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Started By
Message
Is hunter orange a legit safety issue
Posted on 11/30/23 at 6:29 am
Posted on 11/30/23 at 6:29 am
I was bored at deer camp last night so I started reading the rules and regulations for deer hunting in Mississippi. The rules for hunters orange are so weird. You have to wear 500 square inches of solid orange (La is 400 square inches fwiw) vest and/or hat. Mesh vests and camo with hunter orange mixed in doesn’t count. Unless you’re in a box stand or above 12 feet from the ground you’re supposed to wear your orange at all times. So now I am sitting in the stand and waiting for daylight and thinking. Is hunter orange a real safety issue, a way for game wardens to write more tickets, or just a way to make it easier for game wardens to see people before they get back to their vehicles?
ETA: I’m not questioning the need for orange. I’m questioning the nit picking regulations.
ETA: I’m not questioning the need for orange. I’m questioning the nit picking regulations.
This post was edited on 11/30/23 at 7:09 am
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Posted on 11/30/23 at 6:34 am to WeeWee
I never questioned the fact that orange makes me more visible to other hunters in the woods. It's pretty self apparent. I'd rather not be shot at by some jackass who doesn't positively ID his target.
Posted on 11/30/23 at 6:41 am to Tangineck
quote:
I never questioned the fact that orange makes me more visible to other hunters in the woods. It's pretty self apparent. I'd rather not be shot at by some jackass who doesn't positively ID his target.
That’s true, but being required to wear it when sitting in a climbing stand or ladder stand, or getting a ticket for wearing a camo pattern orange vest seems excessive to me. Who is going to get shot accidentally because they were mistaken for a deer when they were sitting in a ladder stand? Is having solid orange instead of a mesh camo vest going to really make me that safer? IMO, they took a good idea and turned it into a money grab.
This post was edited on 11/30/23 at 6:48 am
Posted on 11/30/23 at 6:45 am to WeeWee
quote:
I am sitting in the stand and waiting for daylight and thinking. Is hunter orange a real safety issue
For the majority of hunting clubs where people pin out or hunt designated areas no.
But for public land or Forrest hell yeah. I have been sitting and seen movement and my heart speeds up only to see it was a hunter without orange on (Turkey/bow) hunting. There are people who totally shoot movement/blobs/brown/bushes moving.
Posted on 11/30/23 at 6:46 am to WeeWee
MS instituted the unbroken hunters orange rule in the late 70s or early 80s. Before that you could just have a cap or a small piece on you somewhere I believe.
Over the next decade hunting fatalities went down significantly. I believe by something like 70-80%.
Of course that also coincided with the fall off in dog hunting and stand hunting becoming way more popular.
But I think it's a good rule. It doesn't cost me anything and it doesn't affect my hunting. And it saves a lot of lives apparently
Over the next decade hunting fatalities went down significantly. I believe by something like 70-80%.
Of course that also coincided with the fall off in dog hunting and stand hunting becoming way more popular.
But I think it's a good rule. It doesn't cost me anything and it doesn't affect my hunting. And it saves a lot of lives apparently
Posted on 11/30/23 at 6:50 am to WeeWee
Depending on the terrain, someone sitting 20’ up could be mistaken for “something” on the ground from a different elevation.
Posted on 11/30/23 at 6:54 am to WeeWee
Hunted a couple public places this weekend and I want my orange to be as bright as it can be. I saw several baws that had orange on at the boat ramp
That was probably 30 plus year old that was faded as hell. That camo and mesh orange does not show up very well in low light conditions or in bright conditions for that matter
I do not wear it in the stand unless I see someone waking around I will put it on or wave it at them
That was probably 30 plus year old that was faded as hell. That camo and mesh orange does not show up very well in low light conditions or in bright conditions for that matter
I do not wear it in the stand unless I see someone waking around I will put it on or wave it at them
Posted on 11/30/23 at 7:00 am to Ron Cheramie
Also if you haven’t ever sat around a wma check station on either sex day you should. You will see and hear some wild stuff that will make you want to wear some orange
I don’t know any statistics but the few fatalities I know that have happened in Louisiana in recent times seem to have been on private land Anyone have info on that?
I don’t know any statistics but the few fatalities I know that have happened in Louisiana in recent times seem to have been on private land Anyone have info on that?
This post was edited on 11/30/23 at 7:03 am
Posted on 11/30/23 at 7:02 am to Ron Cheramie
quote:
Hunted a couple public places this weekend and I want my orange to be as bright as it can be. I saw several baws that had orange on at the boat ramp That was probably 30 plus year old that was faded as hell. That camo and mesh orange does not show up very well in low light conditions or in bright conditions for that matter
That maybe true but those baw with faded orange won’t get a ticket but the baw with the mesh vest will if stopped by a game warden.
Posted on 11/30/23 at 7:05 am to WeeWee
If I had to walk across public land during deer rifle without it I'd be terrified.
Even when it's not required I wear a orange hat when I'm not in a tree. There's a lot of folks slipping for hogs.
This happened a few years ago.
https://apnews.com/c1719b00ea5749169acb5ff80639d472
Even when it's not required I wear a orange hat when I'm not in a tree. There's a lot of folks slipping for hogs.
This happened a few years ago.
https://apnews.com/c1719b00ea5749169acb5ff80639d472
This post was edited on 11/30/23 at 7:07 am
Posted on 11/30/23 at 7:07 am to WeeWee
“During the 1972-73 season, 80 Mississippi hunters were shot and 34 of them died. Read that again — 80 shot, 34 deaths, all the result of deer hunting accidents. On one day at Forrest General Hospital in Hattiesburg, three hunters arrived at the emergency room with gunshot wounds; one of them survived.
Shortly after the bloodiest of all deer seasons ended, the 1973 Mississippi Legislature passed a bill requiring deer hunters wear a minimum of an orange hat, which, unfortunately, people didn’t want to do. The last thing they wanted was to be more visible, and being told that deer didn’t see orange as humans do didn’t matter.
The 1973-74 season still saw 75 hunters shot and 15 killed.”
LINK /
Shortly after the bloodiest of all deer seasons ended, the 1973 Mississippi Legislature passed a bill requiring deer hunters wear a minimum of an orange hat, which, unfortunately, people didn’t want to do. The last thing they wanted was to be more visible, and being told that deer didn’t see orange as humans do didn’t matter.
The 1973-74 season still saw 75 hunters shot and 15 killed.”
LINK /
Posted on 11/30/23 at 7:07 am to Ron Cheramie
quote:
Also if you haven’t ever sat around a wma check station on either sex day you should. You will see and hear some wild stuff that will make you want to wear some orange
I’m not questioning the need for it. I’m questioning the nick picking.
quote:
I don’t know any statistics but the few fatalities I know that have happened in Louisiana in recent times seem to have been on private land Anyone have info on that?
I have looked but I can’t find any official stats on private vs public land fatalities. The studies don’t differentiate. They also don’t differentiate between deer hunting and pheasant hunting. They just say that orange has lowered fatalities.
Posted on 11/30/23 at 7:28 am to WeeWee
What part specifically do you think is nit picky? A solid orange block is more visible, 500 sq inches is about the size of your chest, and mesh is a slippery slope to having something so shear it can’t be seen. You ask if it’s to make people more visible to wardens, who have the same set of eyes other hunters do. You’re not required to buy some certified version of orange from the state, and when you’re at the most risk is when you’d otherwise be a grey blob walking down a trail. If anything the rule stating you can remove it while elevated is a rare example of the government applying common sense.
Posted on 11/30/23 at 7:30 am to Grassy1
quote:This.
Depending on the terrain, someone sitting 20’ up could be mistaken for “something” on the ground from a different elevation.
It's happened to me. I was accidently shot at while bowhunting in a bottom when a guy on the ridge above almost put a bullet in me. He was across a public gravel road on another lease and shot at a deer on the road (we were not supposed to do that). Somehow he missed and the bullet whizzed by me (yes, I heard it and saw it knock bark off of a tree next to me). I quickly put on my orange and the a-hole saw me and called me on my phone. He was a apologetic, but it was almost too late for me.
I always wear orange while hunting and riding my atv. It ain't that hard to do.
Posted on 11/30/23 at 7:37 am to 257WBY
quote:
During the 1972-73 season, 80 Mississippi hunters were shot and 34 of them died. Read that again — 80 shot, 34 deaths, all the result of deer hunting accidents. On one day at Forrest General Hospital in Hattiesburg, three hunters arrived at the emergency room with gunshot wounds; one of them survived.
Man I know accidents happen, but a statistic like that almost - ALMOST- makes me inclined to believe that several of those accidents weren’t accidents.
I know two baws in the early 90s that were rifle hunting on horseback in Franklin Parish and one of them turned to shoot his 30-30 and hit his buddy right in the jaw with his bullet. Turns out, ole baw that got shot was banging his friend’s old lady…
ETA: I knew a teacher at Crowville High in the mid 90s that got shot and killed out on Tensas. He was a good guy. As it turned out, he was shot and killed by one of his students that he had reprimanded recently before. That boy grew up to be frickED UP and ended up splattered on dummy line road in a meth/road rage accident… my brother was picking his body parts up off the road. The devil finally collected on that deal.
This post was edited on 11/30/23 at 7:45 am
Posted on 11/30/23 at 7:41 am to WeeWee
I do know the kid in a canoe that got shot and killed by a "hog hunter" in BCNWR about a decade plus back was canoeing along but wearing a black sweat shirt. According to someone involved in the investigation the shooter was stoned.
Posted on 11/30/23 at 7:51 am to TheDrunkenTigah
quote:
What part specifically do you think is nit picky? A solid orange block is more visible, 500 sq inches i
Well I didn’t really want to put it out there because the game warden is a state fan and might check here. I dropped a doe off at the processor last weekend. I still had on my orange and camo vest. There was a game warden there who said he could write me a ticket if thats all I was wearing if he had caught me in the woods. The vest meets the rules in Louisiana but not in Mississippi because the camo interrupts the solidness of the orange per this game warden. I hunt on private land and also wear an beanie or hat, but that encounter just really chapped my arse.
This post was edited on 11/30/23 at 8:05 am
Posted on 11/30/23 at 8:02 am to WeeWee
Either you were wearing a youth vest or the warden is a dumbass, the later being more likely. 500sq inches is 18” by 28”, or a little smaller than a silhouette target, one side. So realistically if you have a vest covering most of your back, there’s no way you won’t get to 500” with anything on the front. If it’s bunched up or covered by clothing then that’s a different story, but that again isn’t nit picking, you’re legitimately making yourself less visible which is the whole common sense intent of the law.
Edit cause you added it was a camo pattern, I’m not gonna dig into the science of it but a solid shape is more visible. Breaking the shape with high contrast is why you want to wear it in the first place as opposed to solid orange.
Edit cause you added it was a camo pattern, I’m not gonna dig into the science of it but a solid shape is more visible. Breaking the shape with high contrast is why you want to wear it in the first place as opposed to solid orange.
This post was edited on 11/30/23 at 8:07 am
Posted on 11/30/23 at 8:11 am to WeeWee
quote:
I still had on my orange and camo vest. There was a game warden there who said he could write me a ticket if thats all I was wearing if he had caught me in the woods. The vest meets the rules in Louisiana but not in Mississippi because the camo interrupts the solidness of the orange per this game warden. I hunt on private land and also wear an beanie or hat, but that encounter just really chapped my arse.
Your vest was orange camo? And you were hunting in Mississippi where you can’t wear orange camo?
If so, it sounds like you were in violation if you have to wear unbroken orange. Am I missing something?
Maybe he was looking out for your safety?
Posted on 11/30/23 at 8:15 am to Ron Cheramie
Not a big game hunter but I know as an upland hunter hunter orange is crucial in locating other hunters in the field so safe shots can be taken. Always good to communicate as well but hunter orange is the first line of defense
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