Avoid red, white & blue--May 3 hunting begins

Turkey (gobbler) hunting season starts in NH on May 3. The word is out that there's an abundance this year; turkeys did well by the ice storm, which enabled their travel rather than impeded it. Advice to hunters is to avoid red, white and blue. That goes for lowland hikers and bushwhackers too.

Excerpt from NH F&G website:
All hunters should keep in mind some key safety guidelines for turkey hunting: Always positively identify your target. Never assume that calls and movement indicate the presence of a turkey -- hunters commonly imitate turkey calls and use decoys in order to locate and/or attract turkeys! Never stalk a turkey; you could be mistaken for game -- rather than stalking, scout out a good spot, call and wait for the turkeys to come to you. Be seen! Turkey hunters should always wear a blaze orange hat or vest as they enter and leave the area they are hunting. Tying blaze-orange survey tape around a decoy/calling location can alert other hunters to your presence and won't scare the birds. Avoid clothes with the colors red, white and blue and black, as these are the colors of the male turkey.

Figures that I would have a red pack.

Turkey hunters should avoid wearing red, white or blue, because they sit on the ground, wear all-body camouflage, and try to sound exactly like turkeys in the midst of turkey hunting season.

Hikers and backpackers have far less to worry about during turkey season than do turkeys and turkey hunters. The odds of a red pack worn by a hiker/backpacker being mistaken for the red parts of a turkey head are very, very small.

I just thought it was funny. I specifically went for a red pack years ago for visibility reasons. I never knew any hunters were gunning for bright red things.

I'm not too worried. I've never run into a hunter in the Whites. I've run into dozens in the woods behind my house in CT, though. I've nearly been mistaken for a deer with a blaze orange hat on a few times.

...and keep in mind that the spring turkey hunt ends at noon each day.

I've run across a turkey hunter, dressed in camoflage with bow in hand, crouched on a hiking trail in the Whites. There were several groups of hikers going through, each with dogs. It couldn't have been a good spot to find turkey. Maybe he was afraid he'd get lost if he went off the trail.

mating season today: