Yep we ride, it’s actually the best time to ride…Bees are mostly gone, rattlesnakes are cold… We throw orange vests on usually but that’s about it. Would never ride first day of buck season and first day of bear is iffy too…Always fun the first time an archery hunter walks by, silent and in camo- and your horse catches a glimpse lol.
Yes, I wear tons of orange, have a jingle bell set that I attach to his girth, and I’m pretty loud - talk and sing (I made up my own “Please don’t shoot us” song that’s actually kinda funny). The property I trail ride on is strictly forbidden to hunters (it’s all private property) but I take NO chances. My horse is gray, too, which helps, I think.
[QUOTE=oliverreed;7178782]
Yes, I wear tons of orange, have a jingle bell set that I attach to his girth, and I’m pretty loud - talk and sing (I made up my own “Please don’t shoot us” song that’s actually kinda funny). The property I trail ride on is strictly forbidden to hunters (it’s all private property) but I take NO chances. My horse is gray, too, which helps, I think.[/QUOTE]
You need to post the please don’t shoot us song so we can all learn it.
Ran into another hunter last night, friendly guy - ask which way I was headed so that he could avoid me. I had my blaze orange vest on, but a bell sounds like a good idea as well.
I am riding mostly in open pastures, and along the ridge lines, so I should be very visible… but you never know.
“how many trail cameras do you think you have been caught on while relieving yourself in the woods?”
OMG! I think about this all the time while I’m riding, and not just during hunting season. Those cameras get put up year-round so the hunters can figure out the patterns of the game. Good lord, I can only imagine, living in a small town, how many people I know have caught me on camera…
[QUOTE=Twisted River;7178317]
I really like the bells and whistle idea. :yes:[/QUOTE]
It’s always a good idea to trail ride with a whistle regardless of season, especially if you are riding alone. For the same reason you are supposed to have a whistle attached to your life jacket. If you end up alone and lost and possibly hurt, you may not have enough voice left to summon help when they finally get there, but you can almost always blow a whistle.
not peeing, just poaching …
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=1750258564928&set=vb.1492791407&type=3&theater
Yes, I have to make sure we get all the cows in for the winter.
I tend to wear a neon yellow jacket, and tie orange flagging tape on the dog and all over the horse.
We tend to ride out at the same time every day, and we stick to the same trails. One year we had a bit of trouble with jerks hunting. They parked so they obstructed trails and gave us sour looks when we noisily clomped through. That same year, however, one of the brighter hunters figured out our pattern. He sat himself down outside one of our loops and just waited for the deer to move away from us. About 2 minutes after we passed that section of the loop - Blam! Adios Bambi. I was a little unnerved to have a shot go off so near, but I was also comforted that the guy obviously knew what he was doing as far as hunting went.
[QUOTE=macmtn;7179898]
www.protectavest.com
blaze orange for your horse :yes:
(made in the USA!)[/QUOTE]
I have seen this company before. they have great products.
[QUOTE=pj;7178871]
You need to post the please don’t shoot us song so we can all learn it.[/QUOTE]
OK: Sung to the tune of “You are my Sunshine” - Oh please don’t shoot us, oh please don’t shoot us, we are a horse and not a deer, we know you’re hunting, but please don’t shoot us, thank you very, very, much."
I make up additional idiotic verses as I go along. My horse enjoys it when I sing. 
I found a safety vest the kind the road construction crews wear for under $20.00. Bright neon yellow, green and orange. You would be surprised what you find picking up a skidder cable. 
I also don’t ride on “youth day” when the kids go hunting and aren’t required to have a hunting license. 
[QUOTE=cloudy18;7176963]
A more important question is “how many trail cameras do you think you have been caught on while relieving yourself in the woods?”[/QUOTE]
Actually, I wonder how many guys are sitting in their tree stands looking down watching me pee… lol
I wear my orange Vest year round, so I can be seen by bicyclists, joggers, and of course cars.
Yes, I do ride during hunting season. Maybe I’m just lucky, but we seem to have normal respectful hunters in the State Forest I ride in.
I’ve struck up conversation with them many times and really feel if some lunatic were harassing me, the Hunters would help out.
It’s the best time of the year to hit the trails! But I don’t go out on opening day (rifle season). It’s just not worth the risk. It’s bad enough to hear them shoot away while riding in the ring!
When I do go out, I always wear orange, and I tie orange ribbons to my horse’s bridle and saddle. And I sing. Loudly.
There are a few great state parks that don’t allow hunting not too far, so we take the horses there. And we ride on Sundays (no hunting on Sunday in Maine).
No hunting on Sundays here. Also the parks we ride in have hunting only on certain days so those are posted. The farm where I board has a small woods behind it and not accessible to hunters who may accidentally wander as it is backed up by the interstate. I always wear a blaze orange vest just as a safety precaution. I dyed an ear bonnet orange for my horse and bought orange biothane reins and made my horse a blaze orange with reflective stripe binding 1/4 cooler.
No Sunday hunting here either
I no longer ride the first two weeks of deer season. Used to, not worth my life, or my horses life. I can ride 50 weeks out of the year, I can give those up.
While there is no Sunday hunting here either, where I live there are a lot of hunting cabins, which makes great riding for me most of the year. However, the week before rifle season, the two weeks of rifle season, and sometimes a bit after everyone who owns a hunting cabin, or knows someone who owns a hunting cabin is up shooting/target practice, even on Sundays.
I just hope they don’t open Sunday hunting too, because there are a whole raft of people out there (non equestrians) who would like to use State Lands on Sundays. It is an excellent way to piss off a whole bunch of non-hunters.
There are certainly idiots out there…even with blaze orange. I was riding in the Mckee Beesher Wildlife Preserve (in MD, along the Potomac River). On a Sunday (no hunting). I was wearing a blaze orange coat, riding a pure white mare. I yelled to a guy at a parking lot, he pointed his shotgun at me and shot. Luckily my hand was in front of my face. One pellet in my hand and several in my mare’s neck. I yelled at this idiot again and he put the shotgun back up. I stopped. He got back into his car and drove away quickly. This was pre-cellphone so no way to do anything and because it was MD, I couldn’t carry a pistol to shoot back.
Lots of criminally stupid idiots out there…be careful.
[QUOTE=Trakehner;7183855]
There are certainly idiots out there…even with blaze orange. I was riding in the Mckee Beesher Wildlife Preserve (in MD, along the Potomac River). On a Sunday (no hunting). I was wearing a blaze orange coat, riding a pure white mare. I yelled to a guy at a parking lot, he pointed his shotgun at me and shot. Luckily my hand was in front of my face. One pellet in my hand and several in my mare’s neck. I yelled at this idiot again and he put the shotgun back up. I stopped. He got back into his car and drove away quickly. This was pre-cellphone so no way to do anything and because it was MD, I couldn’t carry a pistol to shoot back.
Lots of criminally stupid idiots out there…be careful.[/QUOTE]
Oh… my… gosh… :no: How badly were you hurt?
