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

[Doc]

Doc,

I do a lot of turkey hunting with my teenage nephews. On one occasion we were set up with our backs to large diameter oak tree (with a strip of blaze orange 6' above us wrapped around the tree's circumference) atop a side hill with two decoys 20+yards away from us. As I was cutting and putting we heard several questionable gobbles to our left well out of our line of site. Next thing we heard several twigs snap, then into clear view appeared two yahoos dressed in camo who made a beeline for the decoys. Needless to say I yelled "don't shoot". They were both dumbfounded. I told them that their style of hunting was dangerous, they responded with the proverbial f-u and left.

As I later found out,these two guys were subsequently arrested by the DEC for road hunting turkeys with loaded firearms in their vehicle.

Fortunately you don't run into those kinds of people very often, but any time you get that many people in the woods at one time, there has to be a certain percentage of irresponsible wackos out there. We can only hope that we survive them.

Doc

[Four Season Whitetail's]

NY should make it a law for so much orange, say a hat and vest.That way it might stop some assclowns from hunting on your land when thats a no-no!!Mabey that would save a life or two but there is still some smucks that will go all camo and still sneak in and take the chance!!!

[SteveB]

Trespassers and poachers are already breaking the law - why would they wear BO when doing so?

[Four Season Whitetail's]

They would'nt but when they get cought on your land that would be another ticket for them!!!!

[wztirem]

Wooly-

It just goes to show you that you can't see everything that's in the woods. Especially someone who is going out of his way not to be seen. I'll never understand the mentality of hunters wearing camo during gun season........ never.

Doc

Its a nightmarish scenario you describe Doc.

[wellsley]

When I started hunting 50 + years ago we all wore Orange, A group of us hunted together almost every hunting season,private land and state land,we never had any accidents,thank god and we got our bucks and does every year,Now where I live there is a lot of DEP land which requires you ware a certin amount of orange Good Requirement.Every year you see someone shooting a friend or relative during turkey hunting season Why because most likley a quick shot at movement and the person getting shot was in full camo head to to.I nerve go into the wood without at least a red or orange hat during hunting season and my dogs have on an orange strap on vest.

WoW I didn't realize they had hunter orange that long ago. LOL

[fasteddie]

I started deer hunting in 1965 . The color to wear then was bright red . That was 45 years ago . I don't remember when they 1st started the Orange bit .........

[Doc]

Yeah, the standard deer hunter uniform was those wool black and red checkered jackets (and sometimes pants) ..... lol. Blaze orange has been a huge improvement over those.

Doc

[wooly]

My how times have changed...

I think I have a few field photos of me in hot pink! No lie,lol  :-*

[WNYBuckHunter]

I had a hot pink hat when I started out.

[Cabin Fever]

I hunt on my own property, but still wouldn't consider going out during gun season without orange. My kids are raised the same way. I've had deer walk up within 5 feet of me and not see me. I think it should be required by everyone.

[Jimbo]

I will NOT be forced to wear any type of clothing.  I feel very strongly that, when the rate of injury/death is so VERY low, why should any govenment body dictate what we wear!!  Wake up guys and gals.  Stop giving up your rights so easily.  The media embelishes any hunting incident because most of them are anti-Guns/Hunting.  More people are killed and injured jogging or riding a bike than by hunting yet we don't here much about them.

Honestly though, I am a NYS EMT and a Professional & Volunteer Firefighter.  I've seen it all and feel very strongly that when it's your time - it's your time.  Not much is going to change it!

[Doc]

I guess that all speaks for itself. There's not much point in replying to that one. I just hope that isn't coming from anyone hunting in my area.

[fasteddie]

I don't feel wearing Blaze Orange should be mandatory but ........I will wear it during gun season and when walking to a stand if I turkey hunt . I want to be seen by other hunters . There are a lot of dumb asses out there and I don't want to be a statistic .

[Jimbo]

I carry an orange vest in my backpack.  If I feel a need to wear it, it is right there.  Never during archery season.  I mostly use it when I am bringing a deer out of the woods. I may be taking chances but 99% of hunters are safe, good people, and make sure of their target before shooting. Again, I feel safe with the odds.

[Cabin Fever]

My concern is visibility beyond a hunters intended target. It's hard to pick out a hunter up close in good camo (have you seen some of those camo commercials?), let alone be responsible to do that at 100-200 yards away through thick woods. If someone is shooting at a deer, it's a whole lot easier to see a hunter in orange that may be out there 100-200 yards beyond that deer in the potential line of fire. When you see the orange, you don't shoot, and wait for the deer to get out of the way. If that distant hunter is in camo, then you won't see him. That slug or bullet could miss or go through that animal and hit the other hunter.

Screw that! My life is WAY more important to me and my family, than that animal is that I'm hunting.

[fasteddie]

Nothing like seeing something move and looking through the binos to see a hunter walking and wearing camo or a brown Carhart jacket .  ???

[Nomad]

I do and so does some of my trees....

See if i'm leaving for lunch, hunt another spot and so on, an orange coat on a hanger far enough from the road so it can be seen but not  tell its not a hunter,keeps folks out .

Used to be we'd leave , come back to tracks,trucks and so forth.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

I waer an orange vest of very thin nylon type material. I wear it to and from the stand or if I am tracking or generally walking. Once in the Stand I reach above my head and put it around the tree I am in or in front of. It fits nicely and provides a BIG orange block but I don't have to worry about looking like something flashing with my body movements.

[wztirem]

My concern is visibility beyond a hunters intended target. It's hard to pick out a hunter up close in good camo (have you seen some of those camo commercials?), let alone be responsible to do that at 100-200 yards away through thick woods. If someone is shooting at a deer, it's a whole lot easier to see a hunter in orange that may be out there 100-200 yards beyond that deer in the potential line of fire. When you see the orange, you don't shoot, and wait for the deer to get out of the way. If that distant hunter is in camo, then you won't see him. That slug or bullet could miss or go through that animal and hit the other hunter.

Screw that! My life is WAY more important to me and my family, than that animal is that I'm hunting.

Good points, I think about that scenario each time I am hunting. How about the guy in full camo who is still hunting and just like a deer he materializes from anywhere. It  makes my heart skip a beat!

[Doc]

My concern is visibility beyond a hunters intended target. It's hard to pick out a hunter up close in good camo (have you seen some of those camo commercials?), let alone be responsible to do that at 100-200 yards away through thick woods. If someone is shooting at a deer, it's a whole lot easier to see a hunter in orange that may be out there 100-200 yards beyond that deer in the potential line of fire. When you see the orange, you don't shoot, and wait for the deer to get out of the way. If that distant hunter is in camo, then you won't see him. That slug or bullet could miss or go through that animal and hit the other hunter.

Screw that! My life is WAY more important to me and my family, than that animal is that I'm hunting.

Good points, I think about that scenario each time I am hunting. How about the guy in full camo who is still hunting and just like a deer he materializes from anywhere. It  makes my heart skip a beat!

Lol .... This is where somebody usually comes up with that phrase, "Well, you're supposed to always be sure of your background and what's behind the target"...... kind of like you only take a shot while hunting where all vegetation has been cleared and every deer poses in front of some earthen backstop. Nope! that almost never happens.

I once performed an experiment where I sat out in the woods wearing my ghillie (sp?) suit behind the house and had my wife step out and try to spot me. It took her a full 5 minutes and then she wasn't completely sure until she walked a whole lot closer. I was in the woods, but we keep that area picked up and cleaned up pretty good, kind of like a park and I was simply sitting down leaning against a tree. that was at about 40 yards.

So, if I were stupid enough to do that during deer hunting season, just what chance would another hunter have of seeing me sitting behind a deer that he was drawing a bead on? Let's put that scenario into rifle country and have me 100 yards away. Think about that, all you people that feel comfy wearing your camo out there in gun season.

[Griff]

When I hunted public land I looked like a giant pumkin but now that I hunt posted private land with 2 of my buddies I wear a orange hat.

[wztirem]

When I hunted public land I looked like a giant pumkin but now that I hunt posted private land with 2 of my buddies I wear a orange hat.

IMHO, you are not wearing enough orange!

[Campwildwood]

As I stated before, and as Bubba alluded to within this topic, that wearing B/O is not a cure for all when it comes to hunters being shot. In my opinion, forcing hunters to wear blaze orange will increase shooting accidents within our state (which is extremely low considering we don't mandate B/O as some would like). Those hunters who are now taking the time to identify their targets may push caution to the side because the response will be, "I didn't see B/O, therefore it must be a legal animal for me to shoot". Some hunters will become complacent and shoot the individual taking a stroll, mountain biking, hiking, picking various vegatation, bird watcher, etc. More deer related shooting accidents happen during deer drives, where many, if not all, hunters are wearing B/O and there still getting shot? Why not then make deer drives illegal if so many are concerned about hunter safety? I do think wearing B/O is a smart thing to do, I wear it to and from my stand or when tracking a deer. Not while in my stand since I'm also predator hunting. One note: I hunt my own property, if I was on public land I can see where it would warrant wearing B/O, for ALL indiviuals entering the woods. So for those of you that want to mandate B/O for hunters, you need to realize that it must be mandatory for every individual, regardless if they are just taking a stroll through the woods before dinner, because I know some hunter will eventually shoot one of them because he/she no longer felt they had to properly identify their target. One more thing that many have touched on, more turkey hunters are shot then deer hunters. So regardless if turkey's can see B/O or not, isn't just plan stupid for those individuals wearing their fancy ghillie suits not have to wear B/O too, I mean we are pushing B/O because we care so much for our fellow hunters safety more than our harvest rates......right?

[burmjohn]

What amazes me is these people that shoot unidentified targets.  What the hell are they doing?  Who does that? Not anyone I know for sure.  I rarely if ever pickup my rifle or bow before I see it in plain sight or bino's.  Especially since I'm in a AR zone and have our own QDM in place, I need to properly identify what i am shooting  and if it meets my goals, my properties goals and the law.  Its pretty disgusting actually.