I've never thought to wear any blaze orange until around the first day of fall. Any good reason for it, like, next week?

Maybe a hat, I guess -- grouse begins Saturday.

Definitely start wearing orange this weekend and orange on your pets if you have any.

Is there any bad reason to wear it?

Hats are packed. Thanks for the obvious answers to my silly pondering. Such is the intoxicating frenzy of last-minute canoe trip prep.

I honestly forgot about needing to wear blaze orange because I don't spend as much time up north in the fall as I'd like. Not sure what I'll do as I'd like to wear my preferred hat. Perhaps will just try to get an orange flag to hang on portage packs or something for when we're in the woods. I always wonder who the heck would fire a blind shot into the woods because they saw a figure moving, but I guess I don't want to find out.

technically_rugged: "I always wonder who the heck would fire a blind shot into the woods because they saw a figure moving, but I guess I don't want to find out."

Blind shots into the woods are more common than you think. I also wonder who would do such a thing, but I think there is a very small but very dangerous subset of hunters who hunt by sound (or do all manner of incredibly unsafe things.) They are so eager to bag a deer or whatever that any semblance of hunting safety is left in the truck or the hunting shack.

Mike

For most trips in the fall I make an effort to not wear brown/ rust and similar colored shirts and Jackets more that I intentionally wear orange. And I cut down on my deer impressions :)

Generally I haven't seen a lot of hunting in the BWCA on the ely side once we're away from an entry point. As the travel effort goes up the hunter count goes down.

My observation is that most grouse hunters are hunting from their vehicle these days. The effecting range of pellets in the woods isn't very far, but can be far enough with a careless hunter.

Game hunting that is mostly done with a rifle would be more of a concern, as a shot through the woods can go a long way, whether a blind shot or just a missed shot.

The 2nd part of the shooting edict "know your target and what's beyond" gets forgotten sometimes, or they are unaware of the range of the equipment they are using.

Now.

I brought a blaze orange carhartt beanie, and trucker hat when I did the BRT, last year and I was so glad. There were so many grouse hunters out and about.

The year before, this very weekend, I went to Eagle Mountain Trail (also BWCA) and again, TONS of small game hunters out, so again, super glad to have the blaze. Plus, it really pops with these darker/greyer skies in the photos! Haha.

Blaze Pink is also an option and legal in many States. Studies find it just as visible if not more than blaze orange.

I wear a Blaze Orange hat year round when hiking to be visible to automobiles, Search and Rescue and e-bikes that pass me on the paved trails at 30mph.
They fade in two years and need to be replaced to be affective.

I hope you have a great trip Schweady.

Thanks, Zulu. It was quite fantastic.

Prior to our E Bearskin OP entry, we hiked the Sock Lake Loop which includes some of the BRT. Lots of grouse hunters and brookie fishermen parked at the trailhead. Many heading into Topper Lake, among other areas along our route. Blaze orange was the clothing color of choice. Moose tracks and wolf scat were our constant companions. Plenty of swamp and mud, too, on that rugged bugger. Hats off to the solo volunteer doing some trail clearing work near the Sock Lake spur.

Glad you had a great trip schweady! I’ve always wanted to do a combination canoe and hiking trip!

Zulu: "Glad you had a great trip schweady! I’ve always wanted to do a combination canoe and hiking trip!"

We've stumbled upon doing cabin stays (we went back to Hungry Jack Lodge's Wolf Cabin this year) for 2 or 3 nights prior to some of our canoe trips when faced with some bunkhouses of questionable quality but also stymied by cabins with 2-night minimum requirements. Especially on the Gunflint side. Sure, it's more costly, but we decided to embrace the longer cabin stay and utilize it for 1 or 2 full days of hiking. Or, maybe a partial day of hiking, followed by lounging on resort or restaurant lakeside decks with an appropriate drink. :-)