OLYMPIA — Pamela Almli was less than an hour into a hike on the popular Sauk Mountain Trail in Skagit County when she was killed by a 14-year-old hunter who thought she was a bear.

The Aug. 2 accident was a rarity — Almli was the first non-hunter killed by a hunter in Washington in more than 25 years — but lawmakers are considering a handful of ways to increase outdoor safety.

One proposal would reinstate a law that hunters under 14 be accompanied by an experienced adult. The shooter in Almli's death was hunting with his 16-year-old brother.

Another measure would require hikers to wear bright "hiker's orange" clothing. A third bill would make the minimum age for hunting alone 16.

"My husband and I do a lot of hiking … so we were very shocked when we heard about this horrible situation," said Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, sponsor of the bill raising the solo hunting age to 16. "We thought very personally about our safety, and our dog's safety, and our friends' safety, and other family members' safety."

Advocates of setting a minimum age for hunting alone say it is only common sense. But opponents say a hunter's experience, not age, matters most.

Current law allows anyone to hunt alone, so long as they have passed a state-certified safety course. Until 1994, state regulations required solo hunters to be at least 14. But that requirement was inadvertently eliminated by the Legislature, said Rep. Brian Blake, D-Aberdeen, sponsor of the bill reinstating the solo hunting age to 14.

The state Department of Fish and Wildlife has repeatedly asked the Legislature to reinstate the original rule on numerous occasions, but lawmakers have been reluctant to act, said Mik Mikitik, the department's hunter education coordinator.

Washington's youth hunting regulations buck national trends, said Douglas Shinkle, who tracks sportsmen's issues for the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Most states encourage supervised youth hunting — with minimum ages as a safety measure — to encourage youth participation in the sport and to keep license fees flowing into wildlife department budgets as the overall number of hunters declines.

In Washington, not all lawmakers support the idea of changing the rules in the emotional time following Almli's death.

"The urban people tend to get a little nervous about the idea of hunting," said House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, adding see isn't sure any of the bills have enough support to pass.

A few months after Almli's death, Tacoma resident Juan Cortez was shot while picking bear grass in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest by a 55-year-old elk hunter.

This example, opponents of the hunting regulation say, proves age isn't always what matters most when judging the safety of a hunter.

"If I learn to drive at 35 or if I learn to drive at 17, I'm still inexperienced and a beginner," said Mikitik.

In years past the National Rifle Association lobbied against attempts to reinstate the old law, but so far they have been silent this year. Phone calls to the NRA were not returned.

Ed Owens, a lobbyist who works for sportsmen's groups, said that if the youth hunting bills gain significant momentum, he expects they'll push back.

Hikers groups, meanwhile, oppose any "hiker's orange" requirement.

"Are you really going to require every single hiker and every tourist who visits Mt. Baker Snoqualmie Forrest to wear hunter orange?" asked Andrew Engelson, editor of Washington Trails magazine.

The measures are Senate Bill 5559, House Bill 1114, and House Bill 1116.