PC Hunts

[Osprey]

Haven't gotten into the rondy and PC stuff yet, mainly becuase I've just recently learned about it all (going to my first this fall to check it out though), but wondered if any of you fine folks do PC hunts or hunt camps?

If so, how do you handle hunter orange requirements?

And pics, of course, too???? :v

 

[tg]

We don't have a orange req. here in Oregon, bit I wear red on accasion, I like to wear period gear including mocs but will not hesitate to put on the Gortex socks if needed I try to use simple foodstuff like dried beef, dried fruit cheese and such, I use a wool blanket or two instead of a sleeping bag, and have a 18th century wedge tent, you will likely want to start slow and see how you like it before you go whole hog, you have to be comfortable, in time you can see what level you want to take the game, the more primitive you get the more the enjoyment and challenge IMHO, have fun and keep us posted.

 

[Runner]

I usually use regular pants and boots here. I use a sweater, a hunter shirt belted, and a pull over blanket peasant type tunic made of wool over that. Most of the time that outer blanket layer is gray. When they require blaze orange, I use an orange blanket worn as a belted poncho. PC camping can be done, but deer season isn't the best time for that around here.

 

[bigbore442001]

Unless you have absolute control of access to a parcel of land and know who is where, it behooves you to have some article of hunter orange. I know it would be great to hunt wearing period correct gear but in this day and age, it would be too dangerous for most of us.

I have seen knit caps in hunter orange that were of a traditional pattern. I suppose that would help.

 

[tg]

The hunter orange thing is interesting, Oregon has never required it and has a very good hunter saftey record the rare shootings are mostly putting a gun in or out of a vehicle, in all the years I have hunted I have never felt the need or seen any problems but some areas probably have higher hunter pressure. There are several vendors who can make up orange clothes in many period styles if one wishes, this would not detract from the experience if one wished to go this way.

 

[paulvallandigham]

I have a hunter orange, Wool, Knit " Voyageur's cap" that the wife of a friend knitted for me out of blaze orange wool.

Illinois requires hunters hunting deer to wear 400 square inches of blaze orange on the upper body, visible front and back, as well as a solid blaze orange hat. For Upland game, they ask that hunters wear a blaze orange hat, but not a vest.

I am all in favor or hunters wearing a blaze orange hat, particularly when they are moving. If you are sitting in a tree, or at its base, wrap a piece of blaze orange tape around the tree to alert people approaching from any direction that you are there.

I want hunters to be visible to other hunters. We know that deer and other critters don't see the blaze orange color, but people do. When you think you have an entire area all to your self, Murphy's law will teach you that same day, that everyone and his brother will be trespassing on the land and spooking the game all over the place but past you!

I have about 24 years of Hunter-Safety Accident Reports for Illinois, and it clearly shows that wearing blaze orange reduces shootings by a third, and most of the shootings occur between members of the same hunting party! The general excuse is " I didn't know where he was!" ( So, Why would you take a shot when you didn't know where one or all the other members of your party are? ) In many cases, the problem is that we have hunters who just don't give a tinker's damn whether they hit another hunter or not. They just want to shoot at some game. We see this in upland game hunting where hunters use shotguns, and hit hunters who are anywhere from 3 yards to 50 yards from them. Now, do you really think that you can't see someone wearing a blaze orange hat inside 50 yards? And if you can't see someone that close, why are you shooting in his direction?

The second year after our state regulation was implimented, hunting accidents dropped by 1/3, going from an average of 21 accidents a year down to 13-14 accidents a year. And the big drop was among pheasant and quail hunters.

We don't do much hunting with high powered rifles in Illinois. They are used by varmint hunters to shoot coyote, fox, ground hog, and feral dogs. For that reason we don't see very many scopes in the field, unless its on a squirrel rifle. We know from the experiences in Colorado, for instance, that the prevalence of scopes on guns has led to much fewer shootings of other hunters as the shooters can see their targets much better when they use a scope.

 

[longcruise]

There is very little pc about our hunt camps or the way we dress, but that's just the way we do it. Law requires blaze orange so we wear it, end of story.

After many years of bowhunting, modern rifle hunting and ml hunting, I'm convinced that blaze orange is not a problem with deer or elk spotting the hunter. I've had deer and elk within 2 to 20 yards of me while dressed in orange and never been made because of the color. Movement and scent seem to be more important.

ML hunters and bowhunters hit the woods together here and most bow hunters are in full camo but if not, they are not wearing orange. Last year or the year before we had the first ever accidental shooting of a hunter by an ml hunter. He was hunting with a bowhunter partner and accidently shot his partner. OTOH, we have had three fatalities with bowhunters shooting other bowhunters along with a few non-fatals.

These accidents are almost always among hunting partners who lose track of each other during a stalk or a calling situation.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Comply with the laws of your state. If you wear a blaze orange hat when you are moving, you can be seen for hundreds of yards and not mistaken by some idiot for game, and shot. The higher the orange is off the ground, the more likely it is going to be visible to the idiots. When you are moving in and out of your hunting territory, you are usually moving so fast that you make noise, and can't hear other sounds in the field because of the noise rising from your feet. You are also moving so fast, that any game will spot you long before you see it, and will either run away, or duck down and sit still until you pass by. I have seen deer do both in reaction to other hunters.

The bottom line is that you are not likely to get a shot at game when you are moving towards, or back from your stand, so wearing blaze orange, even if game could see it, would not be the factor that spooks them about you. Wear the blaze orange for your family's sake. Be careful out there. :v

 

PA does not require hunters to wear any orange during the FL season (26 Dec 07 to sometime in 08). However, I always do just to be on the safe side. If it were not for bad luck - I would not have any luck..so I have this thing about not tempting fate or poking a caged tiger with a stick.

 

[BrownBear]

A PC hunt would be loads of fun, provided the participants agreed on terms beforehand and it didn't turn into a fire hydrant circle fest over PCness.

As for the hunter orange, it's just another of the things you have to agree to compromise on when deciding PCness, just as you probably will on choice of shoes and eyeglasses. Factor the black and white vision of the deer into your PCness. If they can't tell the difference, what's the dif in PC?

 

[Halftail]

A PC hunt would be loads of fun, provided the participants agreed on terms beforehand and it didn't turn into a fire hydrant circle fest over PCness.

quote]

Good point.
Each fall I participate in out provincial "Primitive hunt" it's in an otherwise closed area and must be entered on foot or unmotorized watercraft only.Usually I know everyone that is in the area and we agreed beforehand to each wear at least hunters orange hat/Cap.It's only common sense for us.

 

[tg]

"A PC hunt would be loads of fun, provided the participants agreed on terms beforehand and it didn't turn into a fire hydrant circle fest over PCness."

Good point, it should be an outing for enjoyment not a competition, at least trhat is how we have looked at it, one year my tent was set up in an Alder thicket and the other two guys were in a fifth wheel trailer 40 yds away along the road with microwave and a generator and they wore regular clothes for the most part,one night I shared roast grouse and Beaver haunch on a green stick with them and they shared their icecream with me. We get along fine as long as they do not try and tell me their camp is PC because the early wagon carts had wheels and their camp trailer has wheels so they are the same thing....

 

[longcruise]

A PC hunt would be loads of fun, provided the participants agreed on terms beforehand and it didn't turn into a fire hydrant circle fest over PCness.

So true!

The sole reason I don't get into re-enacting and the whole costume thing is because there is so much of that. When I visit "PC" get togethers I'm always surprised at the number of traders selling stuff made in Japan and China that would never have been seen in the 18th or 19th century. Guys who are into these get togethers tell me that if they crack down to hard the traders won't show up and the get together is watered down.

Anyway, that's my reasoning. If I wanted brain damage I'd just drive a motorcycle reallly fast without a helmet! :grin:

 

[tg]

"The sole reason I don't get into re-enacting and the whole costume thing is because there is so much of that"

I am surprised a bit that this is the case, around here folks get along pretty well, the TC/Tandy leather crowd are fine with the custom gun/brain tan guys and vise versa I cannot recall any friction that would cause someone to shy away from trying to get an outfit that was closer to what they used to have in the past, all the guys that do get into the PC thing are very helpfull in giving guidence to any who might ask, much like on most of the on-line forums.

 

[Runner]

I met a guy at Dunn's. I went to a shoot he told me about the next day. He and his partner took me under their wing and showed me the ropes. A week later I went to a Rendezvous type gathering at Old Mines in street clothes. As I got to the desk to sign up, the nice lady told me I had to be dressed to shoot. A voice from the back of the line yelled, "sign him up, I will take care of him." One of the guys from the last weekend took me to his steel tipi and got me a shirt and sash. Not PC, but good enough to shoot. I bought a shirt at the next one. I bought a pattern at the next one. I wore a wrap around hunter frock that I made myself to one a couple of months later. I borrowed a throwing knife and hawk for a while. I now have a nice hawk and know how to throw it. I carry a CVA Mountain rifle, but I will soon have a flinter long rifle and a colonial style plain coat.
The people at the gatherings are some of the nicest there are, and they vary from the guy there to make money and visit to the guy on the end with 7 jugs of pie and the big grin! I once walked the camp at night with another gentleman talking quietly for about an hour after the others were mainly asleep. I was dressed in a hunter frock carrying a mountain rifle and he was in a red British army coat carrying one of those short blunderbuss type guns. We were at a 1790 french gathering! There are lots of loosely ruled events out there where the main thing is fellowship with like minded individuals.
Never stay home because you don't expect to fit in. Go to a few and see if you don't have a nice story or two to tell of your own!

 

[tg]

That has been my experience Runner, sometimes I wonder where all the horror stories come from,I think many are just exagerations, missunderstandings, isolated instances.

 

[Russianblood]

Here's me on opening day of small game season last year.

I don't typically dress in period clothing during deer season as it's too cold and too many people out. But for small game, where the weather is nicer and the hunters are less, I enjoy it. For me, it adds to the experience of hunting with a muzzleloader.

 

That's the ticket! Outstanding compromise :bow:

 

Now that is friendship and an excellent way to recruit folks for a fun and worthy pastime. How was the shoot?

 

[Runner]

I did well on the shooting, started a fire in 10 seconds, and then demonstrated why it is so hard to win if you can't throw a hawk and knife!
A really good old fashioned sweater with a shirt over it with hunter shirt over that belted is the first layer. Drop a blanket tunic over that with a belt. Shooting bag, horn, game bag, knife and hawk. You can hunt comfortably down to about five degrees if you don't try to sit still in the wind. At Old Mines in January a couple back, it was barely above zero during the day and below at night. Two guys walked in and set up a tarp shelter with a fire out front and spent the night in it. Didn't look like much fun, but they made it. A lot of folks slept in a cabin that had wood heat because their camping gear wasn't up to the weather. The clothing of the time isn't a problem in the cold. Now, I was wearing Rockie stalkers, not mocs, so someone else can chime in on the foot gear.
Do a trip with a one of the little modern tents and an air rifle. Then do a trip with a tarp and the 36. You will find yourself reaching for the old stuff more and more. Don't dismiss the trip with a tent and the air gun tho. It teaches a lot of the same lessons you need to know to be ok the other way. Most folks can't hang with sitting for 4 hours against a leaning tree so they stay at least a little dry and enjoy themselves. It's an aquired taste!