Yes, I am a bow hunter as well as a fly fisherman. Not uncommon, Flip Pallot for example was a fly fisher and a bow hunter, so I’m not unusual, well, at least not in that sense.
So before the first hunt of the year, I check the regs for my favorite public hunting area and I notice that now wearing blaze orange is required from the very first day. Previously bow hunters got a waiver on the first weeks and it wasn’t until the guns hit the woods in November that we had to begin wearing blaze orange.
So, being a law abiding hunter I head out into the swamps with my bow wearing a blaze orange vest. Now, you wouldn’t think that would cause a problem, EXCEPT, this time of year is the peak period for the hummingbird migration.
So I’m sitting in my stand and I hear this buzzing sound around my head. I knew what it was, hummingbirds make a very distinct buzzing sound. I said to myself, oh cool, a humming bird. Then a little later another humming bird buzzed me, and then another. The next day, same thing, I’m getting these fly-bys by hummingbirds and just like when Maverick buzzed the aircraft carrier, they were completely unauthorized.
So now I wonder if anyone in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service gave thought to what a hazard they might have created by having us all wear blaze orange in the peak hummingbird migration. I mean who is going to be responsible when some bowhunter gets knocked out of his stand by a hummingbird? Those beaks are sharp, they could put an eye out!
Just another example of thoughtless regulation by the Feds.
And another thing, my son said when he was hunting he was being visited by honey bees. Just sayin…
