Not being a hunter, I AM curious about the logic of how a hunter can be certain there is no one out of sight in the woods. When hunting ducks, aren't you shooting while the ducks are in the air, with the shotgun pointed into the air? I can't see how it would be possible to be positive no one is downrange, in the trees, or bogs, or marsh. I am in no way anti-hunting (since I am a carnivore too), but just trying to figure out the logistics. And keep myself from being ventilated. I do have blaze orange caps but wear a green photographers vest.
As 46'er said, you can never be 100% certain. You can be observant however. A truck parked near a bog in my neck of the woods this week means a duck hunter. I ran into two duck hunters and a bow hunter's truck tonight while taking my dog and gun for a walk across the street from my house. I was trying to find a wayward duck myself but there were none to be seen.
Pass shooting ducks which are in flight overhead generally results in shot raining down in a harmless long arc resulting in a shot shower. That usually results in a lot of name calling and yelling across a bog but no blood or any collateral damage.
Waterfowl hunting in general, because of the steel shot requirement, used to be characterized by low down range energy. But now we have many, legal lead shot substitutes which are as heavy as lead or heavier. Hevi-shot is actually heavier than lead. If one is shooting over decoys you really have to be aware of who might be on the other side of a bog. It's much easier to do than it sounds. In pre-dawn you'll hear voices and see flashlights. In full light you might see motionless ducks (decoys) and might hear voices shouting "Get the F*&% out of here, we were here first !"
In my opinion, the only firearm season that commands a lot of orange wardrobe accessories is 6-day for deer. There are lots of clubs in the pines that week and all of them are driving deer. This results in many shots being taken at running deer which reduces the caution that a shooter may have otherwise exercised before pulling the trigger.
