I taught Hunter Education in Wyoming for many years. The vast majority of incidents we tracked involved the unwanted discharge of a firearm coming from unnecessarily having a "hot chamber" , this especially in or around a vehicle.
I've been a hunter safety instructor since 1986. The IHEA does not recommend hunting with a cold chamber. They do teach unloading the chamber when climbing into or out of an elevated stand, before entering a vehicle, crossing a fence, ditch or any other time footing is questionable. I've always practiced that. As a rule the chamber is hot when I'm hunting, but will open the action and go cold as terrain dictates, when in camp or a vehicle.
The custom here in GA is to go hot all the time. Comparing accidental shooting stats with some western states where cold chamber hunting is more common we don't have any more shooting accidents than the other states. We do sell about 3 times more hunting licenses each year than many western states. We also have a 5 month deer season, a 3 month turkey season and a 2 month waterfowl season. Add small game and there is something open to hunt 10 months a year.
In fact getting shot while hunting here is almost unheard of. Most accidents and deaths involve guys falling out of elevated stands or having heart attacks.
As a general rule I'm not buying that hunting with a cold chamber is any safer. There are exceptions covered above, but never chambering a round until just prior to a shot is unnecessary. It has been my observation that people who KNOW the chamber is hot tend to do a much better job of keeping the muzzle under control than the guys who THINK their chamber is cold. They get careless. Sooner or later everyone has to chamber a round or you're just hiking with gun. It doesn't take much to forget to un-chamber that round and then get careless thinking the gun is unloaded.
