Hunter Orange Necessary?

mrgoat said:
In Ontario where hunter density is high in places and many careless folks abound. Your wise if you wear blaze orange from head to foot, even your underwear if you can find it as we had a fella in the deer camp years ago get shot at while having a crap. Blew the bark off the tree beside his head. None of us wore it years ago when flying in or in very remote areas. But in the years I have been hunting more common ground I wall paper myself in orange. Better safe than sorry. Better alive looking like a pumpkin than dead lying in the marble orchard.
I hunt mainly on my own property and despite the remoteness, I still wear it as you don't know who's wondering around.
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Same here in Nova Scotia even though the number of hunters has dropped 60% over the last 25 years and the woods is not as saturated with hunters as it was. I am still a head to toe orange pumpkin during rifle seasons for sure. I got one lucky break being shot at years ago and don't want to have that happen again if I can prevent it by the color of my hunting clothes
Cheers
 
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TDizzle said:
True. I've never worn orange out in the woods while hunting. Never felt the need to. Granted, that feeling might be different in other provinces depending on how those people actually hunt. There is something behind the fact that someone over there might shoot if they don't see orange. Here in Alberta, it's ingrained into you to make certain of your target before shooting, orange or not.
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f:P:

Glad to see some things stick! :p :cool:
 
fratri said:
Yes, that vest plus an orange cap and you are good to go in any area (WMU) that has an open big game season...... but..............Big game season or not, it would be a wise move to wear it if you are hunting is southern Ontario....
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Absolutely! And to add further to that, it's best to wear blaze even if hunting more isolated regions i.e. Northern ON. The bush, up until last week was still quite dense. And if one is bird hunting in a group the orange certainly does help to keep in view the hunter who may be a distant apart on either side.

Additionally, it will be prudent to always apply common sense during the practise of safety procedures even when all other rules have been adhered to - at the end of the day, it's remains very significant that you chose appropriately to pass on an opportunity for a shot simply because there existed a slight hint of doubt mainly from a perspective of safety or perhaps ethics even where game may have been in full view.

Hope you have an enjoyable trip outdoors ...
 
It's been said over and over that one doesn't shoot until one is certain of one's target - that's a given. Orange just makes it quicker and easier to identify that the object moving about in the bush is NOT one's target. I fail to understand why this is so difficult for some to accept. When I see flashes of orange off in the distance I can conclude without too much difficulty that it's not a deer, moose, coyote or any other being other than a human.
 
So to turn the question other way around for devil's advocates...

Is there any hunting situation when NOT wearing orange is SAFER, than wearing it?
 
lanis said:
So to turn the question other way around for devil's advocates...

Is there any hunting situation when NOT wearing orange is SAFER, than wearing it?
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there are cases where hunters were shot while wearing hunter orange even out in the open, some even brought up in this thread. A bright orange makes a high visibility target.

I have watched people on the opposite side of a cut use their rifle and scope to scan the tree line. As a youngster I wore orange and had an incident like this where I watched someone shoulder their rifle and look directly at me. I no longer felt comfortable being such an easy target and stopped wearing orange as my provinces regulations do not require it
 
Brian46 said:
there are cases where hunters were shot while wearing hunter orange even out in the open, some even brought up in this thread. A bright orange makes a high visibility target.

I have watched people on the opposite side of a cut use their rifle and scope to scan the tree line. As a youngster I wore orange and had an incident like this where I watched someone shoulder their rifle and look directly at me. I no longer felt comfortable being such an easy target and stopped wearing orange as my provinces regulations do not require it
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I read that too, but that is not hunting situation.
That could happen to you anywhere, and more frequently in the large cities.

Are some of you saying that not wearing orange will make you safer from opportunistic murderers in the woods?
How is that hunting?
 
Brian46 said:
there are cases where hunters were shot while wearing hunter orange even out in the open, some even brought up in this thread. A bright orange makes a high visibility target.

I have watched people on the opposite side of a cut use their rifle and scope to scan the tree line. As a youngster I wore orange and had an incident like this where I watched someone shoulder their rifle and look directly at me. I no longer felt comfortable being such an easy target and stopped wearing orange as my provinces regulations do not require it
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I doubt you would have felt any more or less comfortable if the same thing happened and you were not wearing orange.
 
If people would apply a little common sense there would be no need for blaze orange. Do not raise your rifle until you are 100 % sure that you are looking at a deer ( moose, elk, bear, whatever ). Do not touch your trigger until you sure of making a killing shot. Use binoculars to glass for game/ identify targets. Don't glass with your rifle scope.

Hunter safety courses are almost universal in this country. I don't know why this simple concept is so hard to grasp.
 
I got one lucky break being shot at years ago and don't want to have that happen again
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Where you wearing orange when you were shot at? I know of a situation where two people both wearing orange and riding a red atv were shot and killed, because some idiot mistook them for a game animal.


Is there any hunting situation when NOT wearing orange is SAFER, than wearing it?
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Three of us were sitting around a big field, the other two hunters were wearing some orange, but I was not. I watched through my binoculars,as someone drove up, parked his truck, loaded his gun and then walked up to the field. The idiot apparently saw my hunting partners, because he pointed his firearm at them, so that he could use his scope to look at them. One of them waved his orange cap to be sure that the idiot would realize that he was human, but the idiot continued to point his firearm at them for probably fifteen to twenty seconds after my hunting partner waved his orange cap. The idiot apparently did not see me, and as a result, he didn't point a loaded firearm at me. I felt much safer than if I had been wearing hunter orange like my hunting partners.
 
stubblejumper said:
Where you wearing orange when you were shot at? I know of a situation where two people both wearing orange and riding a red atv were shot and killed, because some idiot mistook them for a game animal.
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One cant help but image there was more to this story. I understand that there are really stupid and careless people that walk this earth. But how can a person possibly mistake the colour of hunter orange and the sound of the engine of an ATV and possibly think that could conceivably be a game animal? It was mentioned in another post that in one case it was determined to be a MRS that wanted the MR gone. As unfortunate as it is for two people to have been killed, I find it way too difficult to believe there wasnt something more to this story.

It reminds me of a situation that happend here in southern Ontario. There was a lady who used to walk the woods of a public tract of land intentionally disturbing the peace to prevent deer hunters from shooting a deer. This lady continued to do this on a daily basis until she was shot and killed. The individual who killed her was charged and eventually exonerated because his lawyer was able to raise reasonable doubt that the hunter took a shot at a deer and that there could have been a "flyaway" buck shot that went off course too kill the lady who was standing feet away from the supposed deer. Hmmmmm.....ya thats what happened!?!
 
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mrgoat said:
In Ontario where hunter density is high in places and many careless folks abound. Your wise if you wear blaze orange from head to foot, even your underwear if you can find it as we had a fella in the deer camp years ago get shot at while having a crap. Blew the bark off the tree beside his head. None of us wore it years ago when flying in or in very remote areas. But in the years I have been hunting more common ground I wall paper myself in orange. Better safe than sorry. Better alive looking like a pumpkin than dead lying in the marble orchard.
I hunt mainly on my own property and despite the remoteness, I still wear it as you don't know who's wondering around.
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I remember in a high school law class, we went to the courthouse one day to watch the proceedings. There was a man on trial for murder. He shot his hunting partner who was in a tree stand all decked out in orange. He told the crown that he thought it was a deer that was on fire and climbed a tree.... There are lots of morons out there. I have been shot at while wearing orange, and without wearing orange (sitting beside a white trailer eating lunch). It comes down to knowing exactly what your target is. Carry binoculars to look at potential animals, don't use your rifle scope.
 
Arclight said:
I remember in a high school law class, we went to the courthouse one day to watch the proceedings. There was a man on trial for murder. He shot his hunting partner who was in a tree stand all decked out in orange. He told the crown that he thought it was a deer that was on fire and climbed a tree.... There are lots of morons out there. I have been shot at while wearing orange, and without wearing orange (sitting beside a white trailer eating lunch). It comes down to knowing exactly what your target is. Carry binoculars to look at potential animals, don't use your rifle scope.
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Bigger problem is with m.r.ns that sit behind the bench, not so much with ones in front of it.
Government sponsored program of 'catch and release.'
 
Not sure why there is any discussion about this. It is just common sense been seen be safe! Why do you suppose Road workers where bright coloured clothes???? Blaze orange is a visual que for your brain ( in the excitement of a flush, running game, lowlight or any instance you see it ) to stop and say hey dummy DON'T SHOOT deer, moose, rabbit, grouse whatever wild game don't where orange.

When you see blaze orange when hunting, there is no reason to identify your target..... BECAUSE IF IT HAS ON BLAZE ORANGE IT IS NEVER A TARGET PERIOD!!!!!!!! Every thing else out there, check and make sure it is your target!

CDN1
 
ronecol said:
^^^^^ now that is worth a sarcastic reply...i.e what a stupid question.

What I'm saying is when you hear something approaching and waiting to identify it, one will identify it as the pusher far sooner when wearing orange than if wearing camo. You disagree?
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Who cares how long it takes to identify the target so long as the shooting doesn't commence prior to the target being identified. If you can't tell that the noise is Joe in his camo jacket then you sure as hell can't tell that the noise is a deer. Thus, hold off on the shooting.
 
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