View Full Version : Do I need to wear blaze orange?
SouthMark
11-11-2009, 15:49
Hiking from Hogpen Gap to Springer Thanksgiving week. Do I need to wear blaze orange?
Thanks in advance.
Only if you want Southern Gunmen to see you.
That could be a good thing or a bad thing :-/
beakerman
11-11-2009, 16:04
IT's usually a good idea to make yourself visible during hunting season. So i would advocate it. I'm not sure of the local laws but I remember when I was in PA I got a citation while at my car for not having an orange hat--I had a full orange jacket: arms as well as body but they required the hat too. I would suggest a call to your local game managment officials to be sure on the laws rather than rely on what us folks on the internet say.
XCskiNYC
11-11-2009, 16:10
Please excuse me for giving a response not germane to your post in a geographical sense.
A while back I posted on here about hiking in CT during October and November. Somebody suggested that I wear lots of blaze orange.
To this end, I ordered from Cabelas a blaze-orange baseball cap (it came with a free blaze-orange safety vest!) and a blaze-orange pack cover.
The AT Conservancy site hunting information did say that CT currently has small-game hunting plus, IIRC, big-game bow hunting. Hunting deer with long guns has not started quite yet but will begin within the next couple of days.
Anyway, when I e-mailed a White Blaze member near the CT border to ask about the CT hunting situation and told him of my intended sartorial safety efforts, he sounded somewhat amused.
In the event, I was the only hiker I saw on the trail wearing any blaze-orange at all. Plus, I did not see a single hunter. This is going from the NY-CT border (CT55) to West Cornwall Road over the course of a couple of weekend hikes.
Naturally, YMMV. Plus, it's waaaay better to have the blaze-orange and not need it than to need it and not have it. The whole set of orange from Cabelas cost $30 including shipping and the pack cover might come in handy on a rainy day.
neighbor dave
11-11-2009, 16:13
what not to wear;
a suede coat whist blowing your nose with a white hanky:-?
I think it is a good idea. I saw a bow hunter in that area at the end of September. I saw him walking toward the trail ahead of me. I thought it was strange because bow hunters don't usually stalk deer but assumed he may have been tracking a wounded deer. I then realized that he had heard me coming and was stalking me. I was glad he was careful but I wished that I had some blaze orange for the rest of the trip.
take-a-knee
11-11-2009, 16:38
Only if you want Southern Gunmen to see you.
That could be a good thing or a bad thing :-/
Yeah, we are likely to shoot a smartass, especially one from NJ:eek::banana
Rain Man
11-11-2009, 16:47
Walmart has good blaze orange baseball caps for $2.99 locally.
Besides, wasn't that stretch of the trail where some young hunter shot an AT hiker/gal who was doing her business in the bushes, not too long ago?! Didn't kill her, but still she was shot. As I recall, the hunter got off scot free, pretty much.
By the way, you should ask the Georgia AT Club, for the real low down on what to do or not do in Georgia. They be the experts and happy to help, I've found.
Rain:sunMan
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I would. If only because there is no reason not too.
Yeah, we are likely to shoot a smartass, especially one from NJ:eek::banana
Nobody in NJ shooting anybody on the trail for no reason.
SouthMark, there is no requirement to do so. Of course there is also no requirement to wear reflective clothing while jogging down the street at night either. That being said, all joggers do so.
I am out on the trail several times a week here in Georgia and I always wear blaze orange during deer season. But with the dozens of hikers I have seen in the past month I can count on one hand how many other hikers I have seen doing so.
We had a tragic accident up here just a few years back where a hiker was shot at dawn while taking her morning leak a several yards off the trail. The hunter saw the white of the TP and let off a round and she was hit. There is no doubt the hunter is fully culpable, but I am willing to bet if she was wearing some blaze orange I would not be able to share this story today.
Caps can be bought for a few bucks. Vests can be bought for a few bucks. Be responsible and spend a couple of bucks and wear some blaze orange.
Good chance we will cross paths during your hike in my stomping grounds. I'll be the guy who looks like the great pumpkin somewhere between Woody and Cooper Gaps. Cooper, my dog will be wearing his blaze orange too.
It sure isn't a bad idea. I have an orange cap I'm fond of wearing in the cooler months when I hike and a blaze orange JRB pack cover/gear hammock (http://www.jacksrbetter.com/JGHPC.htm) as well. I feel a little more comfortable in both while hiking during hunting season.
http://www.cabelas.com/p-0027735921208a.shtml
$5.99 at a number of places where Carhartt can be had.
kayak karl
11-11-2009, 19:20
i wear orange blaze in all seasons. i WANT to be seen. even a work i wear a orange jacket. ive almost got hit by backhoes and stuff, or is the white hardhat and orange just making a better target:-?
SouthMark
11-11-2009, 22:23
Thanks everybody. Probably pretty dumb question. I should have known the answer. Heck I have an orange vest for use down here in Alabama during hunting season. It's off to Wal-Mart for an orange cap tomorrow.
Besides, wasn't that stretch of the trail where some young hunter shot an AT hiker/gal who was doing her business in the bushes, not too long ago?! Didn't kill her, but still she was shot. As I recall, the hunter got off scot free, pretty much.
.
Yep, I forget what year that was..2002 or 2003? She was in a Venturer group that headed north from Woody Gap, the Venturer group I was chaperoning with headed south from Woody Gap that same weekend
superman
11-12-2009, 13:33
I would. If only because there is no reason not too.
I just use blaze orange TP so I don't get my butt shot off.:)
The Solemates
11-12-2009, 13:41
in the past ive only worn a vest. this year i picked up a hat and vest for $10 at bass pro. then i was in the hardware store the other day to pick up a few things and they had blaze orange fleece gloves for $3 on clearance.
I'll be decked out in blaze this year!
The Weasel
11-12-2009, 13:44
Orange pack cover is essential; vests can't be seen from behind a backpacker, and hats are obscured.
TW
Tennessee Viking
11-12-2009, 14:23
WalMart has blazed orange shirts and safety vests in their Men's. $14
While this post isn't strictly on-topic, I thought it would be a good time to mention yet again Pennsylvania's Code as it relates to hiking on State Game Lands from November 15 to December 15. This time period includes our bear and general firearms deer seasons.
Hikers are required to wear at least a fluorescent orange hat visible 360 degrees during the time period mentioned. A hat alone may not meet the letter of the law and more fluorescent orange equals more visibility. A vest and pack cover in addition to a hat is recommended by many if not all Pennsylvania A.T. maintaining clubs which have adopted a guideline.
Rain Man
11-12-2009, 15:34
On my last section hike, in VA last month, I actually had a SOBO section hiker accuse me of wearing "more orange" than he had ever seen on one hiker, the rascal. But then, truth be told, he was an NC State grad and only liked red, I think. I, being a Clemson grad, told him this would be considered my "stealth mode" at any Clemson home game!!!
:D
I had an orange shirt, blaze orange hat, orange bandanna, and blaze orange pack cover! They worked ... I didn't get shot the whole weekend.
Rain:sunMan
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It was only bow hunting for big game in Maine in October. But when our land trust had 40 high school kids working in four teams clearing brush from our trails, we purchased them knit blaze orange hats from Walmart ($1.99 each) as a precaution. Plus I brought along all the extra blaze orange I had in the house. It wasn't enough to go around. But the kids tended to work in clumps. No one could get anywhere near them withjout seeing a mass of orange. Was it needed? The danger was pretty minimal. We saw no signs of any hunters. But I felt better about the array of blaze orange. I didn't want to take any chance that I might have to notify a parent of an accident.
Weary