how would one know? the fact that i'm not dead means that blaze orange [i]might[/i] have stopped some joey-yo-yo from brooklyn, wearing his $2000.00 leather jacket and $1500.00 loafers from shooting me...but then again, maybe not!

Have an ex-brother in law that was shot in the back in Colorado (elk hunting) while wearing an orange vest.

Luckily the shot came from so far away in didn't kill em.

By the way I didn't know Daniel Boone wore a gillie-suit? And if your woods are anything like the ones I hunt in don't that burlap get hung on everything, heck you'll end up totin' half the woods w/ ya.

Mike

...personally, i never shoot until i see the whites of their eyes! i'll tell you who [i]should[/i] wear blaze orange, though. last year i was entering the woods near dusk, and a hiker was emerging wearing a grey fur coat! my jaw hit the ground, and i told her that although [i]I[/i] wouldn't be dumb enough to shoot at an incomplete target picture, the next guy might be...

there is no shortage of idiots in upstate, like the brooklynite who got arrested because he shot a baby cow and strapped it to his car - he thought it was a deer!

...thus international orange.

I've never been killed while wearing mine either.

Colorado requires 500 sqaure inches (any cheap vest will do) and a hat.

I have been out on overcast days when you really wondered if you would see anything and look at a hillside a mile+ away and see a bright orange blob. It has to help.

Like fattyM4 said, how can you really know.

Stats suggest hunter orange has helped reduced accidental deaths, but it was also adopted in many places about the same time as manditory hunter's education. Combined, the two HAVE reduced hunting related accidents.

In my opinion it is worth wearing. And I really hate the damned color.

I have had two near misses while wearing Orange. My luck has been better with camo.

What hunting statistics are you talking about?

Most hunting accidents involve people falling out of their tree stands or cutting their hands half off while cleaning their game.  

People do get shot though.  Especially on public land.  Hell, I wear my orange everywhere I hunt, even on my own land.  I only personaly know of two people who got shot while wearing blaze orange.  He was hunting another guys "spot" and the other guy shot and killed him.  The other had pulled down a logging road, got out of his truck, started walking down the middle of the road, and some dumbass drunk shot one of his knees out.  And he was wearing blaze orange.

GWIGG, I was refering to accidental shootings. Your two examples were intentional shootings. In your two cases it would not have mattered, in all likelyhood, what color of clothes they wore.

Hunter orange reduces the chance of accidental shootings. But, and a very big but, it also makes you an easier to find target IF someone is hunting YOU.

The thing is ACCIDENTAL deaths while hunting with guns have gone down since hunter orange and manditory hunter saftey laws have been adopted.

I wear blaze orange whenever I go into the woods during any mammal hunting season.  Remember that there are just as many dumbasses out there as there are serious hunters.  

I don't hunt, but whether it be mountain biking or simply walking a relatives land, I wear the orange durng the season.

I agree.

Are you serious?? I know people who havve given up gun deer hunting because of the amount of bullets whipping around through the woods. Many have taken up bow deer hunting instead. Some have just given up being ou the first couple of days during gun deer so hopefully the "quik-draws" will have killed a deer or gone into hiding by then. Some "hunters" feel it is ok to shoot a "movement" and if your hit and you weren't wearing orange its your fault. They'll probably say you tried to get hit if you are wearing any brown or white.

Seriously, the deer won't care...........

Thats why I joined a Hunting Club. 30 members, 1865 acres to hunt.

Truer words were never spoken.

I got killed once wearing a blaze orange jumpsuit with one of those orange hats with the stroblight and beer holder attached. OH... I was doing the Macarena at the time too (maybe that's why they kilt me[bd]).

[i]WSMAC, RIP,  trying to save those poor unfortunate bambi's from those poor misinformed carnivorous humans[/i]

I always make sure I go out AFTER opening day, and I go farther than the "park and hunt" types who never go very far into the woods. Have never, and will never wear blaze orange (unless I wind up east of here sometime).
WSmac

I wear it.  I think it's a great idea.  I've been standing along a tree, covered head-to-toe in blaze orange and watched a rafter of turkey walk with in 20 steps...and move on, two doe and three yearlings follow the same path as the turkey...and move on, and a coyote came by ten minutes later on the same trail (now remember, I was down wind of the trail).
It's the law...it's another rule...it's a something else to remember (don't forget your license)...
When you are hunting...it's MOVEMENT not color.  The folks who say it scares game off are probably unaware that they moved a fraction or that something near their blind/location seemed out of place to the critter(s)...many times the wind shifts and you never know it...the animal bolts and the hunter WAS perfectly still.
I use it turkey hunting too...I wrap it around the tree I'm sitting under...especially when I use a decoy.
Hey, it's your life.  You wanna leave it off, be my guest.  I don't give a hoot what somebody's "statistics" say or what the "pioneers" looked like when they hunted...I'm gonna stand out to other hunters.  I WANT to be seen.  I want those folks who I can't see (the ones who "by God" won't wear the stuff) to see me a long way off.  If you hunt public land...you are really taking a risk.
Geez, look at it this way, any hunter who is considerate of other hunters won't "ease on in" to your hunting area if he/she can see you.  Look at it as hunter repellent!
VF

I grew up in Montana and orange is required there.  When I moved to Oregon I continued to wear the orange even though I don't have to.  I think it is safer to wear it and be seen as a person.  Some people wear black clothes and walk along the side of the road at night..."If they don't see me they won't try to run over me." SPLAT "Officer, I didn't see him until it was too late."

It MUST work! I have yet to see a deer wearing blaze orange that has been bagged, tagged, and dragged...just those poor buggers that insist on wearing brown camo that keep on getting shot.

Wait 'til the antis hear this one!