Hunter orange

I like your thought on buck fever. You are right on there. Guys that don't have the patience to wait and be sure of their target. I appreciate the fact you would wait to be sure, I was just thinking that the binocs might make that process a bit faster, just in case.
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I was told by a police investigator who's looked into many such accidents is that back east where things can get thick and people tend to hunt together a BIG part of the problem is this story:

- two guys go into the bush, not that far apart and before they do they discuss where they'll go. Once into the woods one changes his mind and follows a slightly different route, and is closer to his bud than his bud thinks. They hear a moose (deer, whatever) and they both start to move towards it. One guy sees the moose, identifies it as a shooter, and then loses site of it. He moves to where he thinks it'll be, and suddenly he sees movement (or a flash of 'black' or something). His brain thinks 'there it is' and he fires. He goes up, and its' his hunting partner.

Now- there's really no excuse for that kind of incompetance. But the only thing you can really do (aside from being visible) is education.

The cop said what really makes this kind of situation worse is when they both start off wearing their orange, but one guy takes it off. The other guy is 'looking for it' and assumes if he doesn't see it it's not his bud.

This kind of accident doesn't happen in the west hardly at all. There's probably a reason - different techniques, terrain, etc. but bottom line is that with literally millions of hunters out every year, we STILL have a phenomenal record. More people die skiing most years.
 
The cop said what really makes this kind of situation worse is when they both start off wearing their orange, but one guy takes it off. The other guy is 'looking for it' and assumes if he doesn't see it it's not his bud.
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once again, a case of a hunter not identifying his target before shooting it.... whats the number 1 rule of gun ownership ??

"Never point your firearm at somthing you do not want to destroy"

plain and simple....

let me ask you this, is a freezer full of meat worth the death of your best friend, your father, your brother, your wife, your CHILD ?

identify your target before shooting it, if you do not have a clear shoot it is simple, do not take it.... blaze orange is just an excuse for hunters who f'up to use "he was not wearig his blaze orange" like a wife beater uses the excuse that "she deserved it".
 
Now- there's really no excuse for that kind of incompetance.
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And that about says it all...

The cop said what really makes this kind of situation worse is when they both start off wearing their orange, but one guy takes it off. The other guy is 'looking for it' and assumes if he doesn't see it it's not his bud.
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Once again, that is just plain stupidity. If a hunter cant clearly identify the target, then it is his or her responsibility to not take a shot until they can be 100% sure of what it is.
 
Except some accidents may happen when a game animal is missed & another hunter on the other side of the field, valley etc, is hit! In that case orange may have helped the hunter stand out in the background.

huntinstuff;1624394 I don't know much about color blindness tho. Does it get worse or start when you get older?[/QUOTE said:
Most don't know your getting color blind till you take a test. I think I can see all the colors & can identify most of them, but when you do the test with the numbers hidden in other colors I'm stumped usually after the first one! It's the same with deer, I can see brown, I can see red, & I can see green but when you put them all together everything just seems to blend in! It's hard to explain maybe some-one else can give it a try?? :cool:
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hunting orange is the law in nova scotia and since it was put in place accidents have been almost nil. hunting orange can be seen at a long distance even in thick woods. i tend to notice the orange hat first as this is the most movement on the person. in parts of n.s. people who have pet deer make a orange vest for them for the hunting season to keep them from getting shot, funny looking but it works fine.
 
Lots of different theories here. One guy(Instructor) I know says he wears camoe so that othe hunters can't see him.

It would seem that the majority of hunters who are actually shot, happen upon other hunters with their rifle at their sholder and saftey off waiting for movement. Blaze might be the difference but I would rather just hunt where these guy's aren't rather than wear orange.

Just an aside here but what about full camo with a blaze orange vest?? What are you hiding from or revealing yourself to?
 
Orange

I think the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters was in bed with the government of the day and the garment industry helped push the issue also. I bought into it back in the 80's, orange evrything (still have some OFAH brochures pushing the stuff). Granted, hunter numbers are greater back east ,especially back then. Fact is it cant hurt, but this business about 400" of orange and camo orange etc is rediculous.
Now I live in BC where hunter numbers are low and game is plenty, I do carry an orange vest in my pack to where occassionaly or if I want to be noticed.

Geoff in BC.
 
It would seem that the majority of hunters who are actually shot, happen upon other hunters with their rifle at their sholder and saftey off waiting for movement.
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The 'other hunter' is almost always someone they're hunting with whom they knew was in the area.


Which brings up another point - here's what kills a lot of these people: Don't be where your buddy doesn't expect you. Make a plan - STICK to the plan!! If you're going 'over here' and your buddy is going 'over there' - and you decide half way thru to be somewhere else then your buddy (who thinks he has a clear lane of fire) may not even be looking for you when he thinks about shooting an animal.

This is one of the big reasons I hate hunting in close proximity to others in camp unless I know them well enough to know they'll stay put (or stick to the plan). A guy says 'i'll stay here', then suddenly you've got movement in front of where you are and out he pops right in your lane of fire - "oh, i decided i didn't like it there". People have to take better precautions when hunting in close proximity.
 
"Except some accidents may happen when a game animal is missed & another hunter on the other side of the field, valley etc, is hit! In that case orange may have helped the hunter stand out in the background."

Senior, you hit the nail on the head.

To whomever it was that said that orange was to make it easier for CO's to find us: I thought they were on our side, so why would we want to hide from them?

Play nice, play safe.
 
To whomever it was that said that orange was to make it easier for CO's to find us: I thought they were on our side, so why would we want to hide from them?
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Maybe, but I prefer to not see them at anytime unless I need them and have called them.

If they're having a bad day they can make your day some long.

I might be being a bit paranoid, but I've been around enough to know to steer clear of them in general.
 
Foxer said:
This kind of accident doesn't happen in the west hardly at all. There's probably a reason - different techniques, terrain, etc. but bottom line is that with literally millions of hunters out every year, we STILL have a phenomenal record. More people die skiing most years.
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Visibility is often better hunting on our BC logging roads then in the thick sh!t. :p
 
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The 'other hunter' is almost always someone they're hunting with whom they knew was in the area.

Not neccessarily the case at all.
One instance that could have happened 2 yrs ago at our camp goes like this.
One of our guys went out to a fav watch just before daylight & got comfortable watching a long valley deer tend to wander down. He was there approx a full hr seeing nothing when on the far side an intruder stood up & started to sneak away wearing full camo trying to stay hidden because he was on private property & knew it!!

Had a deer wandered down or was chased down that valley our hunter felt confident it was safe to fire anywhere in the valley, now there may be slight chance of hitting that guy BUT
 
SuperCub said:
That's not a good comparison..........

The {~~~} accidents.

No one argues mandated, proper, safe storage of firearms isn't a good law and will reduce needless accidents. Now this is a better comparison to mandated blaze orange.


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Actually I will argue that "Safe Storage" are bad laws. They are more about protecting violent criminals from citizens.
When my kids were young there weren't any yet. They were taught how to use them but not to touch my guns unless I was there and they didn't because they knew both the effects and the punishment (No Hunting or Shooting).
Now that they are all grown-up and have children of their own, I have to lock up all of my guns? :rolleyes:
I will admit that it was a great argument to give the wife on why I needed to build a "Gun Room" however.:D
 
Not neccessarily the case at all.
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No, not necessarily the case. But MOST of the time. I pointed it out to remind people that when hunting in close proximity with your buds, that's when things can go really wrong. But you're quite right - we always want to be careful. "Most" isn't "all" by a long shot. (pardon the pun).
 
In Saskatchewan a full suit of colours for biggame in rifle season has been around as long as i can remember. Though I have often wondered if it was all about safety then why allow the hunter to choose between red, yellow, white and orange. White during the busiest rifle seasons of deer and late season moose with snow cover?? Red in the dark is black or brown?? Yellow during leaf change?? The only colour that seems to encompass safety is Blaze orange, which also isn't a requirement here or at least enforced as many wear the orange work world style covey's. What about old washed out or stained colour clothing, I have never heard of a CO questioning a rifle hunter in this regard and I have seen many guys dawning outfits that made a oil pit guy look clean. To add more to my head scratching is the popularity of inline MLing here and capabilities of reaching to 200 (+) yards, yet we can wear full camo during this month long season??

BTW, I have a camo daypack and have been stopped a number of times by CO's of which not one made a comment about it.

FYI, new this year is rifle hunters in the province of saskatchewan only need to be dressed in colours from the waist up. The dress code remains at red, yellow, white and orange or any combination of these colours on the upper body. Headwear must be yellow, red or orange. For those rifling through there sask 07 hunting guide stop as they made the changes after the printing of the guide and in true gov. style felt their was no need to re-issue hunting guides. I received an email, read a columnwritten in the weyburn paper by a CO and even called SERM to verify this was indeed the case. As of last week I still didn't see anything on the serm website...so email or call them yourself to get it from the horses mouth if you wish!!

While I agree blaze increases the visibility as mentioned just not sold it is all for safety reasons alone. I had a former member of our party shoot at an animal in direct line with me and he swears he never saw the blaze orange pumpkin behind that deer...emotion can cloud judgements and that is where accidents happen most often. Be it forgetting to unload, unsafe muzzle handling, not knowing your target and beyond, etc it is often the golden rules of firearm safety that are forgotten and could have prevented such an occurance. Have a safe and good hunting season.
 
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Orange makes sense in some applications. It really does.

MANDATED orange is not an asset in many situations, and makes the wearer of such look somewhat ghey.
 
In New Brunswick I noticed in the fall almost everyone who is working outside is wearing orange. Farmers, loggers etc. if they leave their yard they are wearing orange.

I guess population density will dictate wether or not it is necessary. I can understand it not being an issue in BC.
 
bill c68 said:
In New Brunswick I noticed in the fall almost everyone who is working outside is wearing orange. Farmers, loggers etc. if they leave their yard they are wearing orange.
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When I moved here from Ont. in 1985, I was very surprised at the amount of hunters here in NB. Seemed to me EVERYBODY hunted, and I later heard or read the NB has the highest per capita hunters in Canada. No one has a problem wearing orange here.


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