Recreation during Hunting Season

by Tom Loughery
Tour Operator
the Jim Thorpe eXperience
www.theJTX.com

With its mountainous setting, Jim Thorpe is famous for having adventures all around the town – on the river and lakes, on the trails and out in the woods. We’re lucky to have different levels of adventures, too, so people of all abilities can find something they’ll enjoy when they visit. Whether your chosen activity is hiking, biking or kayaking, you can find a spot to do it that will match your ability. People have been coming to the Jim Thorpe area for years just for this reason.

Something that all visitors (and local adventurers, too) need to keep in mind is that we share the land with the original adventurers – the hunters who have been getting out in the woods and on the mountains for hundreds of years. In this area, October 2 to December 11 is the major part of hunting season, which should impact your plans if you’re coming to the area to partake in any outdoor activity. Even though we all need to share the land for most of the year, and there is an attitude in many adventurers that we have just as much right to use public lands whenever we want, it is my opinion that hunting season is a time when we (as non-hunting adventurers) need to concede that the local woods are primarily for the hunters.

As an outdoor lover, it is very hard to say that I am not going to go in the woods between early October and mid-December. And it does not have to be true… there are times I will be out there. However, foremost in my mind is always safety, and it isn’t always safe to be out in the woods during hunting season, so I will definitely think about my adventures a lot more right now. For example, it is just not smart or considerate to plan a long hike or a bike ride through hunting lands on any Saturday for the next 2 months. Saturdays are when 90% of the hunters are out there… why would we want to risk our safety and disturb their activity? It causes disputes between hunters and bikers/hikers, and a few times it ends up in tragedy. None of us wants to be a statistic on hunting safety!

So what do you do in order to get your nature fix? There are several options, and here are some hints to stay safe:

1. Find no-hunting lands that are open to the public, and explore them for a while. Many smaller parks in populated areas do not allow hunting because of the proximity of homes/people, so these parks are available year-round.
2. If you’re coming to Jim Thorpe to do something outside, plan the major activity for a Sunday, when there is no hunting. That’s a pretty easy one.
3. If you are coming for a multi-day adventure, plan some other things on hunting days… for example, on a Saturday you can kayak on the lake/river or bike/walk the Switchback or Lehigh Gorge Trails. (FYI, you may still see some hunters from these trails, as they gain access to remote lands)
4. Remember that ‘Private Property’ does not necessarily mean there won’t be hunters out there. If you see a section of woods that is ‘posted’ or you think is owned privately, that does not mean it won’t be hunted. Often, landowners give special permission to certain hunters to be on their land – best to ask the property owner if any hunters are allowed there.
5. If you have to be out on a hunting day, avoid the times when the hunters are most likely to be out – early mornings are a given, and late afternoons are sometimes popular for people getting out of work. This applies more to weekdays; Saturday is a whole day when it’s just not smart to be out in hunting areas.
6. Another thing to think about is being visible, no matter when/where you are out in the woods over the next couple months. There are signs on public lands saying: “Hunters wear Orange, you should too.” This is good advice. Bright, non-natural colors will stand out and let everyone know you are not a wild animal. Neons, blaze orange, etc…fashion takes a back seat during hunting season!

These hints are just some of my ideas to help visitors enjoy their time in the outdoors in a safe and courteous manner. I know it will stir up resentment among some adventurers who think we all have every right to be wherever we want, whenever we want.

It’s not an argument I wish to make…

I just want people to be safe, and I really don’t want bikers or hikers causing problems with hunters around Jim Thorpe. Hunting is big here… huge, even. It is part of the culture for far longer than mountain biking or anything else…

Getting shot because you’re pedaling through the woods on a popular hunting day, (and maybe dressed in a brown shirt and wearing a white bicycling helmet !@#$*) is definitely not an enjoyable outing…. We’d all like people to remember their time in Jim Thorpe in a positive way, so avoiding conflict or tragedy is an important part of that.

Basically, regardless of your opinion on public lands or user access, hunting as a sport, private property, or sharing the land, we all need to have a realistic attitude about hunting season and implement practices that will help keep us safe while feeding our outdoor passion.