UPDATED 10:46 a.m. Nov. 19: Ferrum man charged in death of student remains out on bond

There have been nearly 400 serious hunting-related accidents in Virginia since 1998, but Jessica Goode's death Wednesday was unusual.

Victims are rarely nonhunters.

Of 39 firearms-related hunting fatalities in Virginia since 1998, none involved a nonhunter, according to Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries spokeswoman Julia Dixon.

But the circumstances of Wednesday's shooting, in which authorities say Jason David Cloutier of Ferrum mistook Goode and fellow Ferrum College students for deer, are not unusual.

In 17 of the shooting fatalities, the shooter was firing at what he thought was an animal, violating one of hunting's sacred safety rules.

"We stress that they need to be sure of their target and beyond," said Capt. Bobby Mawyer, a DGIF conservation police officer who oversees the agency's hunter education program. "If they hear it once they hear it a hundred times.

"It's a common-sense thing, but we hope to ingrain it in their heads."

The game department's accident data include firearms-related incidents and serious tree-stand falls.

Since 1998 there have been 393 reported incidents, including 39 firearms-related deaths. In 21 of those deaths, the shots were self-inflicted.

The only other fatality this season occurred in Rockbridge County on Nov. 7. In that case, which is still under investigation, the victim and shooter were hunting together.

This year has seen 14 firearms-related incidents, three of which were self-inflicted.

The game department doesn't specifically tally shootings that involve nonhunters, but a review of summaries of the incidents since 1998 shows that such cases are uncommon.

Nonfatal shooting incidents involving nonhunters in the region include a November 2007 incident in which a man driving along a rural road in Roanoke County was struck by a stray bullet fired by a hunter who missed a deer.

In 2003 in Bland County, a man hiking on national forest land was wounded by a hunter who mistook him for a deer.

Mawyer said that, based on the number of hunters in the state, the incident rate is 12.3 per 100,000 participants, with a fatality rate of 1.2 per 100,000.

According to the DGIF, the accident rate has declined by 25 percent since hunter education became mandatory in 1988 for hunters 12 to 15, and for first-time hunters 16 and older.

About 13,000 to 14,000 students a year attend one of the 10-hour classes, which include hands-on safety lessons with unloaded firearms and a "Shoot? Don't shoot?" video depicting real-world hunting scenarios.

Mawyer said the agency has no record of Cloutier having completed a hunter education course in Virginia.

He said investigators are looking into whether Cloutier completed a course in another state, which would satisfy Virginia's requirement.

When signing their licenses, hunters certify that they have met hunter education requirements.

Another hunting safety-related law is Virginia's blaze orange requirement.

During general firearms deer seasons, hunters are required by law to wear at least 100 square inches of high-visibility blaze orange on their upper body, or have it within reach, visible from 360 degrees.

Nonhunters are not required to wear blaze orange.

But Bill Kidwell, a longtime hunter education instructor who lives in Rocky Mount, said that even though accidental shootings involving nonhunters are rare, he recommends that anyone who goes into the field wear blaze orange during the firearms season.

"During firearms deer season it just makes sense," he said.

General firearms deer season began Saturday across most of Virginia, and will run through Dec. 12 in Franklin County, though it ends after Nov. 28 in most counties in Western Virginia.