According to news reports, the father and his two boys were hunting on private property Saturday afternoon south of Charlottesville. The younger boy, carrying a pellet gun, shot and missed a deer. His brother, armed with a .410 shotgun, tried for a follow-up shot.

But the younger boy ran into the line of fire and was stuck in the back with the shot, according to the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

The investigation continues, so we don't have all the facts. Unfortunately, people already are saddling up their high horses. But safety questions come to mind as we enter the height of deer hunting season in Maryland:

Why was the youngster allowed to shoot at a deer with a pellet gun? The fire power of the gun in the hands of an unskilled hunter was unlikely to bring the deer down, only wound it. Virginia law mandates at least .230 caliber.

How well could one man supervise two armed boys? Virginia law requires that hunters under the age of 12 must be “immediately supervised” by a licensed adult. They might have been the best-behaved sons in the world, with a healthy respect for the guns they were carrying, but national statistics show that youths under 19 are disproportionately involved in hunting mishaps, including self-inflicted injuries and deaths.

Had the two boys taken a hunter safety course? Children under the age of 12 are not required to have a hunting license or hunting education in Virginia. It might not have changed the outcome, but it couldn't have hurt.

Closer to home, a 10-year-old Baltimore County boy hunting with his father on the Eastern Shore was killed in 2003, when he shot himself in the chest with an arrow. The boy, who had never handled a crossbow before, was climbing down from a tree stand, the crossbow in hand, when the accident happened.

The crossbow was faulty. The boy had never participated in the state's hunter safety program and did not have a hunting license. So many mistakes in one, single outing.

Were these two deaths avoidable? Almost anything is avoidable. In the Maryland case, I'd have to say, yes. In the Virginia case, it would be pure speculation at this point.

But if there's any good to come from these deaths, any teachable moment, it's this: If you're a first-time hunter, take the safety course. If you're about to go out with one, insist that they do.