Time to review the rules.

Gun safety training seeks to instill a certain mindset and appropriate habits by following specific rules. The mindset is that firearms are inherently dangerous and must always be handled with care. Handlers are taught to treat firearms with respect for their destructive capabilities, and strongly discouraged from playing or toying with firearms, a common cause of accidents.

The rules of gun safety follow from this mindset.

Four Rules introduced by Colonel Jeff Cooper, which are:

1. All guns are always loaded.
2. Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy.
3. Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on the target.
4. Be sure of your target and what is beyond it.

From the Des Moines Register we get these 5 incidents of hunters either shooting themselves or someone else.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources reported Tuesday night that Dalton Hicks, 20, was shot in the throat with a deer slug around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday south of Montezuma in Poweshiek County.

The shooter was aiming at a running deer. He violated rule 4.

Michael Ziemann, 36, accidentally shot himself in his right leg with a handgun.

Violated rule 2. I've hunted with a handgun before and I don't know how he did this.

Thomas S. Burns, 38, of Waterloo was shot while deer hunting at the Prairie Ridge area on Rathbun Lake in Appanoose County. Burns was hunting with a group of 21 hunters when one of the other hunters in his party shot at a running deer, hitting Burns in the midsection with a 12-gauge shotgun slug.

There's that pesky rule 4 again.

Benjamin Parker, 35, of Grinnell shot himself in the right foot with a deer slug northeast of Braddyville in Page County. His gun reportedly became entangled in some bags and discharged.

Rule one. That and carrying anything other than a loaded gun is just unsafe. If you are going to carry a gun, you should have nothing else in your hands.

Ryan Mills, 25, of Altoona was shot in the right thigh. Officials said Mills was blocking in a hunting party of about 12 people when a deer ran between him and other hunters in the group. The slug passed through a deer, striking Mills in the leg.

There's that rule 4 thing again.

Two of the examples people were hunting in large groups. I've always be of the opinion that driving deer toward someone waiting on them isn't hunting. I go with a friend and we find a nice spot and sit under a tree or in a portable blind. Where is the sport in shooting a deer that is running from your buddies. I've seen more white tails going away than I have shot, but the ones that I did get just made them that much better.

Study the rules. learn then, love them, live them. Being shot isn't fun. I'd rather spend my hunting time sitting out in the woods and watching the deer run away.