The objective of the hunter orange regulation is to maximize hunter safety without negatively impacting hunting success.
What is Hunter Orange?
Hunter Orange is an accepted standard colour of clothing designed to increase the visibility of one hunter to another. Hunters must wear:
- an outer garment covering a minimum of 400 square inches (2580 square centimetres) above the waist and be visible from all sides, and
- head cover (e.g. cap, toque)
Open mesh or camouflage hunter orange must not be part of the 400 square inches. A hunting coat or vest generally meets this requirement. The hunter orange head cover may have: open mesh; a peak or brim colour other than hunter orange; a crest or logo which does not completely cover the hunter orange on the side where it is affixed. The head cover may not contain camouflage material.
The industry standard across North America and currently used by many Ontario outdoors clothing manufacturers is a daylight fluorescent orange colour with:
- dominant wavelength between 595 and 605 nanometres
- excitation of not less than 85 percent
- luminescence factor of not less than 40 percent
Ontario will require hunters to wear Hunter Orange that meets industry standards. This standard has proven to be the most visible colour under all conditions of light and cover, without reducing hunting success.
Who has to wear Hunter Orange:
- All licensed hunters, including archery hunters, hunting during the gun seasons for deer and moose. This also applies to hunters of small game (rabbit, fox, wolf, etc) and upland game birds (grouse, pheasant, etc.) during the open season for deer or moose.
- All licensed hunters hunting black bear during the fall black bear season, except when in a tree stand. (This exception is in place because, unlike deer and moose, black bears have colour vision.)
Who does not have to wear Hunter Orange:
- Waterfowl hunters, wild turkey hunters and archery hunters in archery-only areas.
- Licensed individuals hunting deer or moose using archery equipment during the archery-only seasons for deer and moose.
- Licensed individuals hunting small game or upland birds during seasons other than the open season for deer or moose.
