give me a break - more DEC officers for BO, don't think so. Don't you think those that are out there could enforce the law - if they see someone in violation - write a ticket or give a warning - no extra time involved - they are out there anyway.

with that said, it wouldn't be the end of the world to have a few more ECO around to enforce all game laws (poaching, etc.)

I was thinking the other way. I am somewhat shocked at how many people are anti BO. Because they don't like being told what to do? They put the chance of not being spotted by a buck above 7 out of 10 huntes losing their lives? Don't make a lot of sense to me. Private land, public land, or your 1/2 acre backyard it doesn't matter. The simple fact is it WILL reduce hunter fatalities and everything else is irrelevant.
Go tell a widow of a hunter that was shot that at least her taxes are lower. Give me a break and lose the Rambo attitudes.

I agree!!

Perhaps I misunderstood what you are trying to get across. Actually, 10 out of 10 hunters will die, but a very tiny number will die while hunting. In 2003, we had only three fatal accidents, and in 2004, only four fatal accidents in the entire state of PA. Hunting is a very safe sport. With nearly a million of us buying licenses, this is amazing. If you would like some statistics as to our hunting accidents, here is a webpage:
http://www.pgc.state.pa.us/pgc/cwp/view.asp?a=461&q=158315

Now, what is amazing about this is that in 2003 and also in 2004, none of the fatal accidents occured in spring gobbler season when we are not required to wear any blaze orange. It seems that the most fatal accidents occur during rifle deer season when we are required to do our pumpkin immitation.

Of further interest should be the fact that way back in the early years of hunting in PA, there were far more accidents and far more fatalities. Were those old guys not as safety conscious? Perhaps it is more due to the fact that most of them hunted deer by driving and shot at running deer.

am i missing something here ? did the forests of ny suddenly become a killing ground ? as far as i know there are actually far fewer shooting related deaths now than 20 or even 10 years ago. a couple of you sound like every time you walk in the woods some idiot is shooting at you ! wow -paranoia ! i do wear blaze orange when i hunt on the ground but the state doesn't have to pass another law to tell me what to wear. when i'm sitting 20' off the ground in a treestand i don't want to have the orange glow and look like some christmas tree ornament . deer do see blaze as a whiteor light color from the studies i've read and i'm sure a white object moving in their area will alarm them. you all are welcome and allowed to wear any color you want , i want that same option, thank you very much !!!

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I think some of youmissed the obvious here. Mandatory blaze orange is not to restrict you as a hunter in the way some of you describe. Maybe you feelit isnt needed to protect YOU.Well, itsa lawto protect the OTHER guy. Its a law that says you must be visible to the other guy. Think of it this way. Wouldnt it be nice if it was left up to you if you wanna wear orange and be seen? But its ME who wants to be able to see YOU. Thats why its not really your choice. Im there too, so my choice is to be able to see you. You may not like orange, but I need to see you. Why should I bear the burden of having shot you because I couldnt see you in the line of fire? I could identify my target, see the visble backstop safely, and fire, not knowing you existed.

One other thing...go look up a tree in the winter when theres no leaves, or fewer leaves. Yep, lots of sky. Deer, if they look up, probably see that too. Orange, grey, white, whatever. Some instances might put you in the line of vision with deer and a dark background, but many also do not.

For what its worth, I personally hate having stupid laws tell me what I feelshould becommon sense. But Im just telling you why they do it, not as my choice or my words. Also, for whatever its worth, many hunting related shootings are self inflicted. Go figure...

Let's stop this and get to the facts, Is this really about people who don't want to be controled anymore by laws or goverment and want to do as they wish or is it about people wanting to be safer in the woods come season time. All this macho crap is crazy, there are going to be more laws than we can shake a stick at in the near furture, and we can't do a thing about it , reguardless if we vote or not. This is not about them (being gov't) tring to control us more so people need to get off that kick. It's about coming home at night to our wifes and kids. They say that there is enough laws as it is, but the fact is that there wouldn't be that many if people were not stupid and careless and wouldn't break the laws. To me it is absolutly crazy not to gun hunt without some sort of orange on, those who want to have a CHOICE in the matter, it's your butt that your putting out there, why take unesssessary risks if you don't have too. Is it the rush of not being seen that makes you feel good while your out there?Folks it's deer hunting , not Iraq or the military where you have to hide from the enemy, or practice covert ops. I feel that this may get personel pretty soon with some of the people in here and there opinions, let's be professional and practice good judgement in what we write in here.

If we would all just wear somekind of orange be it just a headband or arm ribbons or a BO feather in your cap something is better than nothing when hunting where there is more human pressure than in moree remote ares. I own acreage and do wear some BO during gun season andjust a bitduring archeryusing2 smallshoulder patches of BO and at times i stick BO stickums on my bow itself. Lets all try and talk this out, while there is always going to be some conflict on this matter as hunters we can all agree on one thing. "the anti hunters are watching and are most likely responding to some of these posts just to stirr up matters a bit. Remember we are all here for the same reasons
To hunt and enjoy our friends, family and our love for the outdoors.

Take care; Jim

Actually, I thought I did post some facts. Weren't they the ones you wanted?

First off, I do wear blaze orange during rifle deer season. I object to the fact that I have to wear it because I believe hunters should be responsible for their actions. Aren't you supposed to identify your target and determine that the shot is a safe one to take BEFORE you take the safety off and put your finger on the trigger? I do. What I object to is that we treat such incidents where a hunter is killed in mistake for game as accidents. They aren't accidents. They are an abdication of one's responsibility to hunt safely. If I kill someone on the highway with my car while driving recklessly, I can be convicted of manslaughter. Manslaughter is a felony, and with such a conviction one loses his right to own any kind of gun. Shouldn't the penalty be the same for hunting recklessly? If it were, I would wager that we wouldn't have as many hunting incidents where someone shoots another in mistake for game. Would you be a bit more careful if the penalty for shooting someone would guarantee you could never hunt again or own any kind of gun? Would you be more careful if shooting at someone and missing got you a conviction for reckless endangerment with the same possible result that you might not be allowed to hunt or own guns for the rest of your life?

I refuse to wear blaze orange during spring gobbler season. Turkeys can see blaze orange as well as I can, and the old gobblers and hens soon learn to make the connection between danger to them and blaze orange. If we mandate blaze orange in spring gobbler season, we might as well cancel the season. At least very few hunters wouldl kill mature gobblers anymore.

Finally, I get tired of the "Oh, if we can just save one life, it will all be worth it," mentality. We could save lots of lives if we would not drive cars. Highway fatalities number somewhere between forty and fifty thousand each year. Hunting accidents a whole lot less. Coming to a state near you. Horsepower limits on cars in the name of safety. Say fifty horsepower? The Brady bunch thinks we could save lots of lives if we could just confiscate all guns from us irresponsible citizens. Just think. If nobody owned guns, we wouldn't need a blaze orange law, would we?

I don't care what your politics are. It isn't about freedom to choose whether or not to wear blaze orange. It is about carelessness. Instead of putting the onus on those of us who hunt safely to defend ourselves against careless hunters, we should put the blame squarely where it belongs, on the shoulders of the careless hunter who doesn't practice gun safety.

I would also wager BO would be mandatory!