doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com How many wear blaze orange

I almost always hunt on private land .... 200 ac of our land boarded by about 600 on all sides owned by my neighbors. All of it is posted and my neighbors, getting on in years, only hunt about twice a year. Almost every time I am out I run into someone or a group who has decided to ignore the signs and roam about with loaded guns. I have found the remains of lunch including a case or so of beer cans. When I come upon them I point them back to the road and follow along until they are in their cars. My dogs have been shot at and more than once have felt the shot passing through the trees above me. SO .... I do wear orange and put it on the dogs ...... and if I could find Kevlar orange I'd wear that too.

King, that reminds me of when I was in college near the Piedmont National Forest in middle Georgia and deer hunting was just getting re-started in my State. We hunted the national forest near a little village named "RoundOak", I think. Unfortunately we had to share the ground with lots of newly coined deer hunters from nearby Atlanta.

Every day around lunch time we'd stop by the country store at RoundOak and buy some vienna sausages, crackers, and sardines to eat. All the Atlanta type hunters would be there too.

We would always make a point of loudly purchasing another box of ammo with the explanation that we'd run out of bullets making "sound shots" and "motion shots" all morning. Funny, we never saw any of the other hunters anywhere near where we were hunting in the afternoon...Geo

I used to be one of those guys who said "There is no way a person could be mistaken for a game animal.

One year, about 7 years ago, my wife and I, my sister-in-law and her husband, my daughter and her husband went camping at a national park in Canada.
One day we went on a hike through a boggy area were there was wooden catwalks set up to walk through the wet areas. My sister-in-law and here husband went way ahead of the rest of us.
As I was walking along I looked across a little pool and about 40 yards away I saw a bear at the edge of the water. I stopped and was watching the bear, when my son-in-law walked up to me and asked what I was looking at, before I could reply he shouted to my wife and daughter "look a bear!" Just about that time the bear stood up and transformed into my sister-in-law.
My sister-in-law is a petite slim girl who looks nothing like a bear, but she was wearing a dark blue shaggy jacket. She had been stooping down tying her shoe.
The funny part was I would have sworn I was looking at a bear, I could see his head moving side to side, I could swear I even saw his ears and eyes.
I read somewere after this that the human mind will fill in information that it thinks is lacking in an object that you see.
The part that scares me, is, if I were hunting I would not have hesitated to shoot the bear. I had not the least doubt that it was a bear I was looking at.
Pete

Only when required by law, I will take my chances and make my own choices, foolish as they may be.

[quote=sxsman1]I used to be one of those guys who said "There is no way a person could be mistaken for a game animal.[quote]

"Jan 1, 2012 - An off-duty state trooper who was hunting in southeast Massachusetts shot and wounded a 66-year-old woman who was out walking her two dogs when he mistook her pets for a deer."

A state trooper of all people to make such a tragic mistake.

Hi all, interesting topic. I don't like wearing it. The land owner can see you on his land when you don't have permisson to hunt.

Greg

I guess I am gratified that so many of you "use" the hunter orange. As the years roll by in upland hunting , I appreciate it more and more from my friends who chose to wear it. Hunting along fence lines, hedge [osage orange] rows in the midwest and carigana in Canada and the Highline, it is sometimes difficult to see one's hunting pardner. Orange helps and it's a gift to one's pardner who might have a shot, but must wonder where his friend is.

I think of it something like wearing seat belts, not smoking, or not texting or emailing or telephoning while driving. It just makes sense. Also, I see it as a gift to loved ones who might appreciate me being around as long as possible. Feeling "funny" or uncomfortable in orange, well, then you have problems other than colors.

I wear it all the time - vest & hatband. Like to keep track of my hunting partners as well as anyone else who is in the area I am not aware of.
Some hunters feel birds will flare away from you due to the color or glare from orange, but I have not noticed that myself to any great degree.
Always wondered why only hunters are required to wear it when out in hunting season. Hikers, fishermen,workers etc. would be at risk also.

pete, alone deer-hunting near dusk with my 7 X 57 Mauser in my hands, I was 100 per cent positive that I was looking at a black bear. I confirmed it by looking through the scope. Yes, back on, moving head from side to side.

A younger man more impulsive than I am now, I can't say why I held fire. I watched it for at least a minute when the bear stood up, wearing a dark red and black mackinaw and dark brown Humphrey pants.

The bear was a berry-picker. I was that close to ruining my life.

I wear orange whenever hunting (except dove and turkey). I also wear an orange hat when I'm running the dogs on public ground. It doesn't seem intrusive or offensive to me. Just safer.

Some places I hunt it is required, others not. I wear it anyway; no big deal.

I've been dusted/hit by birdshot several times -- even while wearing orange. Nothing serious.

My bird dogs also wear orange vests. Makes it easier to see them in the brush.

JERRY