There is no doubt about it; women are flocking to the hunting and outdoor industry. In fact recent data has indicated that women, in fact, are out pacing men as newcomers to the sport.
With this type of data often comes a barrage of new products and in this case, legislation. Democratic Sen. Kerry Donovan has sponsored a bill in Colorado that if passed, would allow for the use of fluorescent pink as one of the legal colors for hunters to wear while hunting.
Currently in the state of Colorado, hunters are required to wear fluorescent orange to hunt elk, deer, pronghorn, moose or black bear.
Supporters believe that this legislation could mean a couple of things for the outdoor industry. Firstly, many hope this will continue to spur the interest from women who are interested in joining the hunting and fishing industry and secondly they believe it will add a number of new product lines for local businesses, increasing sales and hopefully profits.
On the surface, this looks like a friendly (and slightly capitalist) attempt to foster the growth of the outdoor industry by concentrating on women specifically. My thoughts are these measures are likely to come across as somewhat condescending, especially after speaking with a few female friends of mine, who happen to be hunters.
My experiences indicate that most women do not want to be segregated in any way from male hunters and I don’t believe they should. That being said, there is surely a large amount of female hunters who may very well be open to this idea and I won’t be the guy to take that away from them.
I have no problem with the products currently on the marketplace today with pink camouflage designs and I think they are there for a reason. People buy them.
I’m just not sure I support a complete overhaul of the laws surrounding what has been proven to be the most visible and safest color available for hunters in the field.
H/T: Durango Herald