What do you think...?
I encountered a situation I'd never had before with another hunter on Saturday. I was set up at the edge of a timber overlooking a bean field on public land that I knew was frequented by deer. I got out there and set up around 2pm. I was hunting with my muzzleloader, and according to state law I was wearing the required blaze orange vest and hat so I was pretty visible.
About 3pm a bowhunter comes walking in on the opposite side of the timber behind me about 50 yards away. I hear movement, and turn around slow (without bringing my gun up, BTW), and see him walking right toward me in full camo. He never said a word until he was right up to me. He saw me because I was wearing orange, and started to question me about what I was hunting (I said deer), and why I had a gun (because it was early ML season) and that he was surprised that a gun season coincided with bow season. Anyway, he turned out to be a pretty nice guy after I established that I was, in fact, legally hunting there and we chatted for a bit before he went to set up his climber about 75 yards behind and to the left of me, well out of my shooting area.
So, on the one hand, I was glad he came over and let me know where he was going to be, and I didn't mind sharing the area with him because it's a large space and he was hunting an area I couldn't cover from where I was at and he was down wind of me, too. On the other hand, I was a little miffed that he didn't know gun hunters could be in the area (it was public land and early ML season) and wasn't wearing orange at least while he was walking in. And because he didn't identify his presence when he saw me but just quietly walked in and I was lucky to hear the footsteps in the brush (which sounded like a deer coming) and turn around and spotted him be his movement. He is lucky that I am of the mindset that you don't present the gun until the target it ID'd, so I didn't have him at gunpoint, but maybe a less careful hunter might have at least shouldered their gun and pointed it in his direction, or maybe even shot. And if there had been a deer that he pushed to me between us, I might not have seen him either. Thank God nothing happened, but I guess that I think that maybe he was a little dumb not to have on at least some orange while walking through the woods during a gun season.
What so you guys thing about this? I can't really decide if he was right or wrong, or both.
Mike