Colorado hunting season has arrived and with it, new legislation that allows blaze pink on the range. But the female hunters the move was designed to attract aren’t feeling the love, CBS4 reported.
The move comes as Colorado Parks and Wildlife contemplates raising fees again to deal with an aging hunting population. CPW is also trying to bring more female hunters into the fold, and the color palette is part of the strategy.
“The idea was maybe this will attract a few more female hunters,” Joe Lewandowski of Colorado Parks and Wildlife told CBS4.
New York recently joined Colorado and Wisconsin as the first three states to allow hunters to choose blaze pink over the traditional hunting color, blaze orange, Outdoor Hub reported.
After Wisconsin passed the same ‘blaze pink’ legislation in March, advocates for female hunters told National Geographic women felt insulted by the bill’s passage. Sarah Ingle, president of the Women’s Hunting and Sporting Association in Wisconsin, said women hunt for food, fun or empowerment—not to make a fashion statement.
“I feel that the legislation should have taken a deeper look into why the sport was declining,” Ingle told National Geographic. “We felt that the bill’s authors missed an opportunity to ask women who are active with hunting what they felt other women needed to attempt the sport if they were feeling hesitant.”
Despite the initial friction, Colorado hunting outfitters say more women are choosing to hunt.
“Women hunting is the second largest growing in outdoor sports anyway,” Thomas Downing manager of Gardenswartz Sporting Goods in Durango told CBS4.
He doesn’t attribute the rise to the new blaze pink safety option, nor does he stock the color at his shop.
Multimedia business & healthcare reporter Chloe Aiello can be reached via email at [email protected] or twitter.com/chlobo_ilo.
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