Who has to wear blaze orange?

[biliff]

As of this year, in Oregon, anyone 17 or younger has to wear blaze orange when hunting with a firearm(waterfowl and turkey excepted). The law was just changed in response to a kid that was killed by his uncle while out elk hunting.

Adults can wear whatever they think is appropriate.

 

[kbuck]

If you consider that the state wildlife management areas have different rules than national forest or corps of engineers lands, and all of these are different than private land rules in Alabama, it's best here to just wear an orange hat when deer hunting. Our state does say that it is not required if you are ten feet or more off the ground. The hat cannot be orange camo, but it can have a logo. Small game hunters do not have to wear safety orange, but most educated hunters do so anyway, and the LEOs will bother you about it if you don't wear any.

 

[longcruise]

As of this year, in Oregon, anyone 17 or younger has to wear blaze orange when hunting with a firearm(waterfowl and turkey excepted). The law was just changed in response to a kid that was killed by his uncle while out elk hunting.

Typical knee jerk rule making, IMO. Wonder if the Uncle had shot someone who was 18 if they would have made it a law for anyone 18 to 100 to wear orange. Seems as if there is a need for BO for safety reasons it ought to apply to all ages. Maybe if the Uncle had been in BO the kid would have known where he was. When two or more hunters hunt together, it behooves to know exactly where the others are.

 

[lorren68]

Here in Georgia small game season begins august 15 for squirrel no orange required, bow season for deer begins in september, no orange required. Muzzleloader season for deer begind in October, orange required for ML and Bow Hunters. Rifle season for deer begins in October and runs through mid january in the southern zone and to January first in the northern zone, orange required for all big game hunters during rifle season. I find this kind of goofy in the northern zone baiting of deer is illegal, but in the sothern zone it is legal. In both zones it is legal to bait hogs even during deer season

 

[Problem Child]

Let's see.In Mississippi during any open Gun Season for Deer,all Deer and Hog hunters must wear 500 Sq Inches of solid Orange.I think Rabbit hunters must wear a Orange Cap. Squirrel hunters can be camo from head to toe.
I don't mind wearing Orange.I really don't think it bothers Deer.I bought a Woolrich "Blaze Wool" vest this year and love it. Last week I had 8 Deer within 30 yards while I was sitting on the side of a tree in a tree seat,and not one spotted me.

BTW...I think Squirrels are attracted to Orange.

 

[jethro224]

I think you might be right about the squirrels. :haha:
And the orange apparently doesn't bother turkeys either...

 

[Spikebuck]

In Minnesota blaze orange is required above the waist for all big-game gun seasons, including the late ML season. However, one can wear Orange camo with a pattern not less than 50% orange in any square foot and sleeves don't need to be orange. Hat must be BO or BO Camo. Bow and small game hunters included during a gun season, but not turkey or duck hunters.

On private land I usually wear a normal camo jacket and pants with a BO Camo lightweight vest and camo orange hat and have deer almost step on me if I don't move. On state land with tons of hunters I wear camo orange head to toe.

 

[kbuck]

Sorry for the drift here. Blaze Orange, safety orange, or hunter orange is a requirement in most states. It is a good thing. It saves lives. Since most states adopted some form of hunter safety education about thirty years ago, accidental deaths by gunfire in a mistaken target situation have dropped off to very low levels, almost non-existent.
However, to make up for that decline in gun death numbers, hunters have discovered another way to kill themselves - falling out of treestands. In Alabama, a full body harness capable of holding your weight must be worn and engaged at all times you are elevated whether ascending, sitting, or descending. And that's a good thing.

 

[Herb]

Utah's reg for ML hunts is "You must obey Utah's hunter orange regulation if a centerfire rifle hunt is happening in the area where you're muzzleloader hunting." And that is for a minimum of 400 square inches of HO on your head, chest and back. Camoflage pattern HO is OK. And you don't have to wear HO when hunting bighorn sheep, bison, moose or mountain goat. I wore a HO stocking cap on my recent ML elk hunt because it was comfortable and warm, but the HO was not necessary. I haven't been to Crosby since August, 1992.

 

[S.Kenton]

Blaze Orange for us in Ohio during shotgun and ML season.. not for Bow hunting nor small game though. I wear Camo Blaze Orange..I like it better than the plain Jane stuff.Supposedly deer see the BO as a light brown.It's possible that that claim is correct, I wear a blaze orange camo coat and bibs. Never got busted once..not yet at least! (I probably shouldn't go spouting off..theres always a first time!)

 

[gearheart]

In Ontario it's solid B O only. Required hat and at least a vest during big game rifle shotgun and M L hunting. Waterfowlers small game and archery no B O required. Exception is if archery hunting deer in gun season then B O req'd.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Maryland is an odd place...,

First, we do require blaze orange, vest or hat. Quite frankly, the HAT should be mandatory, as too many accidents in the past were folks getting hit in the head when their chest was below the crest of a hill, or behind a log. The tallest part of a person is the head, and it's the first part that "comes over the crest of the hill".

We don't require it on private land, here. I wear it anyway as we also have a poaching problem here, and just because a person is the only person allowed on a piece of property, doesn't mean they are alone.

Now when I move into a hide (Dave doesn't fall out of tree stands because Dave doesn't get into tree stands :thumbsup: ) I place blaze orange on the side of the trees where I am not standing, and I place it high.

Maryland required hunters inside popup blinds to wear blaze orange. Hello, it's a "blind", so how does that help? NOW Maryland requires a small square of blaze orange on the roof of the blind..., I'd prefer, and I teach my hunter-safety students, to place a large piece of orange over their blind.

For folks who like to have pictures or preserve the spirit of authentic hunting garb from the 18th century, you can..., wear an blaze orange knit hat as I do, or get a square yard of blaze orange from Jo Ann Fabrics, and use it as a head scarf or neckerchief. If you photoshop the photo into black and white, nobody can tell you are wearing orange.

LD

 

[tg]

I believe that this year or last was the first time orange was mandatory here in Oregon and now only for those under 16 or 18, I am certain that everyomne will have to wear it within five years, personaly I am of the personal choice school on this as the largest percentage of accidental shooting here are from taking a gun out or into a vehicle of other careless activity not mistaken identity, I cansee that in some areas it is probabblt a lot more influencial on the accident rate but I am not into the universal approach at any type of law implimentation, save your flames I have on my asbestos weskit today.

 

[GreyWhiskers]

Surprisingly, California doesn't requie Blaze Orange at all. The Dept of Fish and Game highly recommends it though. As I understand it, there's a feeling that if BO became a requirement that license sales would decline. GW

 

[tg]

BTW from the wide range of period colors documented I do not see where a piece of orange the size required on most states really deters from the PC/HC thing much at all if any,that par would not bother me at all if it becomes law here for everyone, just the general concept of laws to protect folks from them selves so to speak rub me the wrong way at times they may be valid but not so at others,and to go as far as possible to eliminate accidental shootings it would be a simple matter of banning the ownereship and use of any firearms or bows, sounds foolish but it is one end of the line for the various options once the "problem" is addressed,which is true for many self protection laws, IMHO

 

[Stumpkiller]

If someone misses noticing this then orange probably wouldn't have helped much.

I have some degree of what the Dr's call "red/green color deficieny" (I see the wrong number in those stupid dot tests) and when folks shouldn't be shooting - 45 or 60 minutes before or after they do anyway - red is gray. Colors like yellow, chartreuse and blaze orange stay "loud" WAY longer, so I still feel it's a good idea for the other folks like me.

I don't want to get shot, and I also don't want to accidently shoot someone I didn't realize was beyond a deer. I've never confused a human for a deer, but I have been surprised when some bozo in camo was sitting on a stump in a hedgerow where I though I had clear field of fire. Places where there are two hunters per acre you need all the help you can get!

 

[hanshi]

If someone misses noticing this then orange probably wouldn't have helped much.

And where are you in that picture, Stumpy? :rotf:

 

[hanshi]

In Kansas:
Blaze orange for BP or Rifle hunting but not for Bow hunting. GO figure. I almost shot a bow hunter out of a tree while phesant hunting. If it wasn't for the look at your backgrown training I had in one of the Six hunter Safety classes I took I might have bagged me a bow hunter. I did tell him he was darn lucky and should were blaze orange. He then proceded to cuss me out and told me to get the ***k out of his face.

It's just as well; you wouldn't have liked him at all. Bow hunters tend to be a bit chewy and stringy and have to be parboiled anyway. :rotf:

 

[Stumpkiller]

As a bowhunter I would prefer a marinade in whisky over parboiling.