You will find plenty of blaze orange heading into the woods this weekend for the gun portion of the deer hunting season, and Department of Natural Resources Warden Chris Kratcha wants to make sure you make it out. So far, hunters have harvested 949 deer (506 antlered) in Door County and 753 deer (433 antlered) in Kewaunee County since the deer hunting season started with the archery and crossbow season on September 16th. With hundreds of thousands of people entering the woods for the first time this weekend, Kratcha preached safety first. He says if you practice good gun safety, you are more likely to get hurt crawling in and out of your tree stand than you are discharging your weapon.

Michigan has suffered two hunting blind-related tragedies since its gun season started on Wednesday. According to MLive.com, a 75-year-old man in Sanilac County died after a fire started in his hunting blind. On the same day in Roscommon County, a hunter had to be airlifted to an area hospital after falling 25 feet out of his tree stand. Kratcha also reminds hunters to have all their licenses and tags with them before they go out into the woods, to not go onto private property without permission, and to remember that you can always give your harvest to the less fortunate through the state’s deer donation program.