# Hiking during hunting season



## Skier75 (Nov 1, 2009)

I know I've mentioned this before, but here I go again.....I'd like to do some fairly easy hiking during hunting season, but don't want to do the 4,000' right now. I live in southern NH and would like to get out there to do "something". A little afraid of being in the "wrong place" during hunting season. I've done Mt. Major and Blue Job Mtn and wouldn't mind something similar and close by since I really don't want to drive two hours for two hours of hiking, but have already been out there and have heard shotguns going......and just read about some "great white hunter" shooting himself "accidently"....so it make me a little leery about where to go. If anyone has any ideas/suggestions, I'd love to hear it.


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## riverc0il (Nov 1, 2009)

I wouldn't worry about it. The last place a hunter is going to setup shop is off a hiking trail. The reason is not always because they don't want to shoot a person accidentally but rather hikers would scare off the game. As long as you are on a hiking trail, I suspect you'll be fine. Bright hunter orange is always good to wear if you are concerned. Lots of hikes in the Squam area are short and offer good views. I just hiked Cotton Mountain today, that is a real quicky! Heard gun shots in the distance but have no care if I am on a trail.


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## Skier75 (Nov 1, 2009)

Thanks, Riverc0il, I appreciate the advice. Hopefully I'll get better motivated next weekend and do something.


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## billski (Nov 1, 2009)

Steve is right.  Blaze orange hat or vest is MANDATORY, not nice to have though.     I have a large pack, so I bought a blaze orange rain cover for it.

Most hunters are fairly lazy and stay pretty close to traveled roads - if its big game they are after, they don't want to haul it too far.  The more ambitious will quarter their kill in the woods and haul it out, but I'd offer they are far and few between.

Again, blaze orange is the fashion du jour.


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## Talisman (Nov 2, 2009)

I addition to the blaze orange, don't wear brown or white clothing.  RI requires all who enter the woods duirng hunting season to wear ~400 sq in of blaze orange.  Some states don't allow hunting on Sundays like MA & CT, so check your local game laws.  Be prepared not fearful.

None of this helps if someone is taking sound shots.


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## billski (Nov 2, 2009)

Talisman said:


> I addition to the blaze orange, don't wear brown or white clothing.  RI requires all who enter the woods duirng hunting season to wear ~400 sq in of blaze orange.  Some states don't allow hunting on Sundays like MA & CT, so check your local game laws.  Be prepared not fearful.
> 
> None of this helps if someone is taking sound shots.



+1 Be prepared but not fearful.

However, do not interpret hunting bans on Sundays to mean you need not wear orange.  Mistakes happen.


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## MommaBear (Nov 2, 2009)

Thanks for the info on Sundays in CT - I always wondered about that.  Never thought it was fair that the perfect time to be hiking to enjoy the foliage, hunters were out there.  Will wear my orange and head out Sunday.  Thanks!


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## thetrailboss (Nov 2, 2009)

I agree with Riv.  Hunters really head off the beaten path and generally stay away from hiking and ski trails.  If anything, they head way north into VT/NH/ME where there are large tracts of undeveloped/forested land.  Wear bright orange, make noise, and stay on the trail and you should be fine.


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## riverc0il (Nov 2, 2009)

thetrailboss said:


> I agree with Riv.  Hunters really head off the beaten path and generally stay away from hiking and ski trails.  If anything, they head way north into VT/NH/ME where there are large tracts of undeveloped/forested land.


Yup, lots of them head into the WMNF. Check out all the side access road parking areas. Driving Route 3 to/from Sunday River last Saturday, there were at least a dozen trucks pulled off Route 3. Northeast Kingdom of VT north of Route 2 between StJ and the NH boarder is a gold mind for hunters. They have lots of good untraveled options in the area where they are more likely to find game.


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## Johnskiismore (Nov 3, 2009)

Bright orange hat or other kind of marker.  I know it has been mentioned but you cannot be too safe!  I don't worry about the good hunters, its the one's who are more concerned with the 12 pack rather than the 12 gauge who frighten me.


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## threecy (Nov 3, 2009)

riverc0il said:


> The last place a hunter is going to setup shop is off a hiking trail.



Unfortunately, some still do.  I came across one on a WMNF hiking trail last fall who at first thought my foot steps were that of a deer.  I had my orange on and made some noise, so fortunately the issue didn't escalate.

Interestingly enough, he wasn't wearing blaze orange.


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## billski (Nov 3, 2009)

thetrailboss said:


> If anything, they head way north into VT/NH/ME where there are large tracts of undeveloped/forested land.


 Not so sure about that. The NH F&G Ranger I spoke to this summer indicated that far more hunters need to be rescued in the autum from the woods of southern NH than are rescued the entire summer in all of the Whites. I believe there are a lot of small game hunters in the south.  I always hear the boom boom gunshot sounds in SNH and MA in the late fall.


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## dmc (Nov 4, 2009)

Friend of mine had his mountian bike painting orange for hunting season...   It actually looks cool...


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## Mike P. (Nov 4, 2009)

Hiking on Sunday probably the safer day as some may stay in for football & getting some rest for work on Monday.  Avoid near dusk & near dawn when light isn't great.  No hunter wants to bag Soylent Green.  

The more popular trails will be keep game away so this is a good time to do Monadnock from the State Park HQ & not the time to do a later afternoon hike in the North Country or CT Lakes Region.

As a CT resident my Dad used to love telling us about hopping over the CT River when he used to deer hunt.


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## thetrailboss (Nov 4, 2009)

billski said:


> Not so sure about that. The NH F&G Ranger I spoke to this summer indicated that far more hunters need to be rescued in the autum from the woods of southern NH than are rescued the entire summer in all of the Whites. I believe there are a lot of small game hunters in the south.  I always hear the boom boom gunshot sounds in SNH and MA in the late fall.



What does rescuing have to do with anything?  Being from the Northeast Kingdom, I can say firsthand that lots of hunters do come up here to hunt because there are more remote areas for moose, deer, bear, etc.


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## campgottagopee (Nov 6, 2009)

As an avid hunter I'd reccomend staying out of the woods during deer season---friggin nut jobs everywhere. I hunt on private land (300 acres) by myself and I'm still nervous as hell about some jackass from (insert anywhere you'd like) taking a sound shot at me. Hell, I wont even walk my dogs on my opwn property during deer seasn.


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## Talisman (Nov 6, 2009)

campgottagopee said:


> Hell, I wont even walk my dogs on my opwn property during deer seasn.



Why is that deer in your avatar wearing sunglasses?  Cletus and Verne are curious.


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## campgottagopee (Nov 6, 2009)

Talisman said:


> Why is that deer in your avatar wearing sunglasses?  Cletus and Verne are curious.



Deer?? My dog loves shades---dunno why but you put them on him and he'll actually wear them around just proud as a peacock.


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## billski (Nov 9, 2009)

campgottagopee said:


> Deer?? My dog loves shades---dunno why but you put them on him and he'll actually wear them around just proud as a peacock.



Have you showed him what he looks like in the mirror? :-D


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## campgottagopee (Nov 9, 2009)

billski said:


> Have you showed him what he looks like in the mirror? :-D



He knows he's handsome as hell---chix dig him:lol:


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## billski (Nov 9, 2009)

campgottagopee said:


> He knows he's handsome as hell---chix dig him:lol:


  They tell me that most any dog, except the ugliest, is a certain chick magnet :smile:


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## billski (Nov 9, 2009)

I was at YMCA Camp Harrington, Boylston Mass. last weekend.   There is nothing more startling than being outdoors adjacent to a rifle range.   boom-boom-boom-boom-boom.   I found that much more disconcerting than being in the forests and hearing booms far in the distance.


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## bigbog (Nov 9, 2009)

Have the same urge to get in a couple more hikes up here as well Skier75.  Got out a couple days ago up around small, unknown-to-hiking mountain with many small spring-fed brooks leading into a bog & outlet-stream.  Noticed a hunter's car..a long way from where I wanted to go...but that plus the inch+ of snow up here that a few days ago hadn't melted and had the terrain pretty muddy....told me to back off for a while.  With the last couple harsh winters for both deer and moose up here..the last thing needed is a hunting season(hunting rant off...for now).  Coyotes are another thing altogether.  They're the ones having the feast of deer.


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