By Nick Simonson

There couldn’t be a harder choice

Hunting this time of year

To choose between my favorite patterns

To chase pheasants, ducks or deer

To pick from all the options

Of blaze orange and camo

Is about as easy as telling you

My favorite guns and ammo

There’s shadowgrass for swamp hunts

And Max4 HD for bow

And blaze against a worn brown

For upland treks you know

In hats and caps and clavas

Parkas, sweats and coats

There’s classic brown-and-green-and-black

Or break-up vying for my votes

And what about the hundreds more

In hunting catalogs

Some for trees, and some for stalks

And waders for the bogs

There’s dozens that I’ll never own

Or ever get to wear

Having to pick just one or two

Sometimes life isn’t fair

Because the hunter nowadays

Has so many to choose

Pairing together all the options

Only my silhouette I’ll lose

And in the heart of cold November

A blaze orange body suit

From head to toe I’m more than sure

To stand out safely on my route

Between the treestand and the cattails

Through hip-high grass or brush

Just putting on orange hunting gear

Brings with it a rush

Each camo shirt in scent-proof bag

Each pant with neatest fold

Carries with it all the memories

From adventures new and old

There was that time we snuck across

A jet black plowed up field

To see just what the cover of

The old farm slough would yield

Our greenest greens went quickly dark

The pattern shortly blackened

But when the hundreds of fowl took flight

They left our jaws a-slackened

The stains of sweat and darkened smears

Adorn my blaze orange game vest

From years and years out in the field

It’s the one that’s served me best

But picking out a favorite hue

Between the options that I own

Is still a challenge every time

When hunting I’m a-goin’

So celebrate the season’s height

With shirts of leaves and sticks and grass

Or the brightest beaming shade of orange

To cover up your bottom

For now’s the time to revel in

All nature will reveal

And celebrate man’s best attempts

To stand out or conceal

Just grab whatever you like best

Whatever the fashionista abhors

And proudly wear your orange

and camo when out in our outdoors.