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

[Doc]

If it saves just one life, it's worth it.  Right Doc?  With your debate points in prior posts, you have no choice but to support it.  If it saves just one life, it should be done.

Or are you saying you wouldn't support it because it would now be a law that you don't want forced on you?

Actually, I don't know where you are coming up with that "saves one life" statement. It's not anything I've ever said. Please don't waste time trying to imagine what I might say or what you imagine I should have said. My posts are very clear and don't really need any fictionalizing.

I take it you have not yet bothered to read the articles that I linked or you wouldn't be talking about "one life". That's ok, I'm sure it is a lot more fun to imagine the storm-trooper scenario about government take over of your civil rights than actually delving into those nasty old statistics that clearly show the close relationship between failure to wear blaze orange and hunting casualties..... lol. Perhaps you had the same arguments when the seat-belt law was passed, I don't know. But at any rate, I'm just not buying it. I think that whatever you imagine that the evil empire is up to, blaze orange probably is not even on their radar .

At any rate, I have made my position absolutely clear, and I am most likely not going to be swayed over to the "world conspiracy to enslave hunters" theory. Also the arguments are getting redundant and I suspect that others are getting as bored with it as I am. So I would suggest that we simply agree to disagree on this issue ..... at least until it becomes a real legitimate proposal in the legislature and actually shows some promise of ever seeing the light of day.

Doc

[wztirem]

AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Mr VJP]

Doc, in a prior post I mentioned how leftists like to implement stupid laws by saying it's worth any encroachment on freedom if it saves just one life.  I didn't say you said it, I was asking you to confirm you agree with it.

I'm from NJ.  I've seen where this law has gone.  I've mentioned the fines imposed and the progression of this stupidity to NJ Rangers now carrying meters to measure the intensity of the B/O you are wearing.  If it's not bright enough, hundreds of dollars are taken out of your pocket.

The accident rate has not improved over what it was prior to the B/O law decades ago.  Because prior to the law, people were more careful when they fired their weapon.  Now, if they don't see any orange in the area, they fire at will without thinking there might be something in the line of fire that is not wearing B/O, like a dog or a hiker.

If you let a camel stick it's nose in your tent, pretty soon the whole camel will be in the tent and you will find it impossible to get it out.  Those who want to allow the government to tell them what they can and cannot do are asking for encroachment that will expand ever farther and never relinquish the power.

Some of us just seem to have experience with abusive power and the foresight to restrain it.  Wear what you like, but don't align yourself with authorities against your fellow hunters.  You may just find yourself on the wrong side of things in the future.

[Doc]

I can't continue to respond to the same repetitive flawed logic. Sorry, but paranoia is just not my thing.

I know..... it's not actually paranoia if everyone really is out to get you .....lol.

Doc

[Gthphtm]

If you have ever been shot at when wearing full camo,I think you would think twice about at least wering at least an orange hat.If you would let your child out into the woods during hunting season without any orange I guess you do not care about there safety. 

[Mr VJP]

I've been shot at while wearing B/O too!  I still say we need to deal with idiot hunters, not force defense on responsible hunters.

Think I'm paranoid Doc?  Read this......... B/o laws just get worse.

It's just a few days into this year's General Assembly session and  already we've seen a number of proposed bills that could impact  Virginia's sportsmen.

In House Bill 872: Submitted by Joe Johnson (D-Abingdon), this bill would overhaul Virginia's mandatory blaze orange law.  It would require all hunters, and those accompanying hunters, to  wear at least 250 square inches of blaze orange on their upper body  while hunting during a firearms deer season, including muzzleloader  seasons.

This proposal isn't surprising, as the dynamics of Virginia's deer  seasons have changed significantly since the original blaze orange law  was adopted in 1987.

Back then, the general firearms seasons produced most hunting  accidents. Also, muzzleloaders and bows were close-range weapons, which  theoretically reduced the chances of a hunter mistaking a human for a  deer.

But today's scoped, high-tech muzzleloaders are capable of accuracy  at 100 yards and beyond. They have become so popular that the black  powder seasons have pretty much evolved into an extension of general  firearms season.

Accidental shootings are fairly rare during muzzleloader season. A  muzzleloading hunter was shot and killed this past November in Bath  County, but only one of 10 gunshot fatalities over the previous five  years was with a muzzleloader.

Of course, just one fatality is too many. And since blaze orange has  been proven to reduce accidental shootings during rifle seasons,  doesn't it make sense to expand the law?

There's a catch, though.

Muzzleloader seasons can run concurrently with other seasons whose  participants likely won't be too enthusiastic about wearing blaze  orange.

Archery deer hunters, who generally prefer shots of 30 yards or  less, generally wear full camouflage. Blaze orange should not hurt  their hunting success, because the color doesn't stand out to deer, but  does it really make sense to make a guy who is 15 feet up a tree wear  orange?

It will be a bigger issue for turkey hunters.

Turkeys have such keen eyesight that hunters trying to call the birds within shotgun range typically wear head-to-toe camo.

During the first blaze orange debate the state did some studies to  see how turkeys would react to hunters in blaze orange. The study,  according to Virginia turkey guru Gary Norman, determined that blaze  orange shouldn't adversely impact hunter success.

But the study used mannequins, eliminating the movement factor. As  any turkey hunter knows, movement is the real issue. Camo can help  hunters get away with very careful movement. Will the same be true for  someone wearing blaze orange?

The current law does include a few exceptions, such as for  waterfowlers in certain situations and bowhunters in areas where  firearms are not allowed. But exempting turkey hunters and bowhunters  could prove unwieldy.

Rather than implementing such a sweeping change, legislators could  tweak the bill. One possibility would be to bring the regulation in  line with what's in place in Pennsylvania, where hunters are required  to wear blaze orange while up and walking but not while sitting in  place.

Heed the warnings Doc.  I don't make this stuff up.

[Doc]

Right now, over 40 states have some form of B/O law. So far I have not heard of any sportsmen's clubs or national hunting organizations complaining about how their civil rights are being violated or how armed insurrection may be required to get rid of these oppressive laws in order to keep their tentacles of human rights violations from further creeping into the lives of hunters. How can that be with B/O laws being the scourge of the hunting community.

It is good to have an active imagination, but it's also important to be able to maintain a grip on reality. No, the sky will not fall with a B/O law. If people want to stretch laws to harrass hunters, they can do that with or without a B/O law. We have to be watchful that they don't do that right now and that would be true even after a B/O law. But that doesn't mean that all safety laws have to be repealed and no future ones ever proposed.

[drwost]

Last sunday an older gentleman came walking through in full camo...he blended in quite nicely with the woods. Now this is state land. His slow steady walking did catch my attention and thought to myself..."what an idiot"

[Doc]

I have seen that same thing three times on state land. In two of the cases, they were complete with face paint. The only thing that runs through my mind when I see this is that here are some individuals intent on "suicide by hunter".

[wztirem]

Last sunday an older gentleman came walking through in full camo...he blended in quite nicely with the woods. Now this is state land. His slow steady walking did catch my attention and thought to myself..."what an idiot"

Dr Wost and I were hunting the same side of woods separated by several hundred yards. What is troubling about this  older gentleman dressed in full camouflage is that he shot twice on Sunday at several does that I had just immediately let pass (30 or so yards from my stand) and I had no idea that the hunter was in such close proximity to myself. It makes me sick to think that if perhaps I had elected to take a shot at the larger of the does and being certain that no one was in the line of fire, had I missed, the potential for tragedy was a distinct possibility!

[jasons75]

I didn't read ALL 23 pages of this thread.... My thoughts on B.O are the same most... I'll wear it... regardless if its mandatory or not.... during gun season... I'm not to keen on it for bow... you do still stick out quite a bit even if they can't see the color (well) the movement has muck more emphasis.

On Another note, I don't live in NY yet (couple more months before I get in)  But I am looking into buying a nice little chunk (10-12acres)... after all the reading of this post and see a few clips about accidents. most notably one from Arkansas about a mother and daughter horse back riding a trail in the woods.. the mother was shot by a hunter...  she wasn't waring orange ...  I agree to an extent with the hunters.. If you are going to be in the woods during hunting season... wear orange.

My fear now is...I have 5 kids 2 dogs (yes a hell of a handful)..... I don't want to force my kids to wear orange if they are playing in the yard around the house or walking down the road etc... but I just might... if it will give them less of a chance of being mistaken

as for those that don't a pay attention to posted warnning signs ... watch out 

[jasons75]

It was mississippi....

[BrianJV1]

I always wear a b/o vest and hat walking to and from my deer stands, even tho I hunt my own posted land. You never know if someone is tresspassing, so I do feel safer. That being said, once in my stand, I go full camo.

[backstrapper]

We always leave a note in a ziplock , telling them property is off limitis now and to get it out by the end of the season or loose it.  If we find one after the fact, we leave a note saying get it out by Oct or lose it and lastly if we have to take (some guys don't check on stands until their first hunt) we leave a note on the tree with some bright tape saying we gave you X amount of months to remove it you didn't, please call xxx we have your stand and would like to give it back to you.  If they don't call at that point it's ours.

As far as orange I hunt pretty heavily watched over private property but still wear a ornage hat into stand or when tracking.  If I were ever to hunt public land this would be my outfit!  Notice the two orange ping pong balls on the orange tape.  They get tied to your belt loops so when ma nature calls you know what doesn't shot off!  ;D

[efm7mm08]

Sweet outfit! Face the facts , orange saves lifes/ Have hunted 34 years and shot 80 plus deer and have never felt that the hat and vest gave me away, 99% of time deer smell you before seeing you. Most of the idiots that don't wear some type of red/orange are  people sneaking on posted property or uneducated slob! I'm not saying full body suit, hat and vest or some of combination does the trick.

[RPIBuckHunter]

I always wear my orange upland vest regardless of what I'm hunting.  It also has this neat little thing for my backtag so I don't need to go poking holes in coats...

[Mr VJP]

Granted guys.  But do you think there should be a law forcing every hunter to wear it?

[bubba]

Sweet outfit! Face the facts , orange saves lifes/ Have hunted 34 years and shot 80 plus deer and have never felt that the hat and vest gave me away, 99% of time deer smell you before seeing you. Most of the idiots that don't wear some type of red/orange are  people sneaking on posted property or uneducated slob! I'm not saying full body suit, hat and vest or some of combination does the trick.

well then most of the people in my area must be idiots then.  We hunt in camo and plaid, make deer drives, and the funny part is the accidents seem to happen in the sz.  Go figure . Oh btw I am far from an undecuated slob. I also hunt on my own property.  Blanket statements like that, make you the idiot in my opinion. If that is the best you can do to defend wearing bo, you lose. 

[RPIBuckHunter]

Granted guys.  But do you think there should be a law forcing every hunter to wear it?

No.  As I've alluded to on other threads, I am not a fan of the government micro-managing these aspects of people's lives.  I feel it is the individual's duty to evaluate their hunting environment for the seasons they hunt in and determine on their own if they feel it necessary to wear orange.

Some idiot cut me off earlier this week, in broad daylight, and totaled my car.  I haven't read the police report yet, but in order for him to have failed to see me, he would have needed to have been focusing on something other than driving his car.  My point is, I don't want to wear orange because the government tells me too, I choose to wear orange because the people who live in my area are really [expletive] stupid, even without a gun.

[Doc]

Granted guys.  But do you think there should be a law forcing every hunter to wear it?

I would have no problem with such a law.

[bubba]

It must be like AR only 20 percent oppose it, but that is enough. 

[Four Season Whitetail's]

I hunt letchworth and they say we must wear orange and i have had no problem with my deer take..I will wear orange in any kind of gun season for deer but for bow and turkey...Thats pushin it!!!!

[efm7mm08]

Sweet outfit! Face the facts , orange saves lifes/ Have hunted 34 years and shot 80 plus deer and have never felt that the hat and vest gave me away, 99% of time deer smell you before seeing you. Most of the idiots that don't wear some type of red/orange are  people sneaking on posted property or uneducated slob! I'm not saying full body suit, hat and vest or some of combination does the trick.

Bubba, just my opinion, calm down,lol. The facts are out there thousands of studies have been done I'm not going to repeat whats been put out there  for years. Thats like saying smoking doesn' cause cancer!, or seatbelts don't save life's. Thats great that you have serious dedicated hunters in your group  but we continue to have people killed every year in NY and usually 75% of  those deaths could have been avoided. I.m all for avoiding any deaths if possible. Orange would help, it would not avoid all accidents  for sure I realize but in my opinion I'm for it.                                                                well then most of the people in my area must be idiots then.  We hunt in camo and plaid, make deer drives, and the funny part is the accidents seem to happen in the sz.  Go figure . Oh btw I am far from an undecuated slob. I also hunt on my own property.  Blanket statements like that, make you the idiot in my opinion. If that is the best you can do to defend wearing bo, you lose.

[bubba]

well your opinion is like saying all blondes are dumb. But hey you are entitled to yuor opinion no matter how narrow minded it is. 

[efm7mm08]

I get it . You are against orange, I'm for it. The good thing is we are in America and we both can agree to disagree. Happy Holidays .