Is it possible to wear the mandatory orange vest using a ghillie suit?

When we talk about stealth and safety it's possible to find many problems balancing both attributes.

Since stealth is intended to minimize the chances of being detected, some security rules such as using a blaze orange vest when hunting, do exactly the opposite, rendering us more visible; so is it possible to wear a ghillie suit to be concealed from our preys and an orange vest at the same time to make aware other hunters of our presence?

After all, it's not a war scenario where we need to be undetectable to the human eye, it's just for deer or any other game we are hunting, but if we mix perfectly with the environment, just as a navy snipper, how can other hunters know we are in their fire line?

It's really a complicated situation, if they can't see us, we might be prone to suffer an accidental shoot or even get death because another fellow hunter was not aware of us.

And that's exactly why it's mandatory to wear an orange vest. Such a color is not a common one in nature, neither in autumn, when browns and orange leaves are all around, but no one has the intense, bright tone of hunters' orange vests, so each time a hunter sees such color, it's like a safety device avoiding them to shoot because bright orange means another hunter or a hunter hound.

Now, a guillie suit blinds our silhouette completely for both, humans and animals while the orange vest enhances it, both attributes are desired but, how is it possible to blend them?

Well, there are several options!

The first thing to consider is the color. Overall, a hunter's prey is partially color blind, so they won't perceive orange as we do, that's why normally an orange vest does not interfere with regular camo. For the eyes of animals, it's almost the same color as the back camo.

Regarding the shape, a vest over a camo suit will not look like a human figure, so a hunter may keep a high degree of stealth while wearing regular camo clothes and the mandatory orange vest.

But when you wear a ghillie suit, certainly a vest, regardless of the color, won't help to conceal your silhouette. Maybe you won't look like a human being to the eyes of a deer, but certainly, it's not a natural shape in the surroundings, and any potential game will leave away from you, not because they detect a human being around but because of such a weird, potential dangerous shape.

So, no matter the color, a vest is not an option to combine with a ghillie suit, but there's still another option!

The aim is to let know other hunters we are there and the key to that is color, so even if it's not a vest, adding long, bright orange bands to your ghillie suit all around (head, sides, torso, and back) will alert other hunters about you.

Perhaps they won't realize how you are exactly or your height, but for sure, nobody should shoot towards a bright orange band or ribbon, especially if there are many of them together, after all, no one except a hunter would wear them!

Maybe it's not exactly an orange vest, but adding such bands to your ghillie suit will allow complying with safety rules and, even more important, keep you safe.

The bad news is that the vest is still mandatory, so you must wear it under your ghillie suit, otherwise, you might be vulnerable, particularly when you are dressing or undressing.

So, next time you consider wearing a ghillie suit, don't forget your long, bright, orange bands, after all, safety is always first.