Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Small Game Squirrel hunting with Safety Orange

Do you think squirrels are alerted to safety orange?

No.

Maybe not to the actual color so much, however I do believe that squirrels will spot movement quicker when wearing hunter safety orange. Camo or drab colored clothing will mask movement better than the bright orange and squirrels seem to alert quicker when they catch you moving when wearing orange.

+1


maddog

Hell yes. Sitting on a hillside watching for deer. Squirrel comes along through the woods, spots this big orange blob and comes up the hill, climbs a tree nearby and watches, trying to figure out what it is. He stayed there more than twenty minutes. When I finally moved, he ran off.

Deer see in the green, yellow, blue spectrum. Squirrels see like us.

From my experience deer hunting, it attracts them. miles

Another time, while deer hunting from a tree stand, I hear a hell of a racket, see a fox squirrel about 40 yards out. He in a pine tree, raking bark of a limb, then racing up and down the tree still raking bark off. I'm thinking WTF is up with him. Finally, near last light he comes out of the tree, runs up my tree. When he gets to shoulder hight, I turned and said BOO. He bailed out and hauled ass.

We have to wear orange by law, never had a problem killing squirrels while wearing it

I don't think it alarms them...they feel safe up in a tree, and it may very well attract them. If their vision is dichromatic, the orange will appear as white...the universal color for alarm.
If indeed they ever flee from it it is probably because some bird ( which have trichromatic vision) has made an alarm call.
They may not know what the orange means, but they know what the alarm calls of their neighbors mean.
Best guess from here...

some squirrel yes and some no. Depends on how much hunting pressure they have had on them. A solid color will definitely get their attention.

I gotta say this is the slowest Squirrel season I think i've ever encountered.

Recently up in Michigan an F150 going down the road didn't scare them all that much. I think one could easily make a meal with a little hunter orange on.

Boy Howdy! Usually looks like a Rodent Rodeo.

Had a Carolina Wren land on the barrel of my ML last year. He stared at the giant orange blob holding it for about 10 seconds before he booked. I'm pretty sure HE can see color okay.

Starting tomorrow[Nov. 1], we have to wear hunter orange when squirrel hunting, for the remainder of the season [Jan. 31]


maddog

I think the same here in Alabama, when gun deer season opens hunter orange is required there on out. Most of the land I hunt on is family owned and not opened to outsiders or deer hunting so I only have to wear orange when hitting public lands. I dislike it, but it's better than getting shot by some nincompoop.

Agree.

I hunted in October. Maybe the squirrels were few where I was. It's the first time I had to wear the Orange and the first time I was amazed at how few squirrels there were.

I hunted the gun opener in Mecklenburg county, VA Sat. I saw 2 does + 2 fawns (opening day is 2 bucks only there), but I did see literally dozens of gray squirrels, at times up to 6 or so in shotgun range at once. I had orange vest and cap, one got within 15 feet of me and another a measured 5 feet away! But I think part of it is little hunting pressure there, people seem to want deer/turkey vs the limb chickens.

The science says that they can distinguish red/orange/green from yellow and blue, but do not see it as we do. So, they do notice it as different.

The one item that people don't considered in detection is that how the material reflects light often is more of a give away then any color.

I killed a limit Saturday with a squirming 12 year old sitting next to me. Both of us were wearing orange. I think it may matter a little, but not as much as movement.

Orange helps with squirrels, crows, whatever. They mistake you for a deer hunter and think they have nothing to fear.

I suspect deer can see it, since I see far more deer when hunting anything other than deer.