Letter: Hunters wearing orange won’t spook deer

To the editor:

I am always amused when I see deer hunters wearing camouflage clothing from head to toe. Someone should tell them that deer are color blind: They see orange and red only as shades of gray. Hunters wearing camouflage are only hiding from other hunters, which is not a good thing.

In Pennsylvania, where I spent my youthful years deer hunting in the mountains, hunters are required to wear a blaze orange or red article of clothing such as a hat or vest to prevent their being mistaken for a deer by other hunters. Forty states in all require the wearing of hunter orange to protect hunters against accidents related to vision. The bright clothing does not in any way disturb the deer.

Deer do respond negatively to the solid outline of a hunter, and camouflage clothing, with its broken pattern of colors is helpful in this respect, but the same would be true of hunter orange in a broken pattern.

The state legislature should seriously consider requiring hunters to wear an article of hunter orange clothing while hunting deer. If a proposal to use rifles during deer hunts passes, wearing bright clothing would become even more important.

I am not foolish enough to think that Hoosier hunters will accept and embrace the wearing of hunter orange, even though it is in their best interest. Being told what to wear goes against the frontier mentality that is still strong in Indiana. Besides, wearing camo is a macho thing.

Jim Curry

Franklin