Hunter Orange Celebrates 50 Years in Arkansas

Bell bottoms, parachute pants and tight-rolled jeans have all gone the way of the dinosaur, but one clothing trend has lasted the test of time, at least in the deer woods. This weekend’s alternative firearms season marks the 50th year a hunter orange vest and hat have been mandatory in The Natural State.

Nothing says “I’m a deer hunter” quite like wearing the legally required 400 square inches of blaze orange and a matching headcover. Some hunters may opt for the alternative fluorescent chartreuse called “hunter safety green,” but there’s something about seeing that blaze orange on a hunter’s hat or vest in a passing truck that makes you give the original “Jeep wave.”

Although Hunter Education wasn’t required until 1985, the blaze orange requirement for deer season had already been in effect for almost a decade. Some safety-minded hunters voluntarily wore bright red-and-black checked wool shirts and a few even voluntarily began wearing chartreuse and orange garments while in the woods, but the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission made the use of blaze orange mandatory for all firearms deer seasons in 1976. The law was later expanded to include bear and elk seasons as those species recovered enough to allow modern-day hunting.

“Deer really don’t see colors the same way we do,” Matt Gideon, Hunter Education and Boater Education Coordinator for the AGFC, said. “They have dichromatic vision, which means they only see blues, purples and greens well. That blaze orange that stands out to people is more muted to a deer. It’s obviously not going to be the same color as your surroundings, but it actually blends in much better than bright green camouflage or blue jeans. You really don’t have to worry too much about the deer spotting that blob of orange out in the woods. A deer is going to notice movement much more than a single out-of-place color.”

Gideon says hunters who still have concerns that their solid-color vest or jacket may give away their location to deer can always opt for blaze camouflage.

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