Well hunting season has been going for a bit, and it was half day Friday. So it was off to the woods to go play for a tad over three hours. Did see a bunch of trucks out in the woods and only saw one hunter. I did hear seven gun shots while out in the woods, nothing real close. I even ran into a couple ladies riding horses, which I didn't expect. I also ran into a ton of water soaked trails from the three days of rain we just had.

It's bow season here until 1/1. The bow guys are pretty mellow. Then shotgun open season for a month. The shotgun guys scare me. Alot.

I personally wouldn’t ride in an area open to hunting during hunting season if it were possible to ride elsewhere. Fortunately where I am, there isn’t land open to any kind of hunting for 20 miles, so not an issues. If I had no choice, I’d wear a lot of blaze orange/hunters orange, run with a lot of lights and use my loudest bluetooth speaker.

Rude to hunters? Not intentionally, it’s not my cup of tea, but I live in a deer infested area - nuisance or worse, I wish they could be controlled to do less damage - if it were legal in my back yard I’d invite hunters in. I bear no ill-will towards hunters, but I would enjoy a bit of revenge served cold against the hooved, antlered mega-sized rats, which is what deer in suburbia are, for years of decimated tulips, hosta beds turned to salad bars, and numerous damaged or destroyed young trees from bucks rubbing off the velvet and sharpening the points. I’m just not familiar with hunting culture or etiquette, but I’m under the assumption that the motion and noise of the cyclist is enough to scare away deer. My theory of bright and noisy is about self-preservation.

The relatively loud music - no portable bluetooth speaker is very loud at even 100 feet, but should be audible - would be an insurance policy to cement the concept in the mind of even the most inebriated or unobservant hunter that the moving obhect passing by in blaze orange with strobing LEDs and Green Day playing is NOT to be shot at.

As a hunter, I might be disappointed if you messed up a potential good shot for me, but honestly if you're close enough to scare off a deer, I'd rather not be shooting. I never shoot at anything I can't see clearly and I am a good shot, but if you're riding behind my target, you are in danger - and if I knew, I wouldn't want to be shooting. I only hunt on private land (mine) so this is not an issue for me. But if bikers and hunters are having to share forest land, I think you're right about blaze orange, lights, and music.

Yes, that’s why I said I’m not familiar with the etiquette of the situation. As I said, this is just a hypothetical for me anyway, because none of my ride routes lead away from the suburban/urban center, because the infrastructure I prefer, MUP’s and dedicated trails, plus a steady supply of 24/7 restaurants and stores for bathroom breaks and provisions, are lacking outside of the Metro area.

I don’t think a prudent cyclist would ride in public “hunting land” during hunting season anyway if it’s optional. If someone’s daily commute were along rustic rural roads where they might enter the range of fire of a hunter in a deer blind and they had no realistic alternate route, I would say safety should trump pleasure for both sides - but that doesn’t mean the cyclist should be a jerk about it either. Consideration both ways is the best route. I guess from the hunter’s perspective, if you’re on public land, you probably expect some intrusion by others, hunters or hikers or cyclists, whoever, that may scare away the game for a certain length of time.

I remember back in the 70s when anti-hunting sentiment was stronger, fueled by people like Cleveland Amory. I was a kid, but I thought it was misguided even then, because predator species disproportionately diminish in the ecoscape as humans move in, at least until species adapt to fill an empty niche, such as coyotes adapting to suburban/urban life and filling the large predator niche wolves and bears did in pre-development times. Now when I observe the behavior of certain species here, whitetail deer, Canada geese and wild turkeys - I really see the value of hunting to help control populations. Here, no hunting means overproliferation and nuisance or even public safety issues. Our deer are NOT affraid of humans, and come out evenings and mornings in my yard, even know when my dog is on his tie-out vs. radio collar. They generally don’t move away until I’m 25-50 feet. They also graze roadside and generally only large noisy trucks scare them. Geese - well, we have those, what bothers me is the vast amount of feces that must be full of fecal coliform. Turkeys can be agressive as well as destructive. Believe me, if hunting were legal and possible on my 4 acres, I would gladly invite hunters in to reduce the numbers / even the playing field a bit. Unfortunately the only deer control is the automobile - a lot of collisions, fortunately safer cars usually mean the people are ok, but the damage is expensive.

I guess bottom line about sharing public spaces is mutual consideration. My “bluetooth on high” comment may sound contrary to that spirit, but I didn’t intend it to be - I based it on the theory that my loudest bluetooth at 100 feet under “typical” weather and ambient sound levels can be heard but isn’t very loud. Here, deer wouldn’t even flinch at it. However, I am not aware of how rural deer would react. My theory is just that I would briefly scare off deer and alert hunters within 100 to maybe 200 feet max. Not clearing out the woods for miles, just a “safety bubble”.

Well around here the hunting season runs from about September 1 to December 1. So if you don't ride in hunting season you lose some valuable biking season. Most hunters around here are aware of mountain bike trails and careful of bikers. Sure, there still could be an accident and bikers should take reasonable steps (such as bright colours) to minimize the risks.

There has never been such a hunting/biking accident in this province as far as I am aware. So I think getting hit by a car or fellow biker is a far more realistic risk to consider.

Tennessee gun season (muzzleloader, then shotgun/rifle) starts Saturday, 4 Nov. I'll have my "orange on" until it's over on 7 Jan. Better to be seen.

Lot harder to shoot a deer with a bow than a firearm. The bow guys likely aren't anywhere near an active MTB area.

If I were still in my deer hunting days, I wouldn't setup anywhere near MTB trails, just because human activity of most sorts are not conducive to me shooting a deer. I'd be more worried about the small game hunters.