From http://www.dfw.state.or.us/outdoor_skills/hunter/incident_report.asp

VICTIM OUT OF SIGHT OF SHOOTER 2/2001 Union County. The shooter (age 57) was stand hunting for elk and the victim was also stand hunting along a narrow meadow. An elk crossed between the two and the shooter fired seeing only brush in the background. The bullet (80gr .243) struck a fir limb and was deflected. The lead core separated from the jacket and struck the victim in the thigh severing the femoral artery which caused the victim to bleed to death. The victim was not wearing any Blaze Orange clothing. Fatal

Blaze Orange was going to stop this how?

VICTIM OUT OF SIGHT OF SHOOTER 3/2001 Douglas County. The victim and shooter (age 23) were hunting quail in dense brush and lost sight of each other. The shooter shot at a quail running on the ground and three of the pellets ricocheted, hitting his partner in the legs. Victim was not wearing Blaze Orange. Not Fatal

And again how exactly does Blaze Orange stop ricochets?

LANE COUNTY 10/13/2007 VICTIM MISTAKEN FOR GAME: The Shooter (male, age 29) was operating a 4X4 vehicle in the area, looked off into a wooded area. The shooter observed what he thought was a skunk on a woodpile. The shooter took hold of his Ruger 77/17 and sighted the varmit rifle from inside his vehicle and shot what he thought was a skunk. Shooter discovered he had shot the victim (male, age 20) who was in the area with friends during a paintball competition. Victim suffered a bullet wound entry to the neck. Victim was wearing camouflage clothing, no blaze orange.

Even if every hunter in the world were wearing Blaze Orange this Shooter would still need his eyes checked.

GRANT COUNTY 10/03/2007 (NON FATAL) CARELESS HANDLING OF FIREARM: Victim (male, age 16) was deer hunting and in the process of climbing over a log with the rifle muzzle assumably in hand while leaning over and put the butt of the Mauser in 7.62X54 R toward the ground when the firearm discharged. Victim stated that the rifle did not have a safety mechanism. Victim suffered muzzle blast to right ear, bone fragment injuries to neck, face and ear; gunshot wounds to  right ring, right middle, and right index fingers. Injuries were fairly serious. Hunter was not wearing blaze orange.

I get it now! Blaze Orange stops stupid!

CROOK COUNTY 10/2004 ( Fatal) VICTIM COVERED BY SHOOTER WHO WAS SWINGING ON GAME: Shooter (male, age 12) and Victim (male, age 36) saw a buck deer walking right to left. Victim dropped down on one knee 2 1/2 feet in front of the shooter and took his rifle off his shoulder. The shooter took his Savage 250 Remington 708 off his shoulder and was bringing it around and just found the deer in the scope.  The deer stepped into the brush as the gun went off. The victim was shot in the head. The victim was wearing a blaze orange hat.

O.K. I guess not.

Shooter Failed to Identify Target 5/2000 Douglas County. The victim aged 13, was member of a family elk-hunting group in the coast range. He and his grandfather were both wearing yellow orange rain gear and were waiting as the others in their group drove a herd of elk towards them. As they heard the elk approaching, the victim and his grandfather were both hit by shots from another hunter who was not part of their group. The victim was killed immediately and the grandfather was hit in the arm and later released from hospital. Fatal.

Remember, Only Blaze Orange will do. Because wild game come in a wide variety of colors including shiny plastic yellow!

What the heck is wrong with OHTF?

There was a time when that type of sarcasm would have elicited a few dozen equally biting comments.

Welcome to OHTF, former home of fun!

I choose to wear BO because there are a ton of IDIOTS in the woods that only handle a rifle a couple of weeks a year. Damned right I want them to see me with their EYES before they check to see what I am through a SCOPE.
You think BO doesn't work? You would be wrong.

THIS



Was the point of the OP that wearing BO is pointless or what? Because I disagree with that...


In any case those little excerpts (and the site you got them from) depress me a little bit... There sure are some negligent idiots out there.

On the plus side when you look through by year they haven't listed an actual fatality since....

I guess you're right.  This handful of incident reports is clear evidence that there has never been an accidental shooting avoided by the wearing of blaze orange.  Based on this wide ranging study of hunter safety, I think we can all conclude that the wearing of blaze orange provides us absolutely no benefit.  

Stay tuned next week when the OP presents a study of how people have been killed in car accidents while wearing seatbelts.

And later this month, a comprehensive investigation into the ridiculous practice of police officers wearing body armor.

Things like this make me not want to start hunting

At some point you have to think that wearing GOOD camo is better than wearing tons of orange. Just don't move. If he can't see you he can't shoot you, and obviously blaze orange(terrible name, I keep thinking someone is on fire and want to get a fire extinguisher) doesn't stop them from shooting at something when they are stupid and half blind anyway... So why not hide?

Oh yeah. In regards to the hunters shooting at other hunters....
TOTAL FAIL for not returning fire!!!! Someone shoots at me, I'm shooting back. I don't give a fuck why or how they sent bullets in my direction.

Here's the thing that really pisses me off in states where orange is REQUIRED: ONLY "HUNTERS" are required to wear orange. Go hunting on forest service land and there are mountain bikers, bird watchers, hikers, timber workers, not to mention LEOs and BLM workers wearing a nice shade of brown/tan, about the colour of a bear or couger. If they want HUNTERS to wear orange, they should make every person going into public lands wear it. How about your fruit cake neighbours hunting dear on their 2 acre plot of land? I guess every person outside city limits MUST wear it or face a fine? IMO, we don't need more stupid laws.

Some of those incidents may have been prevented by the wearing of Blaze Orange.   A hunter may not have taken the shot at an Elk if he caught a glimpse of Blaze Orange in the background.  That said some of those are kind of freakish.  Kind of makes you wonder.  Who was there to say in the first story it was a bullet aimed at a game animal that ricochetted?  The guy who shot the other guy?  That's convenient.  

I wear Blaze Orange most of the time.  Always while upland bird hunting.  Sometimes, while big game hunting, I wonder if it doesn't just make me a better target for some lunatic in the woods.  That is why I generally don't hunt big game alone.

Furthermore I have always been taught that the vast majority of shooting/hunting accidents happen at or near the vehicle when loading and unloading a firearm.

The missing part of the story on the skunk deal was the kid was wearing a black helmet with a white stripe down it.

Paint ballers are idiots...

I've been shooting at a spot off camp creek road, had a load of paintballers in a subaru show up, jump out of the car and run behind my back stop like I wasn't even there...

They are idiots...

I'm from California. I use recon-by-fire when I hunt in Oregon. I also like to have entirely too much ammo on my person for a realistic hunt and a good couple of drinks in me. I am a lot better with a rifle when I'm a little tipsy, same goes for driving. Blaze orange does work, the problem is. People like me snap shoot/reflex fire on moving targets with out identifying them properly. Some times I get lucky. Hey, what ever works. lol :) I'm kidding, irresponsible hunters and gun owners is all people here about. Its sad but it shows that Darwin's theory can't be true or we'd have a lot fewer people on this earth. :) I know when I'm in the woods during hunting season I wear some sort of blaze orange. I also don't shoot at movement I thought I saw in the bushes ethier. The first time a irresponsible takes a shot at me I'm laying suppressive fire and aasualting through the objective. "Sorry Mr. Officer, I'm a OEF vet, I 'flashed'* and reacted to fire." lol Once again, kidding.

*"Flash": to have a PTSD episode and wig-out