I’m wearing orange this October, but it won’t be for gun control. It’s going to be for a better reason – it’s going to be for the safe use of firearms, for the benefit of myself and those around me.

Granted, safety is relative; I don’t imagine the whitetail bucks will feel very safe. Things might also get pretty hairy for does if I happen to draw the tag I put in for. (I live in Washington and it’s draw-only ’round these parts for antlerless deer tags.) It also won’t be particularly safe for turkeys or grouse, and hopefully ducks or geese if I get out to the blind this year.

However, for me and anyone who happens to be in my company while I’m afield, it will be quite safe indeed. Hopefully there will be plenty of tasty treats afterward.

As a firearms owner, it’s up to me just as it’s up to everyone else to show gun control advocates that safe, positive activities take place all the time involving firearms. Besides recreational or competitive shooting, one of the most common is, of course, hunting. One of the best things a person can do to establish a point of philosophical or political principles – aside from having your voice heard at the ballot box – is being a positive example of the ideals you assert to have or uphold.

Unfortunately it’s also a pastime in decline as fewer people overall are taking hunter’s safety courses, donning blaze orange (and/or camo – though our fathers and grandfathers made do with flannel) and taking to the woods in search of tasty critters for the freezer.

There is some hope, though. A number of people are awakening to the idea that a great way to control the supply of food you consume is to go and shoot your own meat or at least a generous portion of it, which is one of the other reasons I do it.

Hunting is also one of the most common paths into conservation, as hunter-conservationists are some of the staunchest and most steadfast advocates for conserving both what precious little wilderness remains and also our public lands. Granted, getting out into nature doesn’t require a gun or any excuse as it’s good to do for its own sake, but doing so with the prospect of acquiring more backstrap/tenderloins/roasts/etc…is even better.

In fact, one of the greatest conservationists in American history was Teddy Roosevelt, who would doubtless be labeled a “gun nut” for his collection of Winchester rifles among many other firearms. The appreciation for nature also makes hunter-conservationists some of the most ardent environmentalists as well, which is certainly something that the extreme Left won’t admit to!

Side note… now I want a Model 1895.

I’m also going to concealed carry in a legal and responsible fashion, train and practice whenever I can to keep my skills up. I practice safe storage in my home and will continue to do so.

Any of you planning on wearing orange?

 

Sam Hoober is a contributing editor at Alien Gear Holsters and Bigfoot Gun Belts. He also contributes regularly to Ammoland, Daily Caller and USA Carry.

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25 COMMENTS

  1. For the first time in years I won’t be working 60 plus hour weeks through hunting season, so yes, I too will wear orange.

    • Gawd I hope the overt open carriers don’t hijack hunters orange and suggest no-one wear it as another useless protest. There are enough fathers shooting their sons around here each fall to clog an ER. And even with orange and no Remington 700s in sight the number of buck fever Barneys shooting into moving bushes is staggering.

      I live in the woods and hunting season is like the national parks, stay away during tourist season to avoid getting killed.

      Hunt mid-week and shoulder season hunts, apply for special permits, and hunt far from roads. The steeper, the better. The thicker the brush, the better. The more remote, the better. Road hunters and weekend Rambos rarely venture outside a very narrow comfort zone. And if you happen to be one of said road hunters, then please consider quality over quantity. Make one serious adventure hunt this fall rather than a handful of crowded local walkabouts.

      • They say that mixing a little truth into lies makes the lies that much stronger. I can only assume that’s why you wrote the second half of your post, as your first half reads like a Huffpo editorial sponsored by MDA.

        • I am quite familiar with the orange exodus from the city each fall, and I hate it as much as the next local. It’s Liberal Prepper’s concern troll rhetoric and sarcastic delivery that I take issue with. It tells me he would rather plant doubt and sow discord rather than attempt to help make better hunters.

  2. I wear orange to the range a lot since we don’t have rsos and I like to be clearly visible so people don’t take in the flag and go hot while I am downrange. Hunting will have to wait a year or two while I gather knowledge and vacation time.

  4. Late season antler less hunt in July when I’m back home in Australia.

    Sometimes high vis on construction sites when I do some consulting. Otherwise not a colour I wear.

    • “I prefer to hunt in the nude.”

      I prefer not imagining what that would look like.

      EDIT – Yeah, I just did.

      Visualize what a beached whale would look like…

        • This reminded me of a monolog in a Leo Kotke song.
          “What I did instead, after licking my wounds, was look up the book that he had on hand-to-hand combat.  It was the instruction manual.  I had never really spent much time looking at it because he had another one on jungle diseases.  It’s like pornography.  You start looking at a jungle disease book and you get sicker as you go along but you can’t stop.”

    • UT Volunteers wear Orange…

      Football on Sat
      Huntin’ on Sun
      Pick in’ up trash the rest of the week

      Anchor Down!

  8. I wear blaze orange when I hunt Chukar and Pheasant, but full on camo when hunting 4 legged critters.

  9. Ha! I’m wearing Safety Orange right now (and every workday). 5 pack of Hanes Ts from Amazon is like 20 bucks. It’s not strictly required at my job, but it’s a great way to keep my filthy work stuff from getting mixed in with the regular laundry.

  10. I bought a blaze orange ballcap a couple years ago for Dove Season. I get peppered by dumb-ass morons anyway.

    Going to switch back to sand/tan colors.

  11. What a beautiful bucolic picture…
    Reminds of my bachelor days flushing deer with my Doberman down in the river woods. A Dobie is a hound after all, and a very quiet one at that.
    They set a lovely point when they hit on a scent and get a visual.
    The nano-second the deer moves, BOOM, the chase is on.

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