The continuing success of the Hunter Education Program
demonstrates the impact of these volunteer efforts. Hunting-
related incidents in New Hampshire have decreased from more than
24 per year when the program started in the 1960s to an average
of about four per year in the current decade -- a remarkable
figure in light of the fact that about 78,000 people hunt in the
state each year. The number of lost hunters has also
dramatically decreased as a result of the program. As recently
as the early 1980s, nearly 30 hunters a year became lost or
disoriented and required a costly search to be rescued. Thanks
in large part to the emphasis on orienteering taught in hunter
education, the number of lost hunters requiring a search and
rescue mission has averaged just over four per year for the last
five years