting, even with warm clothing in cold weather. Safety Tips • Do not exceed your boat’s weight capacity. This includes not only passenger weight, but also equipment. • Leave a float plan with a relative or friend.

Include the time you plan to leave and return, where you plan to go on the water, a description of the boat, and when, and who, to call if you are overdue. • Use well-trained dogs that are used to working from a boat. • Load the boat safely. Keep the weight center on the boat and balance it throughout. What appears to be balanced when stopped may not be balanced when underway. Don’t allow hunting dogs to move around freely while underway. • Dress warmly. Cold water immersion and hypothermia are dangerous and can cause death. If your small boat capsizes, get as much of your body out of the water as possible and stay with the boat to be as visible as possible. Small flat-bottom boats are prone to capsizing more easily. • Do not shoot from a moving boat. Establish shooting zones before you start shooting if you have others in the boat. Never shoot outside your assigned zone. • Keep all firearms unloaded while the boat is moving. • Download the free mobile U.S. Coast Guard app to your phone. It contains all the safety information and boating laws for every state in the United States.

Greg Fonzeno is the public education officer and vice commander of the local U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Unit (Flotilla 22) at Allatoona Lake.

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