“I have searched for such incidents. I have not found any so far.”
I did too... And could not find any statistics from Alaska or Canada where this stat should apply.
“However, mistaken identity shootings while hunting (Shooter thought the human was a game animal) are one of the most common firearms accidents while hunting.”
Absolutely.
“It has little to do with having a chamber loaded or not, as the hunter thought the human was a game animal.”
But it does, that extra second might make a huge difference in identity.
Like I asked Lurker, what is the bigger danger to the human species here? Bears or thousands of chambered trigger happy humans?
Certainly possible. I have not seen any cases where it appeared to be significant.
Most of the mistaken identity cases I have read about involved shooting at noise, or mere movement. Sometimes they involve a successful hunter carrying a deer, the person shoots at the deer and hits the hunter carrying it.
In Wisconsin, these sort of cases were reduced to almost nothing by the requirement to wear florescent orange during deer hunting season.