Colorado’s second hunting season kicked off yesterday. As per Centennial State law, hunters have to wear a blaze orange vest and head covering when chasing game. This year, Colorado added another color to the [extremely short] approved list: pink blaze. “The idea was maybe this will attract a few more female hunters,” said Joe Lewandowski of Colorado Parks and Wildlife told kob.com. To check out the success of getting female hunters to”think pink,” the reporter headed over to Gardenswartz Sporting Goods in Durango to see if the color was catching on . . .
“Women hunting is the second largest growing in outdoor sports anyway,” [store manager] Thomas Downing said.
He said the women who hunt don’t necessarily want to be hunting wearing pink.
“Along the lines of being on equal standards as male hunters, which they are,” he said.
Gardenswartz doesn’t stock blaze pink vests, nor do they even stock pink camo.
“The lady hunters we have coming in here are going to wear blaze orange over pink if they have a choice,” he said.
Hello? Lady hunters don’t have a choice if Gardenswartz doesn’t stock pink blaze. Luckily, Al Gore invented the internet. Colorado hunters can go online to acquire their pink blaze vest and hat.
Only when you Google “pink blaze” the first result tells us that “Pink blazing is Appalachian Trail slang. White blazes mark the trail; pink blazing follows the trail to sexy hiker ladies and gentlemen, or both.” Exchange of bodily fluids to follow.
The images tab is WAY more helpful (assuming you’re not cruising the Appalachian Trail), delivering the image above. A little further searching using “blaze pink camo” and we learn that gandermountain.com offers a blaze pink comforter set, car floor mat, baby wear and Christmas stocking. So maybe blaze pink hunting camo isn’t so popular online either.
TTAG’s freshly-minted Hunting Editor Liberte Austin minced no words on the subject. “Women hunters hate pink camo,” she asserted. “All my friends hate it . . . Guys are always asking, what are you hunting, flamingos?” That said, there is a silver lining to the blaze pink non-craze. “Deer can’t see pink,” Liberte tells me. Who knew?
This could be slow or non existent to see interest, but it’s one of those things that is cool if it introduces people to hunting who may be reluctant to otherwise. That said I would think those worried about the fashion trends of the field would have issues dressing an animal. Just saying.
I’ve used my wife’s pink luggage in the past and gotten grief from buddies over it, but it has one distinct advantage; I can spot it super easily in a sea of black luggage at the airport.
Perhaps the Blaze Pink camo should be saved for the “watering hole” after the hunt so the men can locate their quarry. Kind of a reverse camo effect.
Hopefully they’ll have some men’s cuts.
This is a bad idea. One out of 14 men are color blind to some degree. I’m color blind and although it is hardly perceivable in daily life, I absolutely cannot track blood on vegetation. Pink camo will not stand out in the woods either, not like blaze anyway. I always know what my target is so I wouldn’t really put pink hunters in danger but still, the idea is to stand out to all other hunters.
Perhaps the ladies are hunting you, and if you can’t see them they’ve got the advantage. Be careful out there!
You know the easiest way not to shoot someone while hunting? Positive target identification. I don’t care if someone is wearing light brown. A deer does not look like a human and if you can’t positively identify your target before you pull the trigger you have no business hunting. Period.
The blaze orange requirement is not so that you can be identified as “not a deer” buy other hunters. It is so you can be identified as a hunter by game wardens.
It’s also so you’ll stand out in the background behind the deer.
a thing car manufacturers never learn is that making a car pink and putting flower vases in it does not make it a ladies car. they make them and ladies don’t buy them. women flocked to the new version of the Mini, because it’s easy to park and right – sized for most uses. practical and useful and affordable.
and yet, they do not flock to me. women are weird
I’ve seen ladies rocking pink camo but not blaze pink.
Around here there are a lot of pickups and Jeeps with pink browning stickers on them too.
It might sell, it might not.
I’d consider rocking it to school to screw with the progs. They’d hate the hunting statement but their heads would explode if I mentioned something about LBGTQ and needing a safe space from their intolerant bigotry.
Ok, NYS was first to OK pink as a choice along with the traditional orange .
My daughter wears orange and I’d think always will, as she doesn’t wear pink out the of the woods . Seems kinda silly and sexist to me , ” let’s attract girls to hunting ” ok PINK clothes , that should do it !
Hey how’s about some high heeled Muck boots ?
Three states currently allow hunting with blaze pink instead of blaze orange.
Personally, I find that blaze orange blends too easily with bright fall leaf colors in the Northeast, while blaze pink stands out — which is the whole point of blaze.
In other seasons and other locales, the color may not matter.
Camo, whether orange or pink, does not satisfy hunting rules in most states which require a set amount (for example, 200 sq in) of solid blaze.
It would be wise not to conflate blaze with camo, since they are not the same no matter what the color.
Not only is orange a poor choice of color in many instances (lots of trees with orange Fall leaves), it stands out like a sort thumb to deer after the leaves are down since deer see orange as a faint yellow … a color that does not exist naturally in the woods after all the leaves are down.
Pink, on the other hand, appears as gray to deer and is an excellent color to blend into the woods. I would were pink in a heartbeat if your state allowed it.
Note: deer cannot see red which appears as black to them. Since pink is made of red (black to deer) and white, deer see pink as a shade of gray. Anyone who has spent a decent amount of time in forests knows that there are a lot of natural gray objects. And anyone who has spent a decent amount of time hunting deer knows that wary deer can pick you out in orange a long ways away and proceed to evade you.
“I would wear pink in a heartbeat …”
Where?
Pulse Nightclub?
“Chasing Bambi?” Whenever i hear the Bambi reference i immediately know i’m dealing with an asshat. I don’t know anyone who hunts fawns. Nice job perpetuating a stereotype.
I kid. Still, text amended.
Definitely triggered.
Must coloring my beard orange ore only as irish ??
Yes, yes, lay the pink on me.
going to be weird when a LBGT walks into the men’s room! most real women I know use orange!
I have known Gardenswartz since the early ’80s. Aside from hiking equipment for the granola crowd that flocks to Durango, it is the fuddliest hunting/shooting shop I have ever been in. It is frankly surprising they would consider a female hunter to have any opinion to market to.
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