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

well spoken and excellent advise to the young an starting hunter as well as some of us older ones ,that have a little trouble getting about

norm

in Alberta And British Columbia we are not required to wear anything visable most people are using camo now [i have just started using it],
we don't have that many insances happening in our woods , but i do remember when there have been instances of influx of immigrants comming into the country and some of us stayed out of the bush for a few years,,the odd ones of them didn,t make it

I like to call the 1st photo "BlazinFATMAN" ...vintage cell picture today at 4:15pm.




...and this is the implement today. .303H 440 weaver



Call it Karma, call it [bleep] luck or don't call it at all, but after seeing literally nada thus far, I had a deer (too thick to get ID on sex) pull the 'ole flim flam on me shortly before this (30 min.) picture. Damn thing came around from behind through the thick stuff. I held pat and caught a glimpse of the asss end through the brush at 40 yards. No positive sight picture of any more of the animal...by the time I stalked, gone and darkness closing in...BUT, it gives hope and maybe it was the balze camo vest! I am superstitious.
Fast forward 20 min. to where I parked my truck on the edge of a huge marsh/swap...past shooting time and clearly I WILL NOT shoot in the near dark...as I am unloading into back seat of truck some gear, snap goes the branch and bounding away from me in the swamp go 4 decent sized animals...too late and too dark. But this is karma...nothing seen thus far, until I break out the blaze camo vest. And gents...I got NO time to embelish and make this shcitt up! Bucks only so tomorrow we will see...and yes, I will be wearing the Balze again as I am superstitious as mentioned.

i kind oflike the checkering on that gun ,is it your design ???
difinately not factory

Norm...nah, I have NO artistic talent at all and as far as I am concerned checkering a rifle is an art and takes a talent. Definitely NOT factory as a JTC letter backed up. Somebody thought it would be a good idea...probably about the time they refinished the wood and put a high luster finish. The stock is really nice looking and tastefully done by somebody with some amount of talent. I like old school original, but this is a nice job and it doesn't bother me at all.

Ya know FJ regardless of all the above discussion, blaze don't make no never mind. Several years back I was wearing full orange head to toe. There I was sitting fat and sassy on a stump looking out over a clear cut when low and behold, some splinters flew off the stump and very shortly thereafter I heard a shot. Hit the ground and started feeling for the selector switch on the M14 I didn't have. Not an experience that gives you a lot of confidence in orange. I no longer hunt on public land in WA. Too damn many want-to-be Seattle hunters out in the woods.

Hey John
Thats a darn nice looking rig ya got there. Like the checkering.

As far as Blaze Orange not to worry, deer are colored blind so they say,so no worry's there. And Far better to be seen than not. Me i prefer hunting in a gillie suit still have mine from- well that another story. Hope ya Bag a Big One.
Steve

Yep, a lot of wanna-be's out there. Once when I was 14-15 years old and Pop and I were headed into the bush one frosty morning, we chanced upon an old redneck dressed in nothing but a flannel shirt and bib overalls (pre- fluorescent orange days) and sitting behind an automatic rifle of some sort- big old 20-30 shot banana clip sticking up out of the gun. Some kind of Russian or British light machine gun I suppose. My adolescent mind said "Wowee! Boy, you could mow down a whole herd of deer with one of those." My dad on the other hand couldn't get us out of there quickly enough. Later that morning way off down the mountain I heard it open up. The guy must have ripped through a couple magazines, and all I could think was, again, "Wowee!"

Im always wearing a orabge hat and the fleece seen in the back row, left. In 3xlt its enough orange for most of our hunting party

its required here but my Uncle in front of me is at the bare minimum required.

Gary....damn good looking crowd! And I really dig the cabin! Where at?


Stever....worrying me stopping short on the Ghillie suit explanation...please tell me you were on the "darker" side of ops in Cambodia, or Laos or possibly set up to whack some foreign dictator for the "Company".

Blaze orange camo in place this morning....had PT so half a day was it...

that rub my friends is approx. 7 feet up the downhill side of the tree....guess who NEVER wins that lottery in the tag draw!!!!

I see what looks like that here in Maine and it is where moose knaw the bark off the tree. I have seen places where there were 30 trees that looked like that. Maybe that is not what you have there just what I have seen here.

That building behind us is the sauna at my uncle Lonnys place. The portion that is visable on the left side of the photo is the screen porch off the back of the sauna. Just out of view to the right is the log home they built from a pile o logs they cut. Camp 99 is just a few min walk from the main lodge(house).

Yep,Moose love that white maple bark !!!! John you might want to move your stand !!! Deer and moose dont like to hang out with one another !!!! Don

Looks like a big ole bear did that

Used to see them claw marks up in the big woods all the time.

I would have bet Moose rubbing its dumb-assed antlers. Don and the Maine-iac feel it is Moose eating the tasty bark...Moose eating it makes some sense as there was not a single shaving on the ground. BUT...who knows...there are a few moose doing moose things in this patch.

I have seen them doing it before! Don

I don't know....moose don't exactly have long sharp teeth.

How could they make those big long dig marks in the wood like that? Those dig marks in the tree look to be to close together to be separate tines on a moose's antlers and he'd rake it up and down that trunk 2 feet or more.

I'm thinking that is a bear raking his claws down that tree.

Nobody else ever seen a bear rake a tree like that?

Mostly Balsams in by experience, but I've seen them on a hardwood every once in a while

Don
Why do you say White Maple? In my area in Wisconsin they call that Popal Wood! Just Wondering.
Steve

"White maple" is also known in some locals as "Silver Maple", which may be a more familiar common name to some.

Upon further reflection I am changing my mind.

I don't think a bear did that. Those dig marks are too random. They would be straight up and down if they were bear claws. Plus, there are no scratches on the bottom just worn off bark, like it could have been done by the bottom teeth of a moose.

I've seen plenty of trees raked by bears though, just sayin......this probably ain't one of them.

How bout a Porcupine.

For Cripes sakes LISTEN for once. Git yur A$$ up to NE and you can WATCH moose do it. You havta git outside da box blind and move around just a tad!!!!!!!!!!! Yur wooden shoes need a clickin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HUH?

What?

Serious?

I know...we are all dumb azzes.....sept for you

It must be true,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,YOU said it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHHDg3uETwY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVf669D_njI&feature=related

These are a "couple examples" Not exactly eating from the trunk of the tree,,,,,,YET!!!!!!!!!!

Too tired tonight to argue with that kind of insight and logic.

Maybe tomorrow I'll be in a better mood.

Fussy bunch here tonight! Hope you two don't hunt the same woods anytime soon. Anyway any dumbazz can tell that mark was made by Sasquatch so you're both wrong.

Quite a SaVAgeD family you have there Gary

LBK is right. If you have been in moose country much then it is pretty easy to know that this is moose food.

Thank you, but it just ISN'T worth it. You can take the man out of the "flatlands", but you can NOT take the "flatland" out of the man............ I'm stupid and I'll just stay this way.

I love that saying.....I have seen many a flatlander come up with some pretty silly stuff. Most the time I just go along with them. Too hard to set them straight. Then they don't believe ya. I will try and find the pictures of a camp I had that was all scratched up by bear.

Like i said ive seen em doing it !!!!! in the logging business i spent more time in the woods then most here would have drempt about, and in all kinds of weather !!!!! ive seen many strange things happening in the woods ,and a lot of them involve "CITYFOLK" !!!!!! Don

From a NH standpoint this is becoming comical...flatlanders in a true sense was ALWAYS pointed out to me as folk from BELOW the Notch geographically speaking. In which case, if this was true, than the 3 Granite Staters here that chimed in are ALL flatlanders!
Furthermore, if it went in any sort of descending order heading south from north and nearest the Notch...Don is closest, I be next and hell...LBK...you're so close to the MA border we may as well call you Kennedy or Kerry and just call it good!












***disclaimer*** Every rule has it's exceptions, and in Don's case I believe this to be true! He made his living in the woods...good enuff for a city kid like me!

^^^^^^^Truth be told, I can be in Boston in 45 minutes^^^^

John,My great grandfather was born in Pittsburg N.H., I may be a little south in the Banana belt,but its far from flat here!!!!from my property on the river i can see thru the notch !!!!! Don

Are you on the pemi?

Pretty sure on a clear, calm day, LBK can hear the debates of his MA neighbors on Beacon Hill in Boston...

I have a 30 acre piece on the pemi,where my sugar house is . Don

Very Nice Don! I was told a long time ago and it made good sense...just have not acted on the advice which was : "Land is the one thing God isn't making any more of"...

I got to get some more coffee and head out...I will catch up with you backwoods birds later! You too LBK!

better make it decalf!!!!!

So, are there also flying squirrels up there co-habitating with y'alls mooses (moosi, meese, mice, etc.)? How far are you from Chagrin Falls?

Yup ,i used to have pet flying squirrels, they were in a dead stub i knocked over when it was hit by a falling tree !! and they were not named "ROCKY" and wasn't that "FROSTBITE FALLS"????? i had the squirrels trained if i held my hat upside down and waved it they would climb up the curtain and leap into my hat ,they were really smart little critters. Don

Oops, yes "Frostbite Falls"! I only ever saw flying squirrels once in the woods. No moose though.

LBK: Not so tired tonight so here goes:

Please go back and read the entire thread and notice that I posted this before you went on your little self serving, condescending, hey look at me, I'm a great woodman and a genius and this guy is just another dumb azz tirade. Whether I or other people are right or wrong is of no consequence. The acidic tone of your responses to people you disagree with is just really becoming tiring and boring. Get some perspective. Just guys chatting on the internet. Don't matter how dumb or wrong they are: try to show some tolerance and a little class.

Despite our different backgrounds, everybody else here seems to be able to do it

Do you read these threads just waiting to pounce on prey that you think is weaker than you?

I know you LBK....we all know you. You are the kid on the play ground that took our lunch money

There is NO other way to reply to you!