I'm sure I gave the impression that I have a problem with wearing orange. Wearing orange doesn't bother me in the least. In fact, I look good in it and it seems to go well with my complexion. It seems as though, I've been wearing blaze orange forever. I can remember being in the hills with a dark red wool coat with a boy scout patch on it in 1987. I remember this because a couple hunters spotted me at a distance and did a three stooges skit before quickly disappearing. They might have thought I was a warden because of the patch on my coat. I saw a guy (about 400 lbs.) in the hills wearing a head to toe blaze orange jump suit. You can't miss that. If everyone was forced to wear blaze anything head to toe, no one would ever get shot.
As long as there's hunters in the field that are there so intent on killing something that they'll shoot at a movement in the brush, take long distance shots without being absolutely positive of their target, then wearing blaze orange, hot pink or why not florescent lime green only makes sense. Also, just a fwiw, the state couldn't care any less about your rights. They don't enact rules and laws for you, the individual, they develop them for the masses and unfortunately these days, those masses include some really stupid people. People that don't think before they act. People that don't make sure their prescription glasses are up to date and they can actually see out of them. There's probably more reasons but the point is, you don't know who you're going to run into out there.
I hunt four miles behind a gate and over the last 30 years, I've seen maybe a dozen other hunters during my time in the hills. I'm sure I could get away with not wearing a blaze orange vest but why would I. I hope to have a few more years to hunt and if some *censored* with a gun decides I look like a deer or a bear, maybe if that deer or bear is wearing a blaze orange vest, they'll go about their day and I'll live to hunt tomorrow.
I do believe that if the state wants to make the case that wearing blaze orange is for safety, then allowing non-hunters in the field during hunting seasons without the same restrictions, makes it seem a bit disingenuous.
