If hunting season is the entire year, why not wear blaze orange for every hike? Would that be the safe thing to do? Even though our chances of encountering a hunter are minimal at any time of year, why not always "play it safe"? The answer is that playing it safe probably consists of keeping a blaze orange stocking cap among the extra clothing in our backpacks. Anyone prepared to spend the night on the trail will find a stocking cap valuable. It is small and lightweight but not something we are likely to wear while hiking, except on the coldest days of winter.

If we choose to also wear a blaze-orange vest, we need to consider that our backpacks will likely cover most of the back portion of the vest. Our arms will cover some of the side portions. And our posture, leaning forward, will hide some of the front.

But to always wear blaze orange while hiking is to ignore half the advice we are given. The general recommendation for outdoors-men and -women is to wear earth or natural colors. Greens are better than tans or grays because the latter colors may resemble some hunted species.

Problems with blaze orange.

First, blaze orange is called "blaze" because it is fluorescent. Some states call it fluorescent orange. Fluorescent fabric displays an unnatural brightness by emitting more visible light than is shined upon it. It does that by converting invisible ultraviolet wavelengths to visible orange wavelengths. Sunshine contains substantial amounts of invisible ultraviolet light—as anyone who uses sunscreen might know.

Those of us with a rural background were taught to never wear a bright color like red around stock animals, especially bulls. Supposedly if we did, the horned animal might charge us. We were told that the red, like blaze orange, tended to incite or aggravate the bulls.

It turns out that animals such as cattle and bison are colorblind—or nearly so. Does that mean that bright fabric doesn't really annoy them? Farm safety pages at the University of California and at Penn State University tell us that being colorblind actually makes cattle more sensitive to, and more likely to spook at, contrasts of light. Regardless of color, fluorescent orange creates an unnatural contrast by emitting more light than normal reflection. The color will likely appear unusually bright even to a color-blind animal.

In Custer State Park and in the two national parks, Wind Cave and the Badlands, and on some private land in the Black Hills, there are bison herds. These include bulls that we have good reason to be leery of. We have read the warning signs along the highway. We have seen a bison bull charge a hiker. The national parks generally don't allow hunting. But even if hunters were present, the greater risk to us hikers would be the bison bull or even the bison cow protective of its calf.

Additionally, there are numerous trails in the Black Hills where we encounter livestock grazing on public land. Many times a year we may find ourselves walking an established trail right through the middle of a herd of cattle. Generally that livestock includes cows, heifers, and steers, but no bulls. The cows tend to be docile in many places—but not always. And near sunset or at night, they are quickly spooked by our presence and usually flee.

Sometimes, despite our best efforts to walk a wide path around the herds, we find our presence may cause them to flee a water source and trot up to a quarter mile or more into the forest. If that happens near dusk, it is doubtful the cows will return for water till next daylight. As hikers, it is in our interest to pass through or around cattle herds without disturbing them or being compelled to "herd" them along the trail for ten minutes until we can work our way around them.

To any extent at all that fluorescent orange tends to disturb cattle, it is a significant disadvantage to us in this situation. Natural colors are not fluorescent. There is good reason to prefer them. If others would like to test the notion of fluorescence aggravating livestock, we have no interest in doing that especially near the bison herds. We find the natural colors work well for us.

Second, blaze orange loses its usefulness as an emergency-signaling device when it becomes a common color on hiking trails. We keep bright colors like orange hidden in our backpacks to be used in times of emergency. The less they are used on a daily basis, the more effective they become for a search party or airplane flying over a position in which we are stranded because of injury or other emergency.

The same principal of using blaze orange only in times of emergency is recognized also by the Department of Transportation. Studies have shown that drivers barraged with colorful advertising signs become less alert to emergency road signs in blaze orange. Among highway signs, blaze orange is reserved for those times when the driver's attention is most crucial. In some jurisdictions the color is outlawed for other purposes.

Third, the use of blaze orange amounts to visual "intrusion." The color intrudes into our awareness. Hunter safety is a legitimate purpose. But when that color intrusion is not for a legitimate purpose, it is called visual "pollution." Perhaps the bison bull knows that better than we. Casual use of the color in nature tends to be offensive. Some people may scoff at the notion that there is such a thing as "visual pollution," but the moment they find graffiti on the side of their homes or cars, it becomes quite evident those same people have deep feelings about the issue. We all have some measure of aesthetic sense that at some point is offended by clutter and bright colors with no meaningful purpose.

Far from being an exceptional issue, visual pollution is regulated by most communities. Even in politically-conservative regions of the country, where excessive "rules and regulations" are unappreciated, visual pollution is recognized as a legitimate concern in ordinances against roadside litter, junkyards, and advertising signs. (A Web search on the terms lessen+"visual impact" yields innumerable examples.)

Visual pollution is also recognized as an issue in real-estate development, where many restrictive covenants are designed in some way to limit visual pollution in the neighborhood. Hence, where new homes are built near each other in the foothills, we often see them stained or painted natural colors. The Forest Service and state and national parks have been adhering to this principal for decades. Most of us appreciate the rustic cabins painted brown. We don't want to see them painted blaze orange. And if not a cabin, then why a hiker?

Ask any biologist what difference an animal's color makes to its ability to survive. We become like another animal when we enter wild areas. If appearance matters to the other animals, it also matters to us. Generally speaking, an animal's ability to survive depends upon its ability to blend into, or at times contrast with, its natural surroundings. If we have not learned that lesson, nature is a stranger to us.

It may surprise some of us to learn that even cowboys and hunters appreciate scenic beauty and artistic value. Even they appreciate recreation.

"The preservation, protection, management and restoration of wildlife contributes immeasurably to the aesthetic, recreational and economic aspects of those natural resources." (Wyoming Statutes 23-6-302(I)(a)(iii))

Here the "Cowboy State" officially emphasizes the importance of both scenic beauty and recreation in value of natural resources. It is generally conceded that hunting is not a cost effective method of procuring food. The cost of the hunt is greater than the value of the meat. So hunting is primarily a form of recreation.

Fourth, some of us are amateur outdoor photographers. The opportunities to photograph elk, big horn sheep, and mountain goats are rare. The squirrels squawk and marmots hide virtually anytime we are near—unless, as much as possible, we harmonize our appearance and sound with our natural surroundings. However rare, our photographic subjects are far more numerous than the hunters.

Though he is firing a lethal weapon, the turkey hunter dresses in camouflage and paints his face to match. His recreational activity depends upon his ability to hide himself. The tourist, the hiker, and the wildlife photographer have incentives just as strong and as legitimate as does the turkey hunter. We simply will not see nature and wildlife as they are in the wild if our appearance is prone to disturb them.

Finally, before moving on to the lessons of hunter-education courses, we will say a few words about the historical roots of wearing natural colors in the outdoors. With a little work, we could probably trace this long tradition back before "the American philosopher" Ben Franklin wore his rustic brown suit to Versailles and Paris to be honored by the same Frenchmen who hailed the American Revolution. The colors of America the Beautiful did not include blaze orange in the landscape. The color was anticipated perhaps with duller hues during a few weeks of autumn in hardwood forests.

More recently, and in our own experience, much of the concern over preserving our wild places accelerated in the 1960's and 70's when Vietnam veterans wearing their military uniforms mixed with various activist movements for peace, equal rights, and conservation. Some of us can still recall today's small-town English teachers, civil engineers, psychologists, and business executives wearing olive military shirts or jackets to college classes and upon hiking trails.

There was a time when the premier backpacks of outdoorsmen of all political persuasions came in only one color, little different from military green. Elite Kelty backpacks were of this color. The styles have changed, but the colors still hold sway, mixed now with grays, browns, and tans—as well as brighter colors for snow season. So darker greens say nothing about our political persuasions or temperament. They show our aesthetic and ecological sense and our practicality as well.

Some hiking trails are popular enough that if all hikers wore colors like blaze orange, the trails would become eyesores. That is one reason we are advised to wear natural colors. Hunting season is the entire year. We hikers are not going to wear blaze orange every time we hike. We may wear it when we think hunters are near and they need to see us. At other times, we'll favor natural colors—for very good reasons.

_EContinue with Hiking in Hunting Season, Part Three