Blaze Orange Requirement for Hikers

I don’t know why but some people treat orange like a joke, any time I’m on a wma I’m walking around like a Sunkist advertisement.

Same. Alabama only requires a hat. I wear a vest and a hat walking and take them off in a tree.

I was driving through a a WMA in South MS a few weeks ago and I come over a hill and see somebody in the middle of this dirt road. Ends up being a female jogger, no orange. A few hundred yards past her, I come to what I believe was her 4Runner parked directly in front of a gated road, which is illegal. There was a racing bike and water bottle on the back of the 4Runner which led me to believe it was hers. But you are not supposed to block a gate in the WMA for emergency purposes. You’re supposed to park off to the side and walk in.

Some of these hikers have the survival instinct of a bowl of mashed potatoes and are blithely unaware at how dangerous that really is. Especially in LA with hardcore hunters that can and will shoot at anything.

and to make matters even worst, they bring their dog out there on a wma during hunting season when some of these wma's say on a sign before you get on the hiking trail "NO PETS".

And don't even get me started on the hikers that go off of the trail during hunting season and make all kinds of racket walking through the woods and being loud as all get out with no orange on at all. Dangerous and indecent.

Is it an indecent thing to go off of a hiking trail and walk through the woods when it is hunting season? Mind you i was 200 yards off the main trail.

I had 2 hikers come right under neath me and whistled at them and notified them of my presence. They felt bad and they walked away...in the direction i was hunting over.

I get its public and they have every right to do that but i was not happy to say the least.

Could be worse. I saw a story recently about a hunter in Russia who killed the driver of a Toyota Land Cruiser thinking he was shooting at an elk.

Talk about not using common sense and acquiring the ID of the target before pulling the trigger.

quote:

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hardcore hunters that can and will shoot at anything

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That's not the term I'd use

I figured as much.

The two hikers i saw were college age girls. Likely freshmen in college. I could tell they did not know any better and that this was their first time out there. They felt really bad when they saw me and they even mouthed "we are so sorry" so i didn't make a fuss, waved at them, gave them a thumbs up and they walked away.

Its when grown adults that do this that really pisses me off. How they don't have any common sense to tell themselves "it is hunting season and i am on public land, i should stay on the trails to be considerate of people hunting" is beyond me and i will never get it.

Some of us that hunt public put insane amounts of time into scouting and walking to where we planned to go and it is very infuriating when some hippie comes walking out there off the trail making all kinds of noise spreading their scent everywhere.

They have every right to hike that place but come on man they make hiking trails for a reason.

I have a hunters orange vest in my turkey pack. Most of the time I wear a HO hat during bow season. Ive never really had a close call, it just gives me the creeps.