Ways to be safe, rather than sorry, afield
As hunters go after grouse Saturday they should be wearing blaze-orange clothing and protective eye gear. And they'd better make sure they know where their partners are.
Dennis Anderson, Star Tribune

Grouse season opens Saturday, a gun-swinging affair if there ever were one. Safety will be important, as it will be in all upcoming fall shooting seasons. Here's an abbreviated safety review that might help you -- and me -- stay out of trouble.
Blaze orange: Difficult as it is to believe, some upland hunters -- grouse, pheasant, Hungarian partridge -- still wear predominantly drab or camouflage clothing.

In Minnesota, only a minimal amount of blaze orange is required ("a visible portion of at least one article of clothing above the waist"). Much more should be the rule. Recommended: a blaze orange cap, vest and, for good measure, shirt.
This is particularly important in grouse and pheasant hunting. Mishaps in which hunters swinging on birds accidentally shoot companions are relatively common. The reason: The shooter often is too intently focusing on the bird to see the other hunter as he comes into the line of fire.

Thus the importance of blaze orange. Unlike any other color, blaze orange jumps out against all backgrounds -- whether it's the prairies of South Dakota or the forests of northern Minnesota.

Partner placement: Nothing makes me more nervous in the grouse woods than not knowing where my hunting partners are. I figure if I can't see them, they can't see me -- which makes for trouble two ways. One, if a grouse jumps up, I'm unsure whether I'm clear to shoot. Two, I worry that if my partner flushes a grouse, he might shoot in my direction because he doesn't know where I am.

To avoid this, I always try to stay in verbal contact with everyone I'm hunting with. With grouse, I don't think this number should exceed three -- and two hunters might be even better. Either way, it's important to talk continually and look for each other, ensuring, particularly, that one hunter doesn't walk ahead of the other(s).

Safety glasses: Eye protection is important for reasons obvious and less so.
Protecting against stray shotshell pellets is a primary reason to wear lenses covering the eyes. Wrap-around lenses are particularly important, so pellets can't enter the eye from the side or front. These should be made of polycarbonate or other hardened material.

But pellets aren't the only threat to a hunter's eyes. While seeking grouse, hunters continually risk poking an eye into a tree branch or other object -- an easily preventable injury if protective glasses are worn.
Hearing protection: I regret I didn't wear hearing protection while hunting and shooting when I was younger. As a result, I've lost a fair bit of hearing ability in both ears.

Today, hunters and shooters have many hearing-protection options. Not all are expensive. Simple foam protectors inserted into the ear canal can block out sound. Slightly more costly models allow hunters to hear most conversations while stifling adverse effects of shot shell or bullet reports. The best of these can aid poor hearing of voices and other sounds, while shutting out loud sounds that can damage ears.

Tree stand safety harnesses: I've become a big believer in these, especially since my kids started climbing into tree stands.
Safety belts and "harnesses" offer one measure of prevention. Better, though, are "harness vests" that have been on the market for a few years. Because these are easier to put on than most harnesses, they're more likely to be worn, in my view.
Latex (or other) bird and deer cleaning gloves: I field-dressed a couple of deer last year without wearing protective gloves, and cleaned quite a few birds the same way.

That's probably not such a good idea. Chronic wasting disease is already here in wild deer -- in Wisconsin, at least. And research indicates hunters with cuts in their hands who clean birds might expose themselves to West Nile Virus or an inconsequential (so far) strain of bird flu.

Speaking of bird flu: Few disease experts would be surprised if migratory birds in the Mississippi Flyway, including ducks and geese, some day soon carry the form of bird flu the world fears. If that happens, hunters perhaps would be first to be exposed.
So, when purchasing that new blaze-orange shirt; ear and eye protection; and a tree stand safety harness, buy some protective cleaning gloves, too.