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  1. #1
    Getting out as much as I can..which is never enough. :) Mags's Avatar
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    Default A properly attired hiker: Blaze orange in hunting season

    My trip partner and I were out and about this weekend. We saw hunters scoping out spots for the upcoming rifle season in a couple of weeks. Time to grab some blaze (hunter) orange.


    Here's an article that goes over the different options that could work for wearing blaze orange during this time of the year.

    It is not that hunters will "shoot at anything that moves". Rather, they won't shoot at all if someone is within their firing area.


    I post and revise this article every year since I think it is important people feel comfortable in all seasons and share the outdoors respectfully and safely.
    Paul "Mags" Magnanti
    http://pmags.com
    Twitter: @pmagsco
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    The true harvest of my life is intangible...a little stardust caught,a portion of the rainbow I have clutched -Thoreau

  2. #2

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    Thanks, Mags. Bear season is well under way, and the moose hunt just started, in Maine.
    Teej

    "[ATers] represent three percent of our use and about twenty percent of our effort," retired Baxter Park Director Jensen Bissell.

  3. #3

  4. #4

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    Great post. Thanks for sharing mags. Any Virginians hiking within the next week or so keep in mind early bear firearms season west of blue ridge starts oct. 1 and ends on the 3rd.

  5. #5
    13-45 Section Hiker Trash
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    One piece of attire I didn't see in your article that I thought was worth mentioning is the blaze orange buff. I like wearing buffs on my head, and Buff actually makes one in blaze orange.
    AT: 2007-2019 (45 sections)
    JMT: 2013

  6. #6
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    It's worth finding out what the requirements are in your intended hiking area. Even within a state they may vary. For instance, in Tennessee's Catoosa WMA, the requirement is merely that hikers wear fluorescent colors:

    "All users within the Cumberland Trail corridor must wear visible fluorescent clothing during deer gun and muzzleloader hunts, spring turkey hunts, and wild hog control hunts."

    In North Cumberland WMA, however,

    "Public use is permitted during all hunts. During daylight hours all users outside of an enclosed vehicle or outside of camp must wear, on the upper portion of their body and head, a minimum of 500 square inches of blaze orange, visible front and back, during the deer and elk gun and muzzleloader seasons."

    source: Tennessee Hunting & Trapping Guide, 2018-2019.

    Meeting the North Cumberland WMA requirement probably satisfies the Catoosa WMA requirement, but the reverse may not necessarily hold true.

    500 square inches is a fair bit, though if it can be split between front and back, that's not so bad.

  7. #7

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    Most hunters are good folks. But the ones that give me the willies are the ones you see checking you out in their rifle scope... just to get a good look at you and what you are up to.

  8. #8
    Registered User Venchka's Avatar
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    Why speculate or guesss????
    Requirements by state:
    http://www.hunter-ed.com/blog/blaze-...s-every-state/
    Oddly enough, California doesn’t require blaze orange.
    Wayne

  9. #9
    Registered User colorado_rob's Avatar
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    Thanks for doing this every year Mags.... it's so easy for non-hunters to simply forget to take at least a basic precaution come October... I personally don't worry at all about bow or black powder season, but one those high powered rifles come out, we like to wear something bright up high, at least. I personally throw a $2 walmart plastic hunting vest around the top of my pack. We're heading out next Monday (Oct 1) for a BP trip up in the Raywah's, might have forgotten if you hadn't posted this.

    Not sure what you're thinking Wayne, but that link posts requirements for hunters, I don't see hiker requirements. I wonder if there are any actual hiker requirements? Just curious.

  10. #10

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    One big reason I got McHale to make me a pack in bright colors is for hunting season in the Southeast---where hunters use dogs and are out in droves. Now I stand out all year long---which doesn't bother me in the least. If I ever have to stealth camp in the trees behind a Walmart I'll throw on a brown or green pack cover . . .


  11. #11
    13-45 Section Hiker Trash
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tipi Walter View Post
    One big reason I got McHale to make me a pack in bright colors is for hunting season in the Southeast---where hunters use dogs and are out in droves. Now I stand out all year long---which doesn't bother me in the least. If I ever have to stealth camp in the trees behind a Walmart I'll throw on a brown or green pack cover . . .

    That's a pretty colorful pack you got there, and a McHale to boot. I also have a McHale in my quiver, great pack.

    Anyway, I just realized that my newest toy might be almost as gawdy as yours. I got a Zpacks Arc Haul in the orange color about a year ago, and I think between that and my blaze orange buff I'm pretty well covered.
    AT: 2007-2019 (45 sections)
    JMT: 2013

  12. #12

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    Quote Originally Posted by Berserker View Post
    That's a pretty colorful pack you got there, and a McHale to boot. I also have a McHale in my quiver, great pack.

    Anyway, I just realized that my newest toy might be almost as gawdy as yours. I got a Zpacks Arc Haul in the orange color about a year ago, and I think between that and my blaze orange buff I'm pretty well covered.
    Yes, I definitely think the backpacking gear YOU USE should cover the color requirements without having to carry separate Hunter's Orange. My hiking t-shirts are usually very bright and my Arcteryx rain jacket is very ORANGE. And my pack is bright.


    HOW ORANGE DO YOU WANT TO BE???

  13. #13
    Registered User colorado_rob's Avatar
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    All this colorful stuff works, and again, good reminder from Mags to have something bright on. I had a fluorescent green vest for a few years, got a bit of a lecture from a hunter, bought an orange one soon after. Never actually wear the thing (plastic, doesn't breathe!), I just drape it over the top of my pack. One thing about yellow out here in CO in early October, depending on where you are, practically everything around you is yellow (AKA: Aspens), but I suppose bright yellow is better than earth tones.

    A good point in that article, in case anyone missed it, is that if you hike with a pooch, make sure he/she has something bright on as well! It has to have happened before, a hiker's dog being shot by mistake.

  14. #14

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    I remember once I was going thru a particular bad area for hunting and they were out everywhere---and I had a colorless grey pack so I placed my rain jacket on top and kept moving.


  15. #15
    Registered User tagg's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tipi Walter View Post
    Yes, I definitely think the backpacking gear YOU USE should cover the color requirements without having to carry separate Hunter's Orange. My hiking t-shirts are usually very bright and my Arcteryx rain jacket is very ORANGE. And my pack is bright.HOW ORANGE DO YOU WANT TO BE???
    Same here, I even use bright orange underquilts so I can be visible when I'm in my hammock.
    -tagg

  16. #16
    Registered User Venchka's Avatar
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    Rob,
    I can’t help it if the Rules Makers are Clueless.
    I reckon you can’t go wrong by matching the hunters.
    A ULA Blaze Orange pack would be nice. Any day.
    Wayne

  17. #17
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    I am hiking from Fontana to Hot Springs starting Oct 1, do I need to consider some orange?

  18. #18

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    I've actually had a hunter compliment my abundant use of orange apparel. I typically wear a blaze orange t-shirt and use a blaze orange pack cover for winter hiking (in Florida) as it's easy to cross into hunter territory unaware and more than once I've seen hunters where they shouldn't have been. Whether intentional or not I cannot say but at least I was visible enough to not get shot. Fortunately I've not had a problem with hunters.

  19. #19

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    Quote Originally Posted by TSWisla View Post
    I am hiking from Fontana to Hot Springs starting Oct 1, do I need to consider some orange?
    From late September through November we wear safety orange whenever we're out. Wore it apple picking, too.
    I hunted deer in Maine when I was younger, and can tell you hi-viz colors really stand out.
    Teej

    "[ATers] represent three percent of our use and about twenty percent of our effort," retired Baxter Park Director Jensen Bissell.

  20. #20

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    A nice thing about Maine is no legal hunting on Sundays. So orange attire is optional at least one day of the week (yet highly recommended).

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