Most all what are called hunting accidents, while not "on purposes" are not really accidents. They are the result of extreme carelessness and or negligence. I had the sad duty to investigate dozens of what used to be called hunting accidents and are now more properly called hunting related shooting incidents in my state of PA and do result in criminal charges being filed. The extent of the injury determines the grading of the charges The stupidity of how most of these things happen defy imagination. In all the incidents I investigated over 13 years, only one could be considered an accident, it was a line of fire accident where the offender could not see the victim and my investigation proved it and there were no charges. The rest of them were a litany of giving no thought to what the people were doing and placing a higher value on a piece of game than human life or limb. Falling out of tree stands and the like are not considered hunting related incidents under PA law or for record keeping purposes since a firearm or bow and arrow did not cause the injury or were not fired in the direction of another person. To use the term accident when one person shoots another as a result of carelessness or negligence makes it appear it was just one of those things and lessens the seriousness of the matter. The real kicker is that many, if not most of these incidents involved people who were hunting together.