In mid-November every year, men and women (but mostly men) get out of the office, or out of the city, or off of their tractors, put on long underwear and an orange jacket, grab a big gun and go try to shoot animals.  A lot of them.

There are about four times as many men with rifles in the state of Michigan alone, for example, as there were Allied troops storming the beaches of Normandy in the largest amphibious assault in military history.  A lot of guys with a lot of guns.

Fortunately, hunting is actually very safe, and getting safer.  Over 12 million people hunt per year, including 10.7 million big game hunters, and there are consistently less than 100 fatal hunting accidents per year.  That’s less than 1% of 1%.

Furthermore, the number of accidents, both fatal and non-fatal, has been declining over the last ten to fifteen years in the advent of wider-spread and better-enforced hunter education programs and laws requiring hunters to wear blaze orange.  A large proportion of two-hunter accidents resulted from one hunter mistaking another for game.  Naturally, the nearly universal use of bright “hunter’s orange” has helped decrease such accidents.

Nonetheless, occasional mishaps do occur.  The vast majority of these mishaps, however, are not fatal or even dangerous.  They are just inconvenient, and perhaps expensive.

That’s where insurance comes in.  With the Sportsmans Travel Protection Plan from AIG, a hunter is protected from such losses as unforeseen license fees, equipment damages and equipment loss.

Policies also provide access to weather reports, roadside assistance, and information on visa, vaccine and passport requirements.  More information is available at travelguard.com.

Policies vary in price according to the hunter’s age and the expected expense of the trip.  Hunting odysseys to Alaska or safaris to Africa are of course more expensive than a jaunt across the state to a cousin’s farm to shoot turkeys.

For either type of trip, it’s just another way to make a popular pastime that’s been getting safer already even more secure.