I think the hunter safety course is good advice if you haven't had one. I'm 48 and don't need a hunter safety card for most hunting, but I attended the course with my son when he took it last August. I learned a lot of valuable information about gun safety and about hunting. I had been taught much firearms safety by my dad as a kid,but it doesn't hurt to get a refresher.

If you follow the rules of firearms safety and are around others who also follow these rules, your danger from firearms are very small. If you are hunting on public ground and are wearing hunter orange, you are pretty safe even from other hunters who may not be part of your group.

As several have pointed out, your gravest dangers in hunting aren't going to be getting shot. If you use a tree stand, find out how to use it safely, perhaps by watching a safety video such as the video Cabelas provides when you purchase one of their stands. Be careful with your knife when gutting an animal. Other hazards -- while not typically fatal -- also exist. I damaged a tendon in my left ring finger breaking off a tree branch to clear a shooting lane which took two months to recover from. Of course, these hazards are associated with being outdoors in general, not necessarily deer hunting.