[BCozhunter]

The orange on the hat needed to be visible 360 degrees,

I don't believe the hat itself has to be visible 360. The combined orange on head, chest, and back needs to be visible 360 degrees. Though, I can't think of too many orange hats that aren't visible all the way around.

 

[DennyF]

Everything required must be visible 360, even the FO cap for woodchucks. That is clearly spelled out in the Digest, always has been.

When they introduced their SPORT FO caps some years ago, a commissioner asked if the SPORT logo was okay for the woodchuck cap and LE replied that it wasn't. Has to be solid FO, no logos.

 

[octagon]

Huh. I see the rules now. I was duped I tell you Well, maybe I`ll wear my Flo Orange/Camo hat again one day. I have so many hats now, I can`t keep up!

 

[kudu58]

Groundhogs is the only place where it specifies solid flo orange. No where else does it say that solid orange is required for the hat.

 

[RyanR]

I can't find it either. If it was "clarified a longtime ago" about solid orange being required on the head, I'd really like to see that in print somewhere.

I meant it wasn't always clarified years ago. And I guess I might be wrong. I swore the orange had to solid on your head for everything now but I guess not, just visible 360. Sorry about that, I hate giving bad info. I wear a solid orange hat with a brown waxed bill.

 

[kudu58]

I meant it wasn't always clarified years ago. And I guess I might be wrong. I swore the orange had to solid on your head for everything now but I guess not, just visible 360. Sorry about that, I hate giving bad info. I wear a solid orange hat with a brown waxed bill.

Thanks. I can always be wrong. If you saw something that I didn't, I wanted to see it so I could correct what I was doing.

 

[Hammer47]

I don't believe the hat itself has to be visible 360. The combined orange on head, chest, and back needs to be visible 360 degrees. Though, I can't think of too many orange hats that aren't visible all the way around.

Yes the hat has to be visible 360 degrees.

 

[BCozhunter]

Yes the hat has to be visible 360 degrees.

While groundhog hunting, I agree.
But in the other seasons it's listed as, "A minimum 250 square inches, on head, chest and back combined, visible 360 degrees." That tells me that flo orange has to be visible 360 on the person, not each specific piece of it.
That said, it's a bit of a moot point because there aren't too many hats that aren't visible 360.

 

[Bigbrownie]

When I was fined, the warden told me I could have had a small orange band encircling my hat, so long as it’s square area, in combination with my vest/ coat square area, totaled 250 square inches. The orange on the hat needed to be visible 360 degrees, but it’s not specified how much needs to be displayed, other than groundhog hunting.

I’m quoting myself here...this is what the Warden told me when I got wrote up. Was probably in the late 90s. This would preclude just having an orange bill on a hat, for example, even if you were dressed in solid orange coveralls.
I think Hammer 47 is saying the same also.

 

[59Willys]

I recall in 2000 a warden stop to shoot the bull at the truck when he was leaving told my friend don't forget to put your FO hat If your hunting. Only had his vest on.

 

[Dogface]

The latest booklet does not specify solid orange for deer hunting. I believe it was specified in the past.

Could this be a misprint or could the law have been changed?

 

[ScottG.]

You guys are something else. Lock the old man up, he's guilty, clearly a criminal!! I don't know if this story is accurate, but I do know people are human. Last year a co-worker was taking his youth nephew hunting. While traversing from point A to point B in his truck, they were stopped at a PGC "check point" ( Elk County, I hope you are reading WCO tough nuts ). The 14 year old kid had his bolt open, but forgot to take his magazine out. BAM!! Violation!! Loaded weapon, clearly trying to cheat the system!!!! The uncle was issued a citation of a few hundred dollars. Was he wrong? Yep. Was the WCO an azz when he didn't have to be? IMHO, ABSOLUTELY YEP!! This guy is a good man, has a truer moral compass than most people I know, was helping his brother out who had to work. But, he should have known better, was unsafe, blah blah blah the internet warriors point out. This is a perfect example of why WCO's have and earn their reputation. This kid could have been taught a lesson he'd keep his entire life about safety and had a life lasting respect for the PGC. Instead he has a negative lasting memory. Way too common from these clowns. As I mentioned in an earlier post, this guy is one of the 3-4 day a year hunters. He didn't buy his license this year, said he'll likely never buy them again. PGC made their point!! Maybe they can chase all the non professional hunters away and make us an official trophy state!!

If someone is going to accept the responsibility of taking of taking a young or inexperienced hunter into the woods then they should be responsible for that persons actions. At that point it's the responsibility of the adult/mentor, not the WCO, to be teaching right from wrong. While I think a WCO should be able to use some discretion, in the field their priority should be enforcement and not teaching. When are people going to start taking responsibility for their actions and stop blaming everyone else.

 

[Curly Maple]

The latest booklet does not specify solid orange for deer hunting. I believe it was specified in the past.

Could this be a misprint or could the law have been changed?

IIRC, the last HPA go around on this resulted with the hat on a woodchuck hunter had to be made of a solid orange material. The PGC logo didn't disqualify such hat. A hat on a deer hunter (example) could be made of a camo orange material. Overall, the head, chest and back had to be 250 sq inches combined, and the combo visible 360 degrees. With the smaller amount of orange on the hat being factored into the 250.

 

[rtkbowhunter]

So what you are saying that he was lucky to have run into a Warden that actually understood people make mistakes, and since it wasn't the worst violation of the year, just let him go retrieve his hat? Seems to me that is how it should be handled 90% of the time unless the person has a history of game violations.

A number of years ago, my daughter was taking her hunter safety course. One of the instructors was a female WCO (whose name I won't mention). She mentioned sitting in a parking lot in a Lancaster county SGL during small game season. Watched a guy come out at lunch, unload his gun, place it in the bed of his truck, take his orange vest and hat off, sat on the tailgate and ate his lunch. When he was done, put his vest back on, grabbed his shotgun and headed down the trail. As soon as he chambered a shell, she went after him, stopped him and cited him for not wearing his flo-orange hat.

My daughter asked "Why didn't you stop him as he was leaving his truck and remind him he needed his hat?" Her response. "He broke the law." And my daughter asked again, "But, why wouldn't you remind him before he was written up. Maybe he honestly forgot." She didn't like being questioned by a 12 year old and snapped back "Because he broke the law!" I'll never forget my 12 year old daughter looking at me and saying "She's an a**." Yup, honey, don't cross that one. She's the only one I really only heard a lot of negative comments about. And that's from deputies as well.

 

[dpms]

A number of years ago, my daughter was taking her hunter safety course. One of the instructors was a female WCO (whose name I won't mention).

Call her out by name. Thats the only way things change. She should be on notice for being a jerk. The deputies should be calling her out as well if they feel she is abusing her power.

 

[joe8768]

That’s as bad as a meter maid in Phila waiting for 2 minutes for the meter to expire and writing up a ticket as the owner of the vehicle is walking back to the car and yelling “That’s my car.”

 

[DennyF]

I recall that FO hats were required around 1980 for deer hunting? Within a year or two, an FO chest/back combination was added for deer and bear?

The two friends I took up to Tioga Co. for deer and myself, had already started wearing FO caps long before that. Have a pic from 1972 buck season, with my farmer uncle wearing a FO hat. Remember dad teasing him about that, said it looked like a clown hat. Unc was a real trend setter in his day.

 

[RyanR]

Call her out by name. Thats the only way things change. She should be on notice for being a jerk. The deputies should be calling her out as well if they feel she is abusing her power.

Really? She's not here to defend herself.

 

[dpms]

Really? She's not here to defend herself.

Yep. Heard she is retired now. Steiner.

 

[Dogface]

Really? She's not here to defend herself. /QUOTE]

If she had done the right thing she would not have to defend herself. What she did was unprofessional. What she did gives law enforcement a bad name.