Hunting season and hikers

[Bear Cables]

We will be hiking springer to needs gap Oct 25-30. Do we need to be concerned about hunters and wear blaze orange on this hike. Do people really hunt this close to the trail? Wondering if they make pack covers in orange.

[Wise Old Owl]

Yes wear orange and no they should not be shooting close to the trail - but I too had a close call on the Heritage Trail once. A rifle less than 100 feet away from a backyard,

[Just a Hiker]

It wouldn't be a bad idea to wear some sort of blaze orange.....I ususally hang a blaze orange bandana off of my pack. Bow Season started here in NE Tennessee this past weekend, and sure enough, there were bowhunters right on the trail between Double Springs Shelter and Rt 91/Crossmountain Road.

[4eyedbuzzard]

Granite Gear and others make silnylon pack covers in orange. Gives you a lot of area of color and serves a purpose.

[kanga]

yes, there will be hunters. they have as much of a right to use the trail as any of us. yes, you should wear blaze orange, especially since you will be there at the start of rifle season.
here is a pack cover: http://www.halfmoonoutfitters.com/Et...ap=40226-14103

[Jeff]

Get the orange pack cover.

A number of years ago an experienced hiker was shot near Bland, VA. You can't be too careful.

[FatMan]

I wear blaze orange during hunting season. I am surprised at how few hikers do. Hunters as a group are very responsible and know where the trail is. But there are always exceptions in any group and accidents have happened. A young women was wounded about 10 years ago near Slaughter Gap. She was answering the call of nature at dawn away from the trail and the young hunter saw the white TP and fired. Yes, the hunter was 100% responsible, however if the young women had been wearing blaze orange there is an excellent chance the event would not have happened.

[scope]

What's the story with the AT corridor with regard to hunting? I know its narrow in areas, but seems to me it should be off limits to hunting.

Agreed, blaze orange helps reduce errors, but really, a hunter should only shoot what they see clearly. Blaze orange or not, a hunter should not be shooting at something that moves because it might be a deer or whatever they're hunting. I realize that 99.9% of hunters realize and abide by this, but the whole idea of wearing blaze orange so you won't be shot at is a scary thing to contemplate the reasons for why its necessary.

[FatMan]

What's the story with the AT corridor with regard to hunting? I know its narrow in areas, but seems to me it should be off limits to hunting.

Agreed, blaze orange helps reduce errors, but really, a hunter should only shoot what they see clearly. Blaze orange or not, a hunter should not be shooting at something that moves because it might be a deer or whatever they're hunting. I realize that 99.9% of hunters realize and abide by this, but the whole idea of wearing blaze orange so you won't be shot at is a scary thing to contemplate the reasons for why its necessary.

It is the hunter's responsibility completely. And it is also a driver's responsibility not to hit runners on the road before dawn. Runners are smart enough to wear reflectors to keep from being hit and it would be stupid not to do so.

I don't worry at all about hunters while hiking. But like the runners, I make myself more visible.

[Colter]

I don't worry at all about hunters while hiking. But like the runners, I make myself more visible.

The risk is extremely low, and can be made much lower just by wearing bright colors.

[mattack]

Yes, wear orange. Better safe than sorry. Although hunters aren't supposed to be hunting near the trail, I've seen it all too often in the fall (as well as their hunting dogs running around off leash unsupervised....)

[vamelungeon]

What's the story with the AT corridor with regard to hunting? I know its narrow in areas, but seems to me it should be off limits to hunting.

Agreed, blaze orange helps reduce errors, but really, a hunter should only shoot what they see clearly. Blaze orange or not, a hunter should not be shooting at something that moves because it might be a deer or whatever they're hunting. I realize that 99.9% of hunters realize and abide by this, but the whole idea of wearing blaze orange so you won't be shot at is a scary thing to contemplate the reasons for why its necessary.

I know people who hunt ON the AT here in VA. It's the hunter's responsibility to identify their target, but there isn't an idiot filter in hunter education classes. If you have the money for a license and a firearm you can legally go hunting, regardless of IQ or decision making skills. Most hunters don't shoot at anything that moves but some do. They're the same people who text while driving.

[Colter]

Most hunters don't shoot at anything that moves but some do.

None do.

Accident cause Mortality rate per 100,000 people
-------------------------------------------------------------
Automobiles 18.6
Home accidents 8.6
Falls 5.0
Poisoning 2.6
Fires 1.7
Suffocation 1.3
Hunting (among participants) 0.85
Lightning 0.04
Insect stings 0.02
*Hunting (among non-participants) 0.001
(Source, University of Calgary)


(*That's 1 out of 100,000,000)

Nevertheless, accidents can happen and wearing bright colors during hunting season is easy and inexpensive.

[vamelungeon]

None do.

Accident cause Mortality rate per 100,000 people
-------------------------------------------------------------
Automobiles 18.6
Home accidents 8.6
Falls 5.0
Poisoning 2.6
Fires 1.7
Suffocation 1.3
Hunting (among participants) 0.85
Lightning 0.04
Insect stings 0.02
*Hunting (among non-participants) 0.001
(Source, University of Calgary)


(*That's 1 out of 100,000,000)

Nevertheless, accidents can happen and wearing bright colors during hunting season is easy and inexpensive.

The guys that blast away at noises and movement often hit things other than humans or deer. I think mostly they hit trees. I've been a lifelong hunter and it can be pretty scary on opening day on public land. I've seen doofusses shooting into a laurel thicket that a deer disappeared into. I went to high school with a kid that took a round to the head while deer hunting. He was very lucky to escape with some lost motor skills and years of speech therapy.

ALWAYS wear blaze orange during hunting season, like you said it's inexpensive and easy. Walmart has literally tons of blaze orange stuff right now, some of it pretty good. Hunters don't like getting any colder than hikers, and hunters are often sitting still for hours and need warm clothing.

[Tipi Walter]

Yes, wear orange. Better safe than sorry. Although hunters aren't supposed to be hunting near the trail, I've seen it all too often in the fall (as well as their hunting dogs running around off leash unsupervised....)

My only concern with hunters are their unsupervised and seemingly "abandoned" dogs, which will follow a hiker for days and become mini-black bears in their attempts to steal your food. Not much can be done about it at this time since using dogs is a "grand southern tradition" but I wonder. On cold winter trips I see many of these dogs and they curl up by my tent and sit shivering all night, whereupon I write long screeds in my trip reports about people who dump their "pets" in the woods and then run off. If I did the same thing with my own dog---in non-hunting mode---I would probably be cited by "concerned citizens" for irresponsible dog "abandonment". Weird.

[rickb]

Agreed, blaze orange helps reduce errors, but really, a hunter should only shoot what they see clearly. Blaze orange or not, a hunter should not be shooting at something that moves because it might be a deer or whatever they're hunting. I realize that 99.9% of hunters realize and abide by this, but the whole idea of wearing blaze orange so you won't be shot at is a scary thing to contemplate the reasons for why its necessary.

Keep in mind that if a hunter misses his mark, the slug keeps on going until its hits something.

If you are standing behind the deer (and you always are, its just a matter of by how far and in what direction and he density of cover between you and the animal) you want to be seen-- if only as a spec of color.

Orange helps.

[CowHead]

Fall hiking = orange

[Bucketfoot]

I am both a lifelong hunter and a hiker. Much of the AT goes through National Forests and in Pa. it goes through a lot of state gamelands bought and paid for solely by the license dollars of hunters. They have just as much right to use that land as hikers do. Wear something blaze orange just as the hunters do and you will be just fine. I wouldn't be out there hiking or hunting if I didn't feel safe and I have been doing it for over 40 years.

[Tipi Walter]

I am both a lifelong hunter and a hiker. Much of the AT goes through National Forests and in Pa. it goes through a lot of state gamelands bought and paid for solely by the license dollars of hunters. They have just as much right to use that land as hikers do. Wear something blaze orange just as the hunters do and you will be just fine. I wouldn't be out there hiking or hunting if I didn't feel safe and I have been doing it for over 40 years.

So why do many of the hunters leave their dogs unsupervised?? The dogs glom onto the first hiker they see and become abandoned pests.

[topshelf]

I was shot at about 3 or 4 years ago while on the AT, bullet whizzed over my right shoulder, not real close, I was wearing orange.
Bright orange pack covers would be nice also, especially if you're going SOBO, anyone know where to get one for my ULA circuit?