That makes me feel excruciatingly safe when walking within 100' of the perimeter of a non-hunting area!

I'm not suggesting closing down the hunting areas, I'm warning you that invisible boundaries don't stop bullets! There appear to be multiple generations who seem to think (from movies) that every bullet fired that doesn't hit it's target simply evaporates.

Some years back (I want to say in MA), a man was fishing in a lake. Someone fired a .22 long from a rifle about a mile away and it hit him. There was nothing in between the pseudo-hunter and fisherman. Isn't it nice to get shot while you're fishing in a lake?

Also, people with guns aren't necessarily weapons-trained hunters. They can be lost, they can be poaching, they can be playing around. Have you ever seen first-hand a couple of non-safety-trained teenage boys playing with a gun? It's so scary that it makes your blood run the wrong way.

As has been said before: prepare for the worst-case scenario, NOT the best-case scenario.

Sue

And thank your lucky stars that you are not in Libya (or within a mile or so) where celebratory gun shots are the order of the day....

Of course, random hits well beyond the target make the color of your clothing irrelevant. The guy pulling the trigger never saw you.

Yeah. And we all know that bullets fired into the air get caught in the clouds and stick there.

Sue

By max point blank range, I'm assuming you're talking about a 200 yard zero and over level ground? There have been too many stories in the newspapers about bullets "threading the needle" and hitting a bystander out of sight of the hunter to take the 600 yard limit as an absolute.

I prefer earth tones and generally avoid day-glo colors. The exceptions are emergency equipment and overnight gear needs to be brightly colored. In an area I'm sharing with hunters, i'll wear something bright.

For archery only areas bright colors aren't really required, but still falls under the head of "Not a bad idea". Bowhunters have a very low accident rate. It’s probably due to the very limited range of their equipment making misidentification less likely. For shotgun only areas, bright colors are mandatory. Shotgunners have the worst accident rate by far with "swinging on game" and "failure to identify target" as the leading causes. Stay out of the woods on opening day.

http://www.ihea.com/news-and-events/incident-reports/index.php

Free hunters ed online course. I took it for snorts and giggles a while back. Most of it was review (I'm an archer), but the gun safety section surprised me IRT the thoroughness of the measures that it taught (e.g. to cross a fence, unload gun, place on ground facing along fence, climb over fence, retrieve gun, reload, engage safety). It's worth a look by anybody sharing woods with hunters.

I do not know if this is true, but i have read that one should wear a bright blue shirt (like the ugly tarps) in the woods, because that color does not appear anywhere in nature's color scheme, except some flowers.

So now I guess I need a blaze orange bullet-proof vest, perhaps reversible to digital omni-camo. And of, course a Kevlar helmet with a matching reversible helmet cover.

By the way, deer season is a great time to consider an nice indoor class.

"By max point blank range, I'm assuming you're talking about a 200 yard zero and over level ground? There have been too many stories in the newspapers about bullets "threading the needle" and hitting a bystander out of sight of the hunter to take the 600 yard limit as an absolute."

200 yard zero would be a good est. but depend on the bullet. Again you can check with the Bal. Calc. to see a bullets path.

You can't "thread" gravity, but I suppose if your mountains
are less than 600 yards apart, you could shoot over a mountain
holding the rifle level while standing on a peak.

In any case, wearing orange isn't going to protect you from
a bullet shot a mile or more away.

And I would never get close enough to shoot turkeys with either a bow or a shotgun while wearing orange.

My tarps are muted colors, but I have a Patagonia Houdini wind jacket in "plasma from the center of the sun" orange that I take on every trip. I swear, that thing is so bright I think it generates some energy on its own.

I see it as a garment and a signal panel, all in one.

I LOVE that picture!

However, blue is a very rare color among natural vegetation, rocks, dirt and lots of other things found in nature. Except for the sky and water, of course...

When I was a kid there was one and ONLY one correct color for anoracks: A bright orange color. Apart from the hunting issue I can see arguments for both being clearly visible and not hurting the eyes of others (or yourself).

My bivy bag (described here ) is extremely well camoflagued. Which makes sense for hunters, but not really for use in an emergency. After 15 years of wear and tear I'm putting a replacement on my Cristmas Wish list - and I'm considering if that should be a bright orange color. (But that orange color really HURTS my eyes...)

Solution (as others have noted): Bring a reflective vest. New regulations (in Europe, at least) dictates that any vehicle should have a reflective vest easy accessible. Which means that vests are sold EVERYWHERE. Cheap, too, and ultra lightweight.

I prefer bright colors. On a related issue, I now snowboard with a neon colored construction vest - MUCH easier for a buddy to find me on a crowded mountain, and MUCH easier for rescuers to find me if I get hurt or stranded. I'm beyond the age of putting fashion over safety.