doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Clothing

Reading through my copy of the lates DGJ, I noticed, not for the first time that the photos of American shooters showed them all to be dressed in day-glo orange.

Here in the UK, we tend to wear tweeds for formal shoots and may go to greens, browns (fleeces, moleskins, barbours etc) or ex-army cammo for rough shooting or wildfowling.

Is it the law in the USA to wear such clothing or just the choice of the majority? Interesting to note the different cultures.

The authorities here are now beginning to recommend that beaters wear an item of day-glo but it is not really catching on. The sfety issue is theoretical as we have the lowest number of shooting accidents of just about anywhere in the world.

Is safety in good training or day-glo vests? Or both?

BOTH. An orange hat is most effective.

Some states require orange for safety reasons. Here in Tennessee we wear orange during gun season for deer. It is not required for archery season. I wear orange for quail shooting because I may be in an area where there are deer hunters and I may get seperated in the woods from my partner and do not wish to be in the line of fire. Waterfowl and turkey hunting is always in camoflage. I have been in North Wales on a shoot and enjoyed the dress and formality. Half the fun is getting prepared and dressing properly. Please, come shoot with us sometime.

Jim

Hi, Dig. Many of the states and local areas have regulations as to wearing high viz clothing. So, some of the "wearin' 'o the orange" is compliance with regulation, some is safety related, and some is fashion. As for safety, most North American shooting is dynamic, perhaps what you would refer to as rough shooting. Often it can have several groups in the same area and no inter-group coordination. Therefore, high viz can serve a safety function. Americans may well hunt with less training than in the UK, for sure less than in Germany.

American hunting attire evolved along different lines than did UK. Climatic conditions and vegitation are very different, to say nothing of hunting style. IMO, either line of attire will work either place most of the time. As for fashion, well, most people are a whole lot more fashion conscious that they are likely to admit. Orange can't hurt and might help - hard to argue with that.

A number of years ago, I was bird hunting for woodcock and grouse in Michigan and came close to being 'Chaneyized' by my hunting friend - we were in very dense woods. I don't know who was more frightened by the near incident. Later the same week, we both purchased day glow hunting vests - no regrets.

I just returned from shooting in Scotland and wore the American style clothes. Rainpants that fell to my Knees when I got stuck in mud making it twice as hard to walk( I had forgot my suspenders) also causing my tie to drag "in the mud". I very quickly decided that if I ever get a chance to shoot again in Scotland, I will wear Breeks (American Knickers), a tie tack, a game pouch - shell bag and a Northern U.K. cap with a small bill. My American cap just blew off+ causing a certain amount of chase time.
In the U.S. we wear camo for ducks, some deer - elk and turkeys hunting. For upland birds, deer, and Elk, Orange is required in most states. I do not like RED as I am color blind and that color sometimes blends with the background, I can often see camo easier in the woods than red.
Jas

Shooting (hunting) in the US and UK are totally different experiences. In the UK, most game shooting is done on private land by small parties of shooters who are known to each other and the landowner. Shooting is often a structured event with shooters placed, moved and supervised by gamekeepers.

In the US most hunting is done on public land; many millions of acres of game cover are free and open to anyone who buys a license. The number of hunters moving at random through federal, state and county forest lands is quite high (in Minnesota alone, about 300,000 deer hunters are in the woods this week). The use of blaze orange is a legal requirement in many cases, and firearm safety courses are mandated in most states. But when one is likely to encounter armed strangers in unexpected places, wearing blaze orange is always a good idea.

So the difference in shooting garb has more to do with the different environments than with culture. In the free and open American field, hunters have to be more concerned with seeing - and being seen - than with upland fashion statements.

I think if I were in an area with 300, 000 armed strangers looking to shoot something on the ground I'd want to wear orange too - and a flashing traffic cone on my head!!

Put in that context, it makes sense.

Does the colour adversely affect your hunting when you don't want to be seen by the quarry?

Just got back from a day of grouse, etc. hunting in the Southern Adirondacks. We found plenty of grouse in EXTREMELY dense cover of brambles, roses, small trees, etc (as I said to one of the highschool kids hunting with us "if you need any piercings, you've come to the right place!") Anyone not wearing at hunter "Dayglo" orange on most of their upper body would have been invisible in those tangles and at some risk (thank God most grouse flush upward....). In a couple of weeks those woods will also be full of deer hunters (many in tree stands where they may wish to God grouse didn't flush upward). Where we hunt, hunter orange is a must--just gives you a margin of safety you would otherwise lack (Now class, if one just HAS to be a prick, what is it he/she should be a prick about? SAFETY? That's right!)

And Shotgunjones is absolutely right, the best safety investment is an orange hat. Besides, wearing one in public makes a "fashion statement" that I, for one, don't mind making.

Many animals are believed to be mostly color blind or responsive to only certain colors. Movement seems to be a far stronger visual indicator. Safety colors are just an accepted part of the custom here; to the point where they are used as a fashion statement, "Look at me - I go hunting!"

Dig - those 300K hunters are spread over a very substantial geographic area. Probably not the mob sceen you might envision.