Blaze Orange- A good thing?

[Death from Afar]

Here, you are not required to wear balze orange when hunting. Having said that, I have just bought some blaze gear, as I am getting tired of stray shotgun pellets going my way on a morning rabbit shoot. Do you guys wear it? Does it really help? I have heard that light blue is a bit better, but I find that hard to believe...

[Trip20]

I wear it. Unfortunately, I do most of my hunting on public land. I can't help but think that all the idiots I see at the range are now in the woods walking around with a loaded rifle. That's all the incentive I need.

I read somewhere that blue is more easily recognizable by wildlife. Not sure if that's true but it's kept me from wearing blue of any shade in the woods, unless I'm small game hunting.

[PSE]

trust me. MOST of them dont see it. a few, i have had questions about. i have been 40 feet up a tree downwind and had a deer look right up at me like i had a beacon on my head. MOST of them dont see it. Arkasas says we can wear chartruse but i cant find any cloths that color for hunting.

[jhgreasemonkey]

I wear a blaze orange vest and hat. I might look like a dork but I would preffer not to get shot accidentaly:D . Up here a farmer was working in his field in a faded jump suit when a sorry excuse for a hunter stumbled out of the woods drunk and shot him. Said he shot a sasquach. True story happened several years back out by Redmond Wa.
I'm a firm believer in blaze orange because I can sure see other hunters locations even way far out there.

[PSE]

im a firm beliver that people get shot because other glass w/ the scope instead of binos.

[jhgreasemonkey]

Good point. If you were to see some jackass that had you in his crosshairs then things could get a little hairy. Binocs are a MUST.

[FirstFreedom]

Definitely wear it for most any and all hunting situations. Deer-like critters do not see colors. They can see patterns, though, so a blaze-orange with black streaks on it (blaze-camo) is a good choice, rather than a large vest with single-shade uniform orange patches the size of a sailboat sail on it.

However, no orange for ducks or turkeys, as they can see colors very well. I'll take my chances with them, since shotgun pellets don't carry as far. Everything else, yes, for the most part. On public lands, I'd even wear a small orange patch during ducks or turkeys.

[Guyon]

Even if people do glass with scopes (I'm not saying it's a practice I recommend), that's a sorry excuse for shooting someone. If you're shooting at blurs of moving color and not a postively identified animal, then you need to be locked up.

For turkey, I don't wear orange until the kill. My vest has blaze-orange flip outs. I've thought about a blaze-orange bag for carrying birds out.

[308SORRELS]

I wear the orange and have for several years .I can say it saved a guys life that was hunting on my property. I was siting in I caught a glimpse just past the deer .It was a nice 10 pointer but not worth a life. I went over to wear the 16 year old was sitting (asleep ) and politely (YEAH RIGHT ) and asked him to leave and he got rude and said he could hunt any where he wanted as he was the son of the sheriff. I called the game warden and he was relieved of his rifle and car and went to jail . So YES it does save lives.

[Guyon]

I thought the son of the sheriff could hunt wherever he wanted. :confused:










:D :D :D

[stevelyn]

I don't wear it. It's not required in AK although in some areas it might be a good idea to wear a hat or a patch of blaze.

I wear either ASAT camo, German milsurp snow camo or earth tone colors i.e. Carhartts.

Most of the hunting accidents in Alaska happen in camp.

[riverrat66]

Actually I thought it was required in New York but it's not. I'm thinking maybe it used to be but isn't anymore but then again maybe I'm wrong.

Anyway, I think wearing "some" blaze orange is a good thing. Consider this:
From 1994 through 2003 four out of five deer hunters wore hunter orange. Not even one who wore hunter orange was mistaken for game and killed. But fifteen hunters who did not wear orange were killed when mistaken for game.

I wear a blaze orange vest and hat over my camo clothing as does just about everyone hunting in my neck of the woods.

[whiskey]

I wear it when required. I always wear it on public land. I always wear it while walking around the woods. I usually don't wear it while sitting 20 feet up in a tree.

[Csspecs]

Yeah wearing orange is a good idea. I don't wear it bow hunting, but I don't have much to fear from people more than 50 yards away.

[MeekAndMild]

I wear it. You'd be surprised just what you don't see in the woods. Back when nobody wore it I've had hunters walk right by me less than six feet away and never see me. I've had squirrels come down from the tree and sit on my arm or the top of myhead, scared them when I moved! Had two turkeys walk up on me and watch as I unloaded the buckshot and loaded number six. :D

Had a buddy shoot between us on a deer drive. :(

[HangFire83]

With the issues we have on our lease property with tresspassers being in our stands, I always wear at least a orange hat. It's visible from 360 degrees and the deer don't really see the pattern.

[mikejonestkd]

Wear orange whenever possible.

I even wear it when on stand so other hunters can still see me at a great distance and not infringe on my hunting.

I also respect others that wear it on stand and don't go anywhere near them.

The camo/orange pattern works just as well and breaks up your body outline. I have had deer within 20 feet of me when I was wearing orange camo pattern and they never noticed me.

Wear orange, and stay alive!!!

[CowboyEngr]

I definately wear it when required. Is it a good idea? I think, if you have to ask, then YES! I think it depends on the situation. Hunting in Wyoming (certain areas - middle of the week, etc), I don't think it's all that much of a safety issue. But, in Oklahoma on opening weekend of rifle season - I wouldn't be caught without it - even if it wasn't required.

Let me ask you? If you are hunting with your 14 yr. old son, would you want him to wear it? Ahh, that's what I thought!:)

[bclark1]

i would like to think blaze orange is unnecessary, but there are some dopes out there. i've also heard that blue stands out more to animals with limited color vision, than does orange. it does not bother deer though, i started my gun season out with a scent-control emphasis, but still had to wear a solid blaze vest. just sat still, the path i was over was just a highway for the first couple days of the season, deer walking past, stopping, coming back, i even had one look at me, decide to ignore and then stop to relieve itself directly under my stand. wouldn't work the same with turkey i'm sure, but it was no problem with the mammals so far.

[mete]

It's not a sure thing because each year we see hunters getting killed while wearing orange . I do think that hunting "accidents" should be vigorously prosecuted as crimes !

[GUNSMOKE45441]

Orange is a must as far as I'm concerned, camo hides you from people as well as ducks & turkeys.
You may not see the guy 50f eet beyond that big buck.

[riverrat66]

It's not a sure thing because each year we see hunters getting killed while wearing orange
mete,

That's not exactly correct. I copied this from the NYS DEC website concerning "hunting injuries" word for word.
Wearing Hunter Orange Saves Lives! From 1994 through 2003 four out of five deer hunters wore hunter orange. Not even one who wore hunter orange was mistaken for game and killed. But fifteen hunters who did not wear orange were killed when mistaken for game.
You can read it for yourself right here: http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/sportsed/hrsiflyer2002.pdf

Nationwide more people are killed by deer-car collisions then by hunting related shooting incidents.

I do think that hunting "accidents" should be vigorously prosecuted as crimes !
No way! Why you might ask? I once saw some bozo deer hunting in a brown "carhart" jacket wearing a white hat! :eek: He was walking across an open field toward me and all I could see was the brown jacket and every so often a flicker of white! Now, to a inexperienced hunter or some trigger happy moron this guy, from a distance, could have been mistaken for a deer because I looked real hard at first before I realized it was a man. I waited for this guy to approach me and asked him if he was nuts or just plain suicidal. His answer was that he lived in the area and had been hunting there all his life! (Whatever that's got to do with it!) I told him he looked just like a deer walking threw the field but he didn't seem to care.
Now can you imagine this same fool sitting in the woods somewhere and you shoot at a deer and miss but hit this jerk instead and kill him because you never knew he was there because of the way he was dressed. Do you think you should be "vigorously prosecuted" and maybe sent to jail? I don't think so.
Anyone who hunts deer on my land wears "some" blaze orange or they are not welcome.

[22-rimfire]

Blaze orange works. Every hunter, with the exception of turkey hunters) should wear at a minimum a blaze orange cap. Personally I think you should wear more on your person. When the laws were first passed, I sort of resented being "required" to wear anything deer hunting. Now I'm older and I would not go out with a rifle or in rifle season without blaze orange on. The camo-blaze should be better to break up your outline a bit from a color blind deer perspective.

[chemist308]

I have an orange vest and always wear it hunting. Shotshell holders and game sack that doubles as a back-pack. I'd feel weird without it. It hasn't prevented me from getting game that I can tell, and I'm still alive to write this :D
However one day about 15 years ago during deer season I did have to take cover with wearing it. I was on a hill with about 50 - 75 yards of good clear shooting lanes. Some SOB on the bottom proceeded to send lead in my direction--I jumped into a depression when I heard one pass and then another tore bark off the tree I was sitting under :eek: Multiple rounds--must have had a 44mag lever gun or something. Then after I jump to cover the m*)&)%#%# starts yelling 'I GOT HIM! Hey I GOT HIM!' Truth be told I wasn't sure if he was talking about me or a deer. Probably shouldn't admit this but I scoped the area for an opportunity to return fire and see how he like cleaning his shorts :mad: but never did see him and didn't want to fire blindly and risk actually hitting someone.
On the flip side of that a tree almost got peppered when it wave at me :rolleyes: Yeah, that guy was wearing a ghillie suit and I swear it looked like an odd lump on a tree. Thought nothing of it until it outstreched an arm from about 15 yard away. Then I jump, backpedalled quickly and laughed when a second later i realized i'd been gotten really good by a buy in camo. :o

So does it help? Depends on who else is out there.

[PATH]

I go out dressed like the great pumpkin. I think it announces my presence in the woods in a rather succinct way. Then again maybe that makes no difference to yahoos that shoot the deer crossing signs. In any case I never hunt public land orange outfit or no.

[youp]

Yeah, I wear it. Too many trigger happy nuts in the woods. There are conditions where deer will see orange. It seems to be when there is no snow and a bright sun.

[Death from Afar]

This is turning into a good thread. WHat about the oranage with birds?

[jamaica]

In Utah it is required for most hunting. Bow hunting excepted.

It is a good thing, especially on public ground.

I don't think it hinders one's chances of bagging game one bit.

I think it helps to prevent acidental shootings.

Deer pick up on motion immediately, but don't seem to be alerted by the color.

[Mannlicher]

Blaze orange, or some other High Viz color is a good idea when hunting public land. Its required by law for one thing, and it does mark you as a hunter, not a game animal.
I mostly hunt private land, and don't wear the stuff.

[riverrat66]

What about the orange with birds?
Well for turkey you wear camo and for ducks and goose you usually hunt from a blind because you don't want to be seen. Grouse usually wait until the last minute to flush and for pheasant I hunted with a dog so the hunter orange does not make one bit of difference in my opinion.

[jiminthecorner]

Blaze orange must be worn when deer/moose hunting with firearms and bows during big game season. waterfowl/turkeys and bows only seasons are allowed camo, :) JITC

[guntotin_fool]

Depends on the season. For deer hunting in Mn you have to wear it, lots of it. I wear a blaze camo pair of bibs and a jacket of the same. The black stripping does break up your silhoette and I have never had deer eyeball me unless I move or a puff of wind gives me away. i would not hunt deer without it even if not required.

Shooting birds up land they added a oranger requirement a few yars ago and that has some ups and downs. i would prefer to be able to buy the basic tan vest and wear a orange hat and shirt under so that i can use that same vest for ducks but now i have to have two vests.

shooting turkey i usually just tack up some orange felt ove the tree i lean against.

[sparkysteve]

In Michigan a minimum of an orange hat is required when hunting with a gun or bow hunting during gun season. I think it's smart. On our private land I wear just a hat, and a hat and vest on public land. Most animals are color blind anyway. I like the orange/camo. It helps break up your outline better than just orange.

[DobermansDoItGoofy]

I have a neat muskrat hat and a soft warm sheepskin coat...but alas I have had to put them aside for 'blaze orange'. I hate 'blaze orange'...but I know there is someone out there who uses his rifle scope as a set of binoculars and keeps his fingers itchy on the trigger...and just might not give my beautiful muskrat hat and my sheep skin coat...the proper fashion review...it deserves...but aargh I hate blaze orange. :cool:

[DWARREN123]

Can not hurt to wear it.

[Twycross]

I generally don't like orange. But if I'm in a situation where I'm with other hunters, and we don't always know where we all are exactly (a deer drive, for example), I'll wear it.

[Fremmer]

Better to wear it and be safe. There are lots of idiots out there. Drunk, stupid, and/or tresspassing.

[Death from Afar]

Yes, having worn it over the weekend I am sold on it. When I was a younger guy, hunting meant "cam Fest" but now, with the wisdom of age...

[Double Naught Spy]

Blaze orange is a good idea, but still 40-50% of folks shot (injured or killed) in the mid 1990s were wearing the proper blaze orange gear.

[riverrat66]

Double Naught Spy,

That's not entirely true, at least not in New York State. This is a quote from post #22 in this thread.
Wearing Hunter Orange Saves Lives! From 1994 through 2003 four out of five deer hunters wore hunter orange. Not even one who wore hunter orange was mistaken for game and killed. But fifteen hunters who did not wear orange were killed when mistaken for game.
You can read it for yourself right here: http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/d...iflyer2002.pdf

Nationwide more people are killed by deer-car collisions then by hunting related shooting incidents.

[armedandsafe]

I make my own orange camo gear. Last year, I sat under a tree and watched a sleeping deer for awhile. When he got up, he browsed a little and wandered off. He looked at me a couple of times but didn't see me. In addition to the blaze vest, I had a blaze hat, blaze chaps and sun glasses. (If they see your eyes, they are gone.)

Pops

[DobermansDoItGoofy]

It's weird when you think about it ie. a person buys a cammo-stocked rifle and cammo pants and jacket and cammo boots - and then steps into a blaze orange jumpsuit to go hunting! It's sorta like a pretty woman with really ugly teeth or a big plate of hot buttered pancakes smothered in Diet Maple Syrup. It's sorta contradictory? Oh well, I guess I'll keep wearin my blaze orange vest over my cammo...and try to figure this out at some future date. :confused: It could be worse ie. by law guns might be required to have blaze orange synthetic stocks...

[riverrat66]

It's weird when you think about it ie. a person buys a camo-stocked rifle and camo pants and jacket and camo boots - and then steps into a blaze orange jumpsuit to go hunting!
Let me try to help you figure it out. I use my "camo" hunting clothing for turkey hunting and that same "camo" clothing for deer hunting but with a "blaze orange" vest and hat. Sort of a dual purpose thing, can you dig it?

[Arizona Fusilier]

I have always been big on camo; not that I would testify it has a lot to do with filling my game bag:o . Blaze orange is not required here in Arizona. Here it is relatively wide-open. Even in the trees (it's not all desert, gang) the underbrush is absolutely nothing compared to back East. Bottomline, I 've never felt I was taking a big risk wearing camo.

On the other hand, I do lot of hunting on the border. I do not want to take this topic of track, but the border is, shall we say, interesting? If I'm walking about in the desert, pulling up on a ridge to glass, or whatever, I'm pretty obvious to other hunters. But sometimes, I reserve the right to hunker down behind a bush and remain deliberately unseen to those who are not hunting, since it might be more conducive to my health not to be seen (Coyotes, drug smugglers, banditos, whatever).

But in the last year I've gotten a bird dog, and have been training up for bird hunting. While I haven't actually gone bird hunting yet, the training and AKC hunt tests have given me a different perspective on blaze orange. For bird hunting, in which the quarry is lying still and trying to avoid you, regardless of whether he knows you are there or not, orange makes sense. Unlike deer hunting, all your buddies are within 30 feet or so, there's dogs running around and jumping into view, and you are actively swinging a gun across your field of view tracking something at close range. I think that flash of orange that enters your peripheral vision at the last moment as you swing that shotgun could mean the difference between pulling a Dick Cheney or not. So in the last year, I have added a modest amount of blaze orange to my hunting wardrobe.

Hope that all makes sense.

[Rangefinder]

It was always required in Montana when I was growing up. All they said was 400 square min. inches visible. HOW you wore it was up to you. So to split the middle the last few years I was there I tied marker ribbon into my tree-tucks---best of both worlds. Broken profile and a whole mess of blaze orange visible from all angles. Fish and Game didn't seem to mind, though I haven't done it for a few years since living in Utah. Might want to check before trying that one. Over-all, I'd say blaze is a good idea where bullets and the possibility of "sound hunters" are concerned. I've only been shot at once because I was blatently visible (that's another story entirely), but I've had a few uncomfortable close-encounters because of people shooting at sound rather than sight. The easier I am to see, the less likely I am to get picked off by an idiot----I HOPE.

[Magnus]

It seems to come down to minimizing the risk when deciding whether or not to wear blaze orange. Deer and moose both have a far more keen eyesight than man, especially during the low light hours of dusk, when our eyesight is at it's worst. When weighing the two factors, I'd rather run the risk of being ocasionally spotted by the game than being shot by some eager/inexperienced hunter.

Does anyone have experience of the sucess rate of hunting deer while wearing a marine snipers outfit vs. a camo pattern blaze orange vest and hat?

A theory: Deer view the world differently than us. With their much larger eyes Deer can pick up on ultraviolet rays a 100 more times acurate than the human eye. Something that can be found in many of the pigments in dyes used on clothing. Wouldn't it be something if we lay there in our full camo outfit, and we look like a white shirt under a disco light to the deer? :p

I do believe, however, that a broken pattern would work better than a solid color since it breaks up our outline against the background. My choice will be blaze orange camo pattern with UV blocker this season. And then as I gain more experience with hunting, stalking, learning the hunting area and the habits of the game I believe my success rate will increase. My biggest fear is human error/inexperience.

Magnus

[Arizona Fusilier]

I greatly suspect the most sucessfull hunters on North America probably wear neither camo nor blaze orange. They probably go out in a plaid MacIntosh and blue jeans, bag their annual buck, and wonder what all the fuss about what everbody else is wearing is all about.

By the way, that description is not me.

[Pointer]

No, it is not...

Imagine you are a deer...
You are effectively color blind...
You can see some color but to a very small degree...

Your eyes are best suited to night vision...

A blaize orange vest is "SHAPED" like nothing else in the woods...
To you it looks mostly light-grey and, in direct sunlight, it looks almost white...
AND it MOVES!!!

Since your eyes are mostly "keyed" to shapes and movement...

Camo would hide both, and blaize orange would get your attention... even if it is very still and motionless... it is out of place in the woods. ;)

Isn't it ironic that in many states... blaize orange WITH black camo marks is outlawed?? :mad:

And in many states the minimum number of square inches of orange required... (Usually more than 400 square inches) is too great to allow black camo marks without falling short of the minimum legal amount of orange?? :rolleyes:

All advantage to the "antis" who run the various bureaus that sponsor and push through such "law".

[Rangefinder]

I assume you're referring to a guille suit? Yup, I took a young buck (young=stupid) so close in mine that he had powder burns from the muzzle blast of my .32 winchester. Granted I never PLANNED he'd walk up and start grazing next to me, and I really wasn't trying to sneak that close, I doubt it would have happened if I'd been sitting there in a standard patterned orange.

[riverrat66]

Granted I never PLANNED he'd walk up and start grazing next to me, and I really wasn't trying to sneak that close, I doubt it would have happened if I'd been sitting there in a standard patterned orange.
I was wearing an bright RED Jacket (no blaze orange back in those days) when the first deer I ever shot came up from behind me so close I had to step aside as he brushed me as he ran by! This is the absolute truth. He was so close I that I almost hit him with the barrel of my shotgun as I aimed to shoot him. He was a perfect 8 point buck and I shot him as he ran away from me at a distance of four feet. I hit him behind the right ear and he flipped head over heals. After he died I could not find the entrance wound until I looked closer and saw it behind his ear. I made such a quick shot at such short distance at this deer running directly away from me I almost shot over his head, in fact I almost shot off one of his perfect antlers. My hunting buddies joked that I shot the deer in self defense.

But my point is, he never saw me in my bright RED jacket and he ran right up to me in fact brushing along side me as he ran by! He made so much noise coming through the brush I thought it was another hunter coming and I just happened to turn my head as he came upon me other wise I may not have seen him at that last split second and not been able to react and lean aside as he passed by.

I don't think that color makes one bit of difference to a deer. It helps if you can break up your silhouette, limit your movement and eliminate you scent.

[Rangefinder]

That's GREAT! I wish I could have been there, I can see it easy enough. I think we make the point color isn't a real factor so much--it's the scent, movement, and silhouette that really set them off. Great story!

[FirstFreedom]

Pointer, you make a good point, but that's why they make (and I use) blaze-camo (orange with black markings). Deer cannot see blaze-camo any more than they can any other design/color, and it's more effective that a solid color jacket or pants that are not orange - it's about the outline/shape, not the color. 9 times out of 10 I doubt deer see even a full large blaze orange jacket with no markings, but the sharp/wary ones occasionally will, so it could possibly help to have blaze-camo.

[Death from Afar]

I went to a hunting safety seminar a few days ago and apparently light blue is a very easy colour to see as well. I am in half a mind to wear my old UN beret into the bush, but that would look silly....

[Double Naught Spy]

Double Naught Spy,

That's not entirely true, at least not in New York State. This is a quote from post #22 in this thread.

Quote:
Wearing Hunter Orange Saves Lives! From 1994 through 2003 four out of five deer hunters wore hunter orange. Not even one who wore hunter orange was mistaken for game and killed. But fifteen hunters who did not wear orange were killed when mistaken for game.

You can read it for yourself right here: http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/d...iflyer2002.pdf

Nationwide more people are killed by deer-car collisions then by hunting related shooting incidents.

Given that my original post was

Blaze orange is a good idea, but still 40-50% of folks shot (injured or killed) in the mid 1990s were wearing the proper blaze orange gear.

I believe it was true. 2002 in New York state is not the mid 1990s anywhere.

See http://www.dfg.ca.gov/ihea/hea1995.html (which is still valid unlike the site for ...dec.state.ny...) where 362 (51%) cases blaze orange WAS NOT worn by the victim and 339 where blaze orange WAS worn.

Note that in 1998, things were better 44% not worn...
SECTION 7 Blaze Orange Worn by Victim 242
Blaze Orange Not Worn by Victim 298

[riverrat66]

Double Naught,

That's very interesting information you're provided but I must say even here in New York we considered 1994, 95 & 96 part of the mid 1990's but I guess I stand corrected although I did say "at least not in New York State" about my facts not to include Mexico and Canada.

Besides those facts were complied by the Department of Fish & Game in the State of California ??? :eek: The biggest anti-gun, anti-hunter state in the entire country. :barf: I wouldn't believe anything they have to say. Someone in Hollywood might have written those facts! :rolleyes:

I didn't mean to ruffle your feathers.

[Pointer]

Isn't it ironic that in many states... blaize orange WITH black camo marks is outlawed??

And in many states the minimum number of square inches of orange required... (Usually more than 400 square inches) is too great to allow black camo marks without falling short of the minimum legal amount of orange??


In other words the law precludes the use of camo-blaize by setting minimums of 400 square inches of orange...

Does that clarify it better? :confused:

Wearing Hunter Orange Saves Lives!
Of course it does...
But I think it saves more deer and elk lives than it does hunter's lives. ;)