In the wake of a tragic accident in which a 14-year-old, unsupervised hunter shot and killed a hiker he mistook for a bear, state Department of Fish and Wildlife officials now plan to look at new regulations for young hunters.

That's certainly in order and we hope the department and Legislature pay attention to the graphic proof of the need for young hunters to not only be educated in hunter safety, but also have adult supervision.

On Aug. 2, a 14-year-old from Concrete was hunting with his 16-year-old brother when the shooting occurred in Skagit County. Pamela Almli, 54, an experienced hiker from the Snohomish County community of Oso, was shot in the head with a round from a .270-caliber rifle while she was on a marked hiking trail as she bent over to put an item into her backpack.

The senseless tragedy didn't have to happen. And the fact that the department says it's very rare for a shooting incident to involve a nonhunter doesn't ease the fear of it happening again.

At the current time there are neither age restrictions nor requirements for adult supervision of young hunters. The only requirement of real consequence for getting a hunting license is that all first-time hunters born after Jan. 1, 1972, are required to successfully complete a hunter-education course.

While that's a good idea, we also take note of the fact that this particular 14-year-old had taken the course when he was 9. He obviously didn't retain the information about a cardinal rule of safety while hunting: Identify your target and what's behind it.

The 1994 Legislature repealed a previous law that required hunters younger than 14 to hunt with a parent or guardian. Efforts by Fish and Wildlife to reinstate similar restrictions failed in both the 2001 and 2005 sessions, Craig Bartlett, a department spokesman, said Friday.

He expects another effort in the session that opens in January.

The Seattle Times, in reporting the story, found some startling statistics about young hunters carrying big guns:

* More than 5,200 "big game" hunting licenses have been issued by the state in the first seven months of this year to children age 15 and younger, and that number is expected to grow during the fall hunting season.

* More than 600 of those licenses were awarded to kids 10 and younger, state records show.

* And statewide, there are more than 50 "big game" licenses granted to children 8 and younger.

Now that we have your attention, consider that in Yakima County alone, in that same time frame, 299 licenses were issued to young people between the ages of 7 and 16.

We picked 16 and younger for comparative purposes because as a state we won't don't allow kids to even think about being a licensed driver of a motor vehicle until they're 16.

According to the state Department of Licensing, before getting a full-fledged driver's license a teen must be at least 16 years old, pass a traffic safety education course, have an instruction permit for at least six months and get at least 50 hours of supervised driving practice (including 10 hours at night) with someone who has been licensed for five years or more.

The state requires all that to put better teen drivers on the road, yet an 8-year-old can legally pack a rifle into the woods without supervision after passing a safety education course. What's wrong with this picture?

Young hunters with no adult supervision have no business trekking into the woods with loaded rifles.

The Legislature has a responsibility to invoke common sense in the name of public safety, to take up both reasonable age restrictions and adult supervision of young hunters. It's a shame that it took a senseless accident and tragic loss of life to give the issue the priority it demands.

* Members of the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board are Michael Shepard, Sarah Jenkins, Bill Lee and Karen Troianello.