DNR Conservation Office Aron Arthur/Coltrane Carlson-Raccoon Valley Radio

With the second shotgun deer hunting season underway in Iowa, individuals who are participating need to remember to keep safety at the forefront.

Iowa Department of Natural Resources Conservation Officer for Greene County Aron Arthur says not only is there a requirement that all hunters handling a firearm must wear at least a solid blaze orange vest, but to also observe proper firearm safety when party hunting during shotgun seasons.

“Always fire only when it’s (the deer) in a safe zone and what’s beyond it, don’t shoot outside your safe zone of fire, that’s when we run into accidents. The big time that we run into accidents is people shooting at running deer. And they’ll be shooting at a deer not realizing that they didn’t stay where they could shoot safely and they end up shooting their friend quite a ways away, especially now with these rifles that they can hunt with. We’ve had people got shot like a mile away from where the deer are at. So textbook 101 gun safety.”  

The second shotgun season is December 14th-22nd.