RSB, Thank you for the answer. I guess yhat I will make up some FL OR somethings. If I
was a warden it wouldn;t take me investigating many accidents to be a stickler on
safety issues. Thanks Treesparrow

great question..

If I want to climb in a blow-down and use that for cover while wearing my flo-orange and maybe even a flo-orange band 15 feet away.. so what.. why is it illegal ?????


same with a thicket of laurel, why is illegal for me to "hide" in there ????

There has always been a lot of incorrect information out there concerning the use of blinds for hunting. Quite simply blinds of pretty much any kind, natural or manmade are legal for most types of hunting.
 
You could always use manmade blinds or blinds constructed of natural materials for hunting anything but turkeys. That hasn’t changed. The only thing that changes is that now if you are in any kind of blind that conceals the orange you are wearing you have to display 100 square inches of orange within 15 feet of the blind.
 
The law used to prohibit hunters from using any kind of blind for turkey hunting, whether the blind was manmade or constructed of natural materials. Crawling back into a downed treetop, laurel patch or other natural cover, as long as you didn’t construct or move it into a blind type structure, was legal for turkey hunting though. Several years ago the Commission made it legal to use a manmade blind as long as it was of the type that completely concealed the hunters so no movement could be seem. They did that because it was and still is hunter movement that frequently triggered other hunters to shot them in mistake for a turkey, so as long as they are inside a blind that conceals that movement they are safer than if they and their movements were only partly concealed.
 
Hopefully this helps clear up some of the confusion about the legality of both manmade and natural material constructed blinds verses the use of natural cover while hunting and when and why you need to display orange at some of them.

R.S. Bodenhorn     

ORIGINAL: treesparrow

RSB, I guess this is nit picking but what constitutes manmade? If I cut branches off a hemlock tree and constructed a blind,
wouldn,t the act of cutting the branches trimming them and building out of them constitute the materials being manmade? At
what degree of procesing does an article in nature become manmade?

 
In this case manmade means constructed in a factory or for a tree house or hunting shanty they could have come from a sawmill.
 
If you remove tree limbs or gather up sticks, rocks or logs in the woods and make a structure out of them it would not be legal for turkeys though it would be legal for hunting any other game.
 
R.S. Bodenhorn

I can now see why I was confused...

I was not separating using a blind to hunt turkeys from compared to hunting deer...

According to another E-mail it's more of a safety thing for turkey hunting..

they feel being in a blind that totally conceals the hunter is safer than sitting amongst natural materials where the hunter may be mistaken for game(turkey) moving in the material.

sounds right --- even though the last guy I am aware of getting killed around here was in the open and only 35 yards away from the shooter ?????

what would worry me about being in a blind that I could not be seen from the outside is it would mean I could not see out either -- right ?????

now what happens when that gobbler comes strutting between me (out of sight in a blind) and the shooter who just came up over the knob following that gobbling turkey that is now standing beside the side of my blind ????


IF and that's a HUGE IF.. I ever get interested in spring turkey hunting I think I'll stick with sitting against a huge tree with my back 100% covered.... and an orange hat on...

heck I even used to wear an orange hat archery hunting sitting on my tree stand during the overlap seasons even though it was not required.... did not want someone thinking I was a big squirrel... I guess public land hunters think differently

and now that I'll be out there in archery season again .. I'll return to the orange hat...

Everyone is telling me I should be ready to go in about 2 weeks of practice with the new crossbow.... CAN'T WAIT !!!!

I hunt from wooden enclosed box stand and don't put any orange outside. If you can't see a 8X8 or 6"6 box stand with orange through the windows theres something seriously wrong. now that I think about it I will add some orange outside to help eliminate being shot. Its for our own good and safety.
 
Just a little story not trying to change the subject: Had a WCO in Allegheny County cite a friend for hunting on sacred grounds. He parked in a cemetary, and walked into the woods with an unloaded gun to spring turkey hunt, come out to find the local WCO waiting to get him for hunting on sacred grounds. He explained he had permission to park there and was not hunting on the sacred grounds, only using it for access to a hard to get to hunting spot. Didn't matter he got fined.
 
He went to the local magistrate and fought the citation, HE WON because he was not hunting on sacred grounds, simply parking there with permission. The WCO had this drag out for three different appearances to the magistrate and went as far as bringing the president of the cemetary to court as a witness (which was not in the WCO's favor) to testify about where we are parking and hunting. I also hunt and park in a similiar location and questioned the WCO on this issue, He still says it's illegal to park and he will continue to cite for such activity. I don't park next to the grave markers but in a grassy area off to the side. I have never walked in or out with a gun or bow while someone was visiting a grave ( that would be very rude to do so), When hunting Allegheny County access is normally a problem, although I have done this in butler as well.
 
I don't want to disrespect any law enforcement persons but sometimes they go a little overboard with the powers they have. It's been said this same WCO made his elderly neighbor take down bird feeders because the deer were feeding there. it seems the PAGC is totally against deeding deer and game which many people do.