By Dave Orrick

Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

“Blaze pink” would join blaze orange as legal hunter-safety colors under a proposal at the Minnesota Capitol.

The color is now legal in Wisconsin for hunting.

That drew criticism from people with a certain type of color blindness. Some critics have said they can’t see bright pink, but can see blaze orange.

Some Wisconsin lawmakers initially pushed pink as a way to draw more female hunters, an argument that drew criticism from some women who hunt.

The purpose of the blaze orange requirement is so hunters can see each other to avoid mistakenly firing in the direction of another hunter. It’s required in many states and is credited with reducing the incidence of hunters shooting each other nationwide.

In Minnesota, blaze orange is technically defined, based on experiments that show its ability to excite the human eye. Blaze pink isn’t technically defined in Wisconsin or Minnesota’s proposal, although one Minnesota study examined a number of articles marketed as blaze pink and found they were generally as bright or brighter than blaze orange.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has remained neutral on pink. Rodmen Smith, who heads the agency’s enforcement division, said there’s no “hard science” showing blaze pink increases hunter safety as effectively as blaze orange.

Wisconsin safety officials have encouraged clothing makers and retailers unsure whether their product would qualify as blaze or fluorescent pink to send fabric samples to them.

As far as the color-blindness, here’s what Jon King, hunter education administrator of the Wisconsin DNR, said in an e-mail: “There has not been a nationally recognized study done on bright or fluorescent pink. Hunter orange has had many studies done to recommend a particular shade of orange. When wearing these new colors you should make sure that your choice is one that every person in your hunting group can see.”

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