Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors OT: Thoughts from Deer woods today

OT: For the first time that I can recall, I felt a bit nervous with the small amount of Blaze I wear. I formerly wore a vest of blaze, but now mostly a scully winter hat. My coat is red plaid wool. I just had an uneasy feeling. I ran into a guy busting through the woods the other day like it was his job...didn't see me until last second and I wasn't hiding! He looked terrified. Started a seed of doubt in my head I believe. NH doesn't require it. We have already had a killing in the opening days fo rifle season and I think a winging as well. Not sure I want either. Everyone I have ever picked up that had been shot and survived...well it looked like it really hurt...even little mouse gun .25 acp's look friggin' painful. I want no part of it.
I wonder what you all think of BLAZE if not required...do you wear it? How much?

Also started thinking about hunting the wind...great concept, believe it to be a sound idea...but for the most part, NH does NOT have a prevailing wind from any direction...no trades, no leewards...my experience is it swirls constantly when it blows which makes hunting the wind ridiculous!
I got to much time on my hands...CLEARLY!

Yeeep

Are you hunting on public land? If so, use all the blaze you can.

YUP! Mostly! I really had a feeling of the hair standing up on my neck.

John, John, John. WHAT is your problem lately. HELMETS, NOT required, SEAT BELTS, NOT required. BLAZE ORANGE, NOT required. We have a motor cycle accident almost EVERY day, we have automobile accidents EVERY day...........In the last FIFTEEN years we have had 3 fatalaties related to hunting and TWO have been self inflicted. If you are that worried about being a number, that do NOT enter the woods. There IS no other answer. I too have had hunters walk redicously close to me and NEVER see me. My only concern is WHY do they hunt in the first place if they are that unfamiliar with their surroundings.

The wind. I think "thermals". In the mornings, for the most part the air is warming and rising. I try to avoid hunting uphill. And the opposite for the afternoon. The air is cooling and falling. With that respect I try not to hunt downhill. That part is simple. The winds, we do have prevail west to east FOR THE MOST PART.............NOT always. But high wind and swirling wind is your friend, not the enemy. Your scent is blown every which way. It is confusing to the deer because they have a momentary whiff and then it's gone. The deer are on high alert and as well the hunter should be. Many hunters spend much of their time looking DOWN at the ground for tracks, scrapes, rubs, and droppings. Seldom are they searching with their eyes up and out. That's why many hunters see the rump and flag FIRST. Hunting the wind IS rediculous, but USING the wind is not. It is a talent and an art. It is always a learning experience. You could spend hours sitting in a box blind or up a tree looking over a food plot or bait, but to a still hunter this is painfully boring. I have not seen a single hunter in the woods yet this season. I have actually seen a total of 3 hunters the entire season and each and every one has been on a tote road. Most people that hunt today and call themselves "hunters" do not fit the criteria of the person I call a hunter. Now I may be called low class by some around here once again, but I REALLY don't care. Either you hone your skills as a hunter/shooter and be happy with your level of expertise or you don't. It's as simple as that. You need to find a deer within your comfort zone and then be able to hit a target the size of a basketball.

I wear a blaze hat and vest. It's required by Michigan law, but I'd wear it anyway. I usually hunt on private land, but I've had enough problems with trespassers and morons to believe that it's a prudent idea to be as visible as I can be. I'm convinced by experience (over 40 years of hunting and 80+ deer) that deer aren't bothered by it if I sit still.

Rod

On helmets ect.: I road motorcycles like I stole them for a looooong time. Not proud to admit, but a ton of times impaired. NO HELMET, ever! Accidents....I am the sorry SOB that deals withn the tradgedy and stupidity of folks on the road killing themselves and others daily! Drunk, drugged, or just not paying attention. That [bleep] don't scare me. Price of doing business. Part time adrenaline junkie maybe. [bleep] birds in the woods that shoot sounders and are clueless scares me...at least as recently as this week. Road hunters are not comfortable and that is there business. As for entering the woods, I am just wondering if Blaze is a prevailing thought particularly where it is not required. I don't think less of people with or without. It's not about playing chicken. I just happened to get away from it and now I wonder if it is a decision I should rethink.
Ever been shot at-near-or overhead? I have...twice. It sucks. Once up north, more likely than not by some hayseed ridge-runners not all that keen on flat landers coming up north, drinking their whiskey, banging their women and more likely just afraid we would shoot one of "THEIR" deer. Shooting rounds overhead to the point of going dick down in the dirt and hearing the rounds whistling. The perception of the aforementioned details was probably what got them boys all stupid. Didn't make me stop going in the woods. The next occurance was literally a hail of gun fire and again, face down in the dirt. no less than 12 hunters piled out of 2 beach wagons with MA tags and opened up soon after breaking the tree line...shotgun only area...easily 30 shots. I managed to meet them after the assault...bad time to be getting up in somebodies face huh? Small doe missing a leg, and gaping holes all over the remains. I still went in the woods. Ya see, i am either farcking crazy or stupid or huge ballz...maybe a little of all 3.
So...going in the woods doesn't scare me, but I have just had a strange feeling as of late. not sure if blaze makes it go away...BTW...Blaze in place during the 2 shootouts.

....the wind...yes, the wind....on Bruce Shwoeggler's map it may prevail west to east...that is a nice graphic, but I submit it mostly swirls. I grabbed the idea early on that the wind was not that big a deal because it swirled and the deer would not be as able to "play" it as if it were str8 lined. I was merely saying I thought the idea of hunting into the wind around here is pointless...I may as well run in circles to find the "into the wind" part.

**** Let me guess....not risky enough for all you? They must be scared and unsure of themselves in the woods...but I bet they would bushwhack the schitt out of you in the rack!

Friends of yours?

...back in the day...maybe....now...not likely!

When I get a weird little feeling like that, I usually go along with it. We have to wear orange on chest, back and head here. Ain't no big thing.

Up here in Maine we have to where 2 pieces, a hat and at least a vestwith a certain sq. inchs of orange. We still had a guy killed with both on this year and a couple others hit. Most of us still go in the woods. In the 50's they would kill a heck of a lot of guys when everyone was in green and they had more hunters in the woods then. So I think if it is your time then ........... maybe that is not the way to look at it. Id does give you a bad feeling when see guys wandering around close and you know they have no clue they you are there.

Wouldn't think of going into the woods without blaze orange. Required by law in Missouri. Enough accidental shootings with it required, scary to think what it would be like without it. GW

Hunt MD and WV, WV on my farm, and wear big blaze jacket with hood when cold. Blaze stocking hat or ball cap and vest when warm. That big jacket is so bright that when there is snow on the ground it hurts my eyes in the reflection. Dear don't mind unless you move. My tree stand is about 100 yards from the property line, on the side of a big wooded hill. It's just high enough that I'm about level with the field on the other side of the fence. A couple times it's been warm enough that I only had my ball cap on and I had that creepy feeling, because you never know who's on the other side of the fence. The neighbors on that side of the farm bring in pay to hunt guys from VA, and they hunt the fence line and shoot down on our side all the time. Pizzs me off. But, we're only up there a few days a year to hunt. Thought about building a big enclosed stand right on the fence line to PO them. You know, one with a genarator, dish, and heat, but that's another story, Joe.

This is about all the orange I wear, normally.





If the weather is particurlarly colder, I will switch to this or an orange sweater.

For me its usually just an orange hat and scarf over several layers of wool shirts/sweaters, which meets MD reqs. My day pack is bright red. I gave up on the vests that go over the coat because they always seem to get in the way or get snagged on stuff, plus it's covered up by the day pack in back anyway. If its really bitter cold I put on a dull orange wool coat too, but it hasn't gotten that cold here in quite a few years.

The only dead guy found anywhere close to where I was hunting was a guy dressed in orange head-to-toe, with a bullet hole dead center in his chest. 70 year old grandfather without an enemy in the world. They never solved it. My hunting partner stumbled onto him up on the mountain behind our camp.

Another guy local to York,PA when I lived there was shot dead at sunup as he was walking into the woods. Dressed in orange head-to-toe. Shot by a little kid first time out deer hunting. Reputably a good level headed mature kid, but a kid nonetheless. (That's why I always take guys bragging about how mature their 9 and 10 year olds are and how they're "ready" to go deer hunting, with a big grain of salt and quietly resolve to steer well clear of them. A kid is a kid, period. I don't trust them to make life and death decisions at that age. Rant over.)

I'm seeing more and more young guys sneaking around the woods in full camo without any orange. Clearly breaking the law, usually carrying AR-15's. WTF is up with that? Do they think this is Afghanistan or something? Too much Military History Channel (or video games) probably. I'm waiting for a few of them to bump into each other sometime and start a fire fight. (I saw a couple of those dudes 20 years ago when I hunted next door to Camp David up in the Catoctins. Then I realized they were Marines patrolling the perimeter and that I had strayed too close. I shifted my beat a couple hundred yards farther out after that.)

Interesting replies. Thanks for the insight men. I am rethinking the whole concept.

National and state numbers suggests that wearing bright orange helps deer hunters from unintentionally shooting one another. But as we all know, being covered with blaze orange is no guarantee.

When I move through the woods, I try and sound like a deer so I don't spook them away. 3-4 steps and stop. Repeat. That makes me a nervous when I know that there are hunters nearby even though I wear a bright orange hat, vest and if I have my hunting pack on, a orange cover.

Regardless, when I see or hear another hunter, whether on foot or on/in a vehicle, if they have not seen me, I step behind a tree and try to be invisible and silent. I feel safer regardless if I remain unseen and undetected. I have no idea how acute their hearing or vision. Hell, they could be drunk and color blind.

Here's something else to think about. How many times have you watched a hunter clad from head to toe in blaze orange get into a camo pop-up tent blind or shooting box and disappear? It never made much sense to me.

When I built my box blind a few years ago, I put drop-down shutters on the windows, and on the inside of each one I nailed a big blaze orange No Trespassing sign. When the shutters are closed and the blind is unoccupied the blind is dull green in color, but when one of my sons or I am in it, the shutters are open the blaze orange sign are clearly visible.



Rod

Rod, those signs make for good targets. Do folks up there mistake elevated box blinds for game animals, or are you saying if the windows are open someone is home? I also would think that putting a sign on your blind would cause lots of scoped rifles to be pulled up to read it. Tom