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"A Slow, Deliberate, Emotionless, Open Conversation" About Hunting Accidents

@HuumanCreed, does Maryland have laws for hunter orange and how long have they had them?

I'm wondering if that contributes to New York's issue. I doubt they have high compliance rates with a brand new law. Alabama has had that law on the books for my whole life.

I can't imagine not having the ole punkin'head on during deer season if I'm out in the woods, hunting or not.
 
Nutterbuster said:
@HuumanCreed, does Maryland have laws for hunter orange and how long have they had them?

I'm wondering if that contributes to New York's issue. I doubt they have high compliance rates with a brand new law. Alabama has had that law on the books for my whole life.

I can't imagine not having the ole punkin'head on during deer season if I'm out in the woods, hunting or not.
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You're required to wear orange during gun and muzzleloader season only. Either a hat or vest or outer layer top. Been that ways since I moved here in 2010. Surprisingly you do not need orange for turkey or ducks. Only during gun/muzzle season for deer.
 
The older I get the more I like the idea of wearing an orange hat walking to and from where I am hunting. However, being a hunter I can never wrap my head around how another hunter mistakes a human for a turkey or deer. Just seems so careless.
 
Hall17 said:
The older I get the more I like the idea of wearing an orange hat walking to and from where I am hunting. However, being a hunter I can never wrap my head around how another hunter mistakes a human for a turkey or deer. Just seems so careless.
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I can see this if someone is wearing solid earth tone and are stalking. Even on this forum, some have told moments when they almost pull the trigger on someone that they swear look like a deer when scoped.
 
Ny has a three month season if you bowhunt and muzzleloader hunt. Bow is from Oct 1st through gun season,which starts the third weekend in November and the you get 10 or 12 days of muzzzle loader season. Then it closes for a few days and after the holidays you get another week. More on long island...
 
HuumanCreed said:
I can see this if someone is wearing solid earth tone and are stalking. Even on this forum, some have told moments when they almost pull the trigger on someone that they swear look like a deer when scoped.
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I agree to an extent. I have caught movement from many hunters and had that "oh man there is a deer" moment. But I am talking about making the actual decision to pull the trigger. Like physically pulling up your gun, putting the crosshairs on the subject and pulling the trigger. To me how does that happen. They clearly are not aiming for a certain spot on what they think is an animal they are simply shooting in hopes to hit it.
 
Hall17 said:
The older I get the more I like the idea of wearing an orange hat walking to and from where I am hunting. However, being a hunter I can never wrap my head around how another hunter mistakes a human for a turkey or deer. Just seems so careless.
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Orange (hat and vest) is a habit for me thanks to how I was introduced to hunting. I've added an Orange backpack panel too.

Though, sometimes orange isn't enough to prevent dangerous scenarios.

I've seen bullets travel close-by, crashing through brush like a visible tracer. From an opposite ridge I saw one hunter walking through a thicket nearly get peppered after jumping a buck that ran by some hunters at the other end of the thicket, neither party in view of the other.

The power of many hunting cartridges is quite impressive. Last year my brother shot a buck through a tree with a 30-06.

Stories like the one below are not uncommon:

www.mitchellrepublic.com

Hunting bullet went 900 yards, through shed and into a home, court documents say

According to court documents, the bullet traveled through the shed and into the northeast portion of the house -- the location of the bathroom -- into the standup shower.
www.mitchellrepublic.com www.mitchellrepublic.com

It's just an example of how far the danger area of your shot is. You can google and read about all sorts of reports of stray shots, some that struck people in homes and even numerous accounts involving trained sharpshooters.

Hunting from an elevated position doesn't wholly negate those risks, but in many situations it reduces the odds significantly.
 
Hall17 said:
The older I get the more I like the idea of wearing an orange hat walking to and from where I am hunting. However, being a hunter I can never wrap my head around how another hunter mistakes a human for a turkey or deer. Just seems so careless.
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It does seem that way, and it IS negligent.

I think sometimes the mind assembles the fragmented sensory inputs and makes split second conclusions that are invalid - and the person sees what they expected to see. There are plenty of instances where the shooter “was convinced they saw the game they were hunting”.

Turkey hunting mistakes aren’t so hard for me to comprehend:

A sleep-deprived person getting up early enough to be in position well before daylight; Full camo / no hunter orange; Low light; Gobbler calling in close proximity - maybe even closing in; Thick cover; Inexperienced, excited hunter who hasn’t observed a lot of game in the woods previously; Adrenaline rush as the movement comes into view…
 
Hall17 said:
I agree to an extent. I have caught movement from many hunters and had that "oh man there is a deer" moment. But I am talking about making the actual decision to pull the trigger. Like physically pulling up your gun, putting the crosshairs on the subject and pulling the trigger. To me how does that happen. They clearly are not aiming for a certain spot on what they think is an animal they are simply shooting in hopes to hit it.
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Yeah, this baffles me too. During gun seasons I have my cap and vest, and I'm gonna add a flag for my pack. I was out sunday archery hunting on new land and came across two blinds and a ladder stand. When I noticed the blinds, I started to whistle to alert them, just in case it was someone that would rather shoot and pray. They ended up being empty, but I noted on my app where I found them for future knowledge.
 
kyler1945 said:
Is the statistic "1 in 799 motorcyclists" or "1 in 799 people" die in motorcycle accident? Those are very different statistics.
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I was wondering the same thing but assumed the former is the case . If not the statistic is pretty useless.
 
HuumanCreed said:
You're required to wear orange during gun and muzzleloader season only. Either a hat or vest or outer layer top. Been that ways since I moved here in 2010. Surprisingly you do not need orange for turkey or ducks. Only during gun/muzzle season for deer.
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It's been that way as long as I can remember. And @HuumanCreed sentence is spot on in wording for the seasons but just want to clarify that during those seasons, even if you're archery hunting, you still have to wear orange. As it should be.
 
HuumanCreed said:
You're required to wear orange during gun and muzzleloader season only. Either a hat or vest or outer layer top. Been that ways since I moved here in 2010. Surprisingly you do not need orange for turkey or ducks. Only during gun/muzzle season for deer.
Click to expand...
Same here. If you're hunting any game in an area where gun-deer season is in, you need orange. Don't need it for turkey or waterfowl, arguably because they definitely see in color and it'd be tough to get within killing range of a turkey with an orange hat or vest on.

New York gun season looks to be around a month for the zones that have them. More generous than Maryland, less than Alabama.

Alabama doesn't get to be progressive too often. I'm glad we're at least forward-thinking when it comes to not getting shot by Cleetus and Bubba.
 
LoadedLimbs said:
It does seem that way, and it IS negligent.

I think sometimes the mind assembles the fragmented sensory inputs and makes split second conclusions that are invalid - and the person sees what they expected to see. There are plenty of instances where the shooter “was convinced they saw the game they were hunting”.

Turkey hunting mistakes aren’t so hard for me to comprehend:

A sleep-deprived person getting up early enough to be in position well before daylight; Full camo / no hunter orange; Low light; Gobbler calling in close proximity - maybe even closing in; Thick cover; Inexperienced, excited hunter who hasn’t observed a lot of game in the woods previously; Adrenaline rush as the movement comes into view…
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This is exactly why eye witness testimony in court is deemed so unreliable. Our mind naturally filters the information we receive and fill in things we think we saw. Our brains are constantly in information overload, (sight, smell, sounds, noise, etc) and can't possibly take in everything. An easy example of this is that our noses are always visible, but our brain filters it out
 
Jay_Disarray said:
This is exactly why eye witness testimony in court is deemed so unreliable. Our mind naturally filters the information we receive and fill in things we think we saw. Our brains are constantly in information overload, (sight, smell, sounds, noise, etc) and can't possibly take in everything. An easy example of this is that our noses are always visible, but our brain filters it out
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Running with that thought.

What else does our brain filter out because it's there all the time? What does it notice because it's novel?
 
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