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

[TheHunter]

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..

[Fantail]

I do the orange hat thing to. Also have a reversable full face mask.

When I'm on private property / lease in stand mainly for Bow season it's regular camo. State land / WMA I'll keep some orange on durring reg season. Especialy weekends.

Except for the hat which is smaller and broken up a bit anyway the vest has a pattern. Something doesn't seem right to me about plain Blaze. Not the color or affect, but any larger block color seems like it could draw attention. When I'm on the ground I might tend to use more orange, up in a stand usually just the hat.

[Caveman]

In archery season it's just plain camo but any time gun hunting is legal I  wear the vest over my jacket.  Also I bring my orange vest in archery season because I prefer to sling my deer over my shoulders rather than drag it out.  Wrapping my blaze orange vest around the carcass makes me feel a little better.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Always. Just common sense.

[A6A6]

Always have something orange on..

i even wrapped some orange trail tape around the tree i had on dep land...

[Doc]

During the regular firearms season, I have a total orange suit that I wear. During muzzleloader season, I usually am not out in the woods but if I were, I would be wearing orange. I do not wear orange during bow season. That is a decision that I am actually starting to think about a bit. There is a portion of bowseason that overlaps turkey season. There is also a fairly active small game season in progress too. Depending on what other things are thrown into bow season in the future, I may decide that I should be wearing some blaze orange during bow season too.

Doc

[Daveboone]

about 20 years ago a friend and I were walking along the edge of a snow covered field bordering a woods, an area we hunted year round and knew well. A shot rang out, and we both found ourselves buried in the snow, not really knowing what just happened. When we stood up we found a gentleman getting out of a tree less than 30 yards away (no orange). Upon asking if he shot at something, he pointed to a cornfield 50 yards away, angling away from him and us, stating he shot at a doe. We were still baffled, so offered to help him check for blood. When we next turned around, he was running for all he was worth. We then realized he shot at us, and the round went between us. We were dressed hat through bibs in safety orange. I have no faith in it since then. BUT if he was, we probably would have seen him, and helloed him. In the southern tier, I wear orange. In the northern tier, I seldom do. I generally know when and if someone else is in my area due to limited access, and put more faith in my seeing someone else than I do in them seeing me.

If hunting with others though, I think it is smart to wear orange.

[burmjohn]

He had to be blind firing, its pretty hard not to see orange in the woods.

[SteveB]

Always in gun season as do most in NY.

Our rate of compliance is actually higher then most states where it is mandatory.

I have a 400 acre tract of stateland behind me and don't think I have ever seen a hunter there without some BO.

[burmjohn]

Steve, how do you like boarding up to state land?

[SteveB]

1st few years where tough - tried 1 chance warnings with little success.

Then increased the signs to 50 yds so there was no chance of mistakes and sent the next 4 to 5 to court.

Word got around and we seldom have a problem now - still see tracks occasionally, but tolerable.

[burmjohn]

Just curious, how did you send them to court? You stopped them and got their info or?

[SteveB]

Yep - always get their back tag - then called the DEC.

I know the 2 local officers fairly well from helping with the bowhunter ed classes

and just interacting any time I see them. Would not hurt to call them this summer as you

settle in to the new place for a meet and greet - most appreciate extra eyes and ears.

[burmjohn]

I know there are a few hunting clubs near by thats why I asked... And I know there was a tree stand on our property that the previous owner didn't put up, it was fresh.  We posted everything well, i'm more concerned for safety then anything else. 

[Fairgame]

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

[burmjohn]

The spot its in is nice, real nice.  We are going to build one there for sure. The one that was up was a POS...  I think I put a sign right on the tree already too.

[ELMER J. FUDD]

Orange to the stand and whenever walking during gun. During bow I may start wearing B.O. more because it is still turkey season. I've also been shot at while wearing an orange bird vest. I was 100 feet from the road pretty much in a parking lot...

[adkman]

I don't normally wear any where I hunt.  I can go a week without seeing any hunters (or any deer!)  ;-)

[Doc]

I am a firm believer in blaze orange and believe that it should be made mandatory during gun season. However, I am going to play a bit of "devil's advocate here, because I am looking for a credible answer to a question that has been asked of me and that I have not been able to answer very well. The question is: "If deer cannot detect blaze orange, then why do bowhunters wear full camo"?  Part two is: "If deer cannot detect blaze orange, why are there so many camo companies that waste tons of money developing the perfect patterns in the perfect colors"? I can understand the patterns, but why wouldn't all camo patterns be done in blaze orange or any old color?

Anybody have a good answer to those questions?

Doc

[burmjohn]

Doc,

Deer are not color blind I was reading it somewhere, I need to find the source.  They may be blind to some colors / spectrums...

[Dom]

yes I do i hunt mostly state land you can never be sure who is there

[Doc]

Doc,

Deer are not color blind I was reading it somewhere, I need to find the source.  They may be blind to some colors / spectrums...

Yes I know, and that is something that all of us who push wearing blaze orange have to admit. I know that a popular argument for wearing blaze orange is all the descriptions that come up about how this deer and that deer walked right up to a  hunter who was fully clad in head to toe blaze orange without a single sign of recognition. The implication there is that wearing blaze orange does not hamper your hunting one bit. I try not to get into that end of the argument although a lot of guys do. My take on it all is that yes, I am taking a large risk of being spotted by the deer if I have blaze orange on. But the risk has even worse consequences if I don't wear it. I can accept a risk of spooking a deer if I do wear blaze orange. I cannot accept the risk of getting a leg, arm or head blown off if I don't.

So, I guess the message is that it is probably wise to avoid the deer color-blindness argument that we're often tempted into using. The argument is far too easy to debunk. For me a far more convincing argument for blaze orange is made by describing how quickly a hunter in the woods will bleed out with a huge sucking chest wound, or a huge 12 guage hole in a limb. For those that don't wear orange, I would suggest that the next deer that they get, take note of the tissue damage and imagine that on your own carcass. Man that is enough to make me want to go head-to-toe orange. I suppose it shouldn't even be necessary to try to convince anyone that blaze orange won't occasionally cost you a deer.

Doc

[sbuff]

I wear a orange baseball cap,better safe and seen then shot at.

Back to the one post off the topic of turning them in to the law by there back tag.If I am not mistaken in the Northernzone you don't have to wear a back tag,I wonder how you would go about turning them in that way.

[SteveB]

You are right about the Northern zone.

However, from the DEC website:

•It is illegal to refuse to show your license on demand to a law enforcement officer or the owner, lessee or person in control of the lands (or their designees) while on their property.

[sbuff]

Just leary about asking a guy who is tresspassing and carrying a gun for his back tag number.Hopefully orange and posted signs keeps them away.