Do you wear Orange? If so why? If not Why not? :)

[fasteddie]

I wear the blaze orange during gun season . I have shot plenty of deer while weraing it . The main reason I wear the blaze orange is that I don't want to be a ststistic !  ???

[Taz1300]

I too wear Orange head to toe.. well actually ankle cuz the boots are brown, but anyway I wanna be seen and not mistaken for anything other than a pumpkin. However no amount of Orange is gonna keep you safe if those sound shooters are in the area.

[RangerClay]

In the Adirondacks I wear an orange hat to and from my treestand.  In the southern tier I wear an orange hat all the time.

I hope the state does not mandate us wearing a ton of blaze orange. 

[capt_terry]

Post around the tree stand and leave your name and phone # on it.  Have them call you.

I removed a ladder stand on my property and left a note that the ladder stand could be claimed by contacting the CO and explaining what it was doing there.

[capt_terry]

I wear Orange during the gun seasons and require that anyone hunting my property also wear orange. I don't want to have any accidents. I've held back on shots at deer because I've seen someone whereing orange in the direction the deer was coming from. During the archery season I only allow one other archer on my property and he notifies me of those days he will be there. Upland hunting overlaps the archery season so I don't allow any upland hunters on my property at that time. Altough that's when I see the most trespassers.

[Larry]

i wear what my wife calls the orange cow suit during the gun season like to be seen the deer don't seem to mind at least the dead ones

[fasteddie]

i wear what my wife calls the orange cow suit during the gun season like to be seen the deer don't seem to mind at least the dead ones

I have one of those suits also and my oldest son calls it the "cow pattern" suit . It breaks up the outline a little but still has plenty of Orange to make me visible to other hunters .

[maytom]

Do you wear Orange? If so why? If not Why not?  ???

I personally wear orange during all seasons other then Archery, but I do wear an orange hat on my way out to my stand during Archery.    I hunt private property, but you never know who got lost, who is on there that shouldnt be.  So during rifle I wear orange pants and an orange hat. 

Better to be safe then sorry.  Kind of surprised that NYS doesnt have an orange law..

I always wear Blaze orange during the gun season. Blaze orange hat and blaze camo jacket. I also carry a blaze orange mesh cap in my turkey vest, as well as a blaze orange turkey bag to carry out the bird in. Safety can't be stressed enough.

[BIGHUNTER2700537]

I always wear an orange hat during gun season while I sit but during drives i throw on my vest.

[Frank]

During gun season i do.

[orion]

I wear orange when gun hunting without exception down to a light blaze shirt underneath in case something crazy happens like I have to drag a deer and it gets to warm for a jacket.

"If deer cannot detect blaze orange, then why do bowhunters wear full camo"

Most hunting clothes especially lighter ones come in camo and choice is limited. If it gets cold during bow I don't hesitate to grab the blaze camo warm hunting coat and bowhunt

Oh and then of course there is the great marketing of camo. Most camo is sold for the human eye.

[Karpteach]

I wear orange during gun season. I year I was hunting on private land in Liberty. I was under a tree, looking a two does. Did not have a doe permit (so no shot). The only other hunter supposed to be on the land was by brother in law around 4 acres down.When a shot rang out hit about a 1.5 feet above my head. Then another shot that hit the doe.  I didn't move I was freakin out. A guy wearing jeans and a plaid shirt came out behind some thick brush. I got out from under my spot and confronted him. He claims that he was passing by , didn't mean no harm. Even though he did not have permission he ignored me and trailed the doe (she was gut shot). Called the owner who called the DEC and they found his car but not the guy. 

[wztirem]

Do you wear Orange? If so why? If not Why not?  ???

I personally wear orange during all seasons other then Archery, but I do wear an orange hat on my way out to my stand during Archery.    I hunt private property, but you never know who got lost, who is on there that shouldnt be.  So during rifle I wear orange pants and an orange hat. 

Better to be safe then sorry.  Kind of surprised that NYS doesnt have an orange law..

My question is this: can deer see Orange? You can look it up- They cannot. Can most hunters see it- You betcha! I for one would like any hunter near to me to see where I am and so would my loved ones!!!!!!!

[Doc]

Something that I have not heard a whole lot of people address is the question of even though deer may not see blaze orange as the same color that we do, does the blaze orange still stand out as something weird in the woods to them? What I have noticed is that the blaze orange hunting clothing has almost a reflective quality. The effect is really noticeable in the fading light where there are times that blaze orange seems to have a much higher intensity than anything around it. So you have to wonder just what that bright flash of intensity really looks like to deer.

I have seen reactions from deer that range from non-recognition to having them zero right in on me so, I don't know.

None of this changes my requirement for wearing blaze orange, but I sure would like to know the real details on how deer react and interpret blaze orange.

Doc

[erussell]

Doc,

        Found this video that was pretty informative.

[SteveMcD]

Absolutely.. when upland hunting or hunting public or semi private land during the reguar deer season I will wear blaze orange. However, I tend to bowhunt all of the deer seasons (especially during the regular deer season I will hunt bow hunting only areas exclusively and as a result do not wear blaze orange).

[Doc]

Doc,

        Found this video that was pretty informative.

Good video but I have to admit that the picture toward the end of the video where they were kind of showing it in black and white, that big white blob that was the blaze orange vest that she was wearing stuck out like a sore thumb even from what looked like quite a long distance. I'm not sure how a deer would interpret that big white blob. That may differ from deer to deer.

However, she was dead on when she stressed the need to curtail movement. That's not always as easily done as it is to say, but moving things that don't blend into the background are easy for anybody (or anything) to pick up on quickly.

Anyway, thanks for the video. It had some real interesting stuff in it.

Doc

[burmjohn]

cool video! good point doc, thats why camo orange prob would work well. Thats what I got last year camo orange bibs.  Breaks it up a bit, yet still orange as and orange.

[Geno C]

i dont wear orange during bow or anything like that. But i do wear an orange hat during gun season and then when i get to my stand i take it off and swap it for my camo. I always hunt private land where me and my dad are the only hunters allowed to hunt and i never really see any other hunters close by. I prob should be wearing a vest... i usually always hunt in a tree stand so once im settled in i put my orange hat off to the side and out my full camo face mask on.

[Doc]

i dont wear orange during bow or anything like that. But i do wear an orange hat during gun season and then when i get to my stand i take it off and swap it for my camo. I always hunt private land where me and my dad are the only hunters allowed to hunt and i never really see any other hunters close by. I prob should be wearing a vest... i usually always hunt in a tree stand so once im settled in i put my orange hat off to the side and out my full camo face mask on.

I agree ...... you probably should be wearing a vest. I have a 1000' driveway through a thicket to get down to the road (My property). I won't walk down my driveway in gun season without a blaze orange hat and vest.

Sometimes we put a bit too much trust in our private land always truly being private. I encounter enough trespassers each year to know that simply is not the case.

My feeling is that blaze orange probably has cost me some deer over the years. Inspite of the deer's inability to distinguish color, I still believe that they can detect the intensity and brilliance of blaze orange, regardless of what color it appears to them. However, I have yet to see any deer that is worth any of my limbs, organs or my life. I have seen what a slug does to meat and bones, and there is no way that I ever want to experience any of that first hand on my body just for the sake of harvesting a deer.

Doc

[Doc]

We always talk about blaze orange as just something that goes a long way toward avoiding being mistaken for a deer, but I believe the purposes go much farther than that. At least for me they do.

Yes that is true too that blaze orange does make it hard for you to look like a deer, but it also is important for purposes of letting other hunters know you are there. Over the years, I could not count the number of times I have watched other hunters that had an obvious intent of standing in a spot that I considered way too close to me. That is until they caught a flash of my blaze orange "pumpkin suit" and then they moved on. I'm sure there also is some benefit of having the extra visibility letting other hunters that you are in their line of fire when a deer passes between you.

Yes I know there are some hunters that are color blind. Also, there are some who get so excited you could be wearing a strobe light and it wouldn't make any difference. But I also know that if I am concealed in the woods wearing some of this super camo that is on the market with no blaze orange, likely nobody will see me until it just might be too late. That's a chance I'm not willing to take.

Doc

[erussell]

I don't feel safe without my orange on!! I have run into lots of people in the woods not wearing orange, and it blows my mind. If I can't see you behind the deer I'm about to shoot, that's one's your fault. I went hunting on my Grandfathers land one time and had been sitting there about 10 min when I noticed movement in the thick brush in front of me about 50 yrds away. I didn't raise my gun or point it in that direction but I got ready. Then this guy in full camo trespassing noticed me sitting there and took off on a full run the other way. If there had been a deer in there and I had shot at it I never would have known he was even in the area. It just blows my mind that some people don't wear orange. If I hunt flat land I just wear my orange vest. But if im hunting the mountains I wear a hat to. I don't want to get my face shot off when Im sticking my head up over the hill to see if there is anything on top. Ive been busted by just as many deer when I have been in full camo as when Im in orange. Movement is the key not the color. I found a site somewhere that I am trying to find again where the guy was wearing a Hawaiian shirt bow hunting. It has a bright color but it has a large broken pattern that broke up his outline, and with the way deer see they never paid him any attention. I think some people like to blame the orange because in there mind they are sticking out like a pumpkin, but it's not the orange they are keying in on its the movement. So when a deer gos running off they automatically blame the orange when really they got tired or distracted  and didn't keep there mind on the game and keep there movement to a minimum.

[growalot]

always have in gun season full camo orange from head to toe ...the whole familt does...if you've read some of my post you know why.....

[bubba]

when huntng sate land, I wear orange. On private property no.  Doc are you ready for this one?  I asked the same question of  a dec biologist as to if deer do not see orange, why it the law proposed only during gun season. The response was deer have to be much closer for a bow or muzzleloader, I again replied but if they do not see it, why should it matter.  We went around and around.  I am not in favor of the mandatory orange laws.  My reason is it trains hunters if it isnt orange it is an animal, which is fine except not every person in the woods is a hunter.  Some people hike and others just enjoy nature.  Statistically states with mandatory orange have higher incidents of hunters being shot than we do in NY state.  While teaching my hunter ed and bow ed classes, the eco will tell the class that there has never been a hunting incident in NY where they parties involved were not committing a crime ie illegal deer poaching etc. The hunters who hunt legally and ethically is less likely to shoot you than the chances of you getting hit by lightning.  Hunting is by far the safest and most injury free sport there is.  You are more likely to get hurt in a tree stand accident than a shooting incident.  More peole are killed in tree stand accidents than shooting accidents yearly. 

[Doc]

I have heard the argument that if hunter orange is made mandatory, hunters will automatically gun down anything that isn't orange. In fact Pataki used that line of reasoning when he vetoed the last attempt at a blaze orange law. Personally, I don't buy it, but then I'm not the guy sitting at the desk with the veto pen .... lol.

Several times over the years, I have seen guys in full camo during opening day of gun season on a very heavily pressured parcel of state land. That just plain shouldn't happen, and I have to wonder what is going through the minds of these idiots. I can't think of a single justification for such lunacy. I realize the excellent safety record that NYS has even though we don't have a blaze orange law, and I believe that has more to do with the fact that we have an excellent hunter safety mandatory program that seems to convince almost all hunters to wear the blaze orange. And yet I still see these jerks out there in full camo. And sure enough each year brings another list of people that get shot, mistaken for deer. And if you read the details, quite often they are not in B/O. Also, the headlines often only pay attention to the fatalities, but I am sure that even the wounded victims probably do not think that their experience was exactly a pleasant thing. Missing limbs and organs are not exactly a victimless occurrance. So anytime I see a blaze orange law being offered, I am 100% behind it. There's no reason not to have it.

Doc