Shopping for a new fleece jacket, I'm faced with a choice upon which my very survival may depend: should I blend in, or stand out? The jacket I've chosen comes in two colors: fire-engine red or deer-hide brown. At first it seems like a no-brainer, as I've been known to forage for mushrooms in the fall after deer hunting season starts. Would I rather look like a deer, or a not-deer?

But then I think about just how trigger-happy hunters can be, shooting at virtually anything that moves, or doesn't, including cows, dogs, trees, other hunters wearing safety -orange vests and safety-orange Elmer Fudd hats. I've heard of farmers desperately spray-painting the word COW on both sides of old Bessie in hopes of keeping the old girl alive, and continuing by labeling their other possible deer lookalikes MAILBOX, TRUCK, and SON to keep them, too, from being riddles with bullets. I question whether it might actually be safer to be just as inconspicuous as possible.

The hunters I talked with believed fervently in safety-orange, but were aware and wary of the irresponsible "Bubba kill!" sorts, and took great pains to avoid them.

I did not attempt to interview Bubba.

When I bought my new anorak, it was available in two color combinations: navy blue with black, or orange with black. I figured that if I was ever lost in the woods or too badly injured to crawl out, I would be waving the navy model until the bears came to get me, but no rescue chopper would ever spot it. So I opted for the other, though in a stiff breeze it looks as if the Great Pumpkin had engulfed me.

But, when wearing my bright orange and black anorak in the city, biking or walking about town, I can't shake the feeling that I've got a target on my chest. If some twitched -out, "Mommy-made-me-do-it" score-settler with a high-powered sniper-scoped rifle, a two pound bag of peanut M&Ms (the brown ones having been plucked out and carefully squashed), and a piece of chalk (to keep score)-finally decides to climb that church tower to sixty seconds of fame on the late night news, well... bye!

Most urban cyclists believe in wearing bright colors, but many can recall instances when they wished it had been easier to disappear from apparent predatory vehicles. Could those safe yet obnoxious eye-tweaking Day-glow colors trigger an aberrant psychological reaction of pent-up road rage in the nut case bearing down on you in the Ford Executioner, like waving a red flag in front of a bull?

It all depends, I suppose, upon one's world view: once noticed, are you safer, or less so? Is it better to be conspicuous, or inconspicuous? To be the deer, or the not-deer? Let me know.

We suspect author Dave McBee really chose Day-glow orange to match his hair. Write to Dave at mcbee@getlostmagazine.com