More than anything, I hate to lose. I don’t care if it is a friendly game of Scrabble with my wife or arguing politics with my liberal-minded daughter-in-law. I just hate to lose.  The older I get the more I have learned to control and fight back my emotions when I’m losing. But even then, I know I’m going to lose the battle with myself, so even when I win, I lose. I hate it!

What I have also learned as I get older is to either avoid issues I know I’m going to lose or to use that losing position in some way to win.  It’s sort of like making lemonade out of lemons.

This is where I find myself as an outdoorsman, and particularly a hunter, when it comes to the mandatory wearing of blaze orange. I know I’m going to lose. It’s out of my control. The bureaucrats in Albany are going to do whatever they want regardless of what we hunters might want. After all, like with every other issue, they think they know more than we do and so they have to take care of us. 

And quite frankly, on this issue, I can’t really put up an emotional fight. There’s merit to the wearing of blaze orange by hunters. So, it’s inevitable and we, as a group, might just as well face it and decide now to make some lemonade out of it.

So, instead of being defensive, let’s take the initiative and use this issue to our advantage. What is it that we want that we can trade for?  What can we fight for and use this losing issue as barter to get?  Think!

How about the lowering of the hunting age from 16 to 12? Why don’t we get the leadership of all sportsman lobbying organizations like CFAB and NYSCC and FWMB and CANY and the NYSBH, get them in a room and say “look you guys, go to Albany and tell those do-gooder downstate legislators that we will accept wearing a “break-up” orange 360-degree hat or vest in all nine zones within the state in exchange for the lowering of the hunting age to 12.

And for the bow hunters, we will accept the wearing of blaze orange as a mandatory “entry-exit” garment. What’s wrong with that trade?  The future of hunting, we all agree, is dependent on getting our young people involved.  The future doesn’t depend on what color clothing we wear any more than where we are today depends on what our grandfathers wore back in the 1940s and 50s before camo ever came along.  Let’s give up this issue and use it to our advantage. If we don’t, we are going to lose…and I hate losing.

When I talked to some guys recently who opposed the wearing of blaze orange and shared my idea with them, their first argument was “well, the deer will see the orange.” We all know that’s not true. Deer don’t see color - they see everything in shades of black and white.  When that was conceded, the next argument was “well, they will see the brightness.” Come on! The sun shines in the woods everyday and if you break up the blaze orange with the black over print break up pattern, it doesn’t stand out to a deer anymore than a patch of green leaves in the sunshine. 

I’ll bet I’m not the only guy who has had a deer walk right up to me almost nose to nose before I moved and spooked it. It isn’t color that alerts the animal, it’s motion. And besides, in more cases than not, they will smell us long before they will see us.

So let’s stop trying to defend a losing position and use it to our advantage. Give it up! Let’s direct these so called leaders who represent us and collect all those association yearly dues and get them to go after something far more meaningful than the color of your wardrobe.  Let’s fight for the future of our sport. Let’s get the 12-year-old age limit into law and stop bickering about blaze orange.

See you outdoors!