Camo

Intheshop

Banned
Will better camo make me a better hunter?

Sort of irrespective of money....just sayin cause,we have been known to make our own(snow camo).

If you truly work at maxing out camo,to the point of being invisible....yeah,I know commercial camo is marketed for human consumption.... but,confidence in ones equipment does help with things.So,is there anything to better camo?
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
For deer I never worried over it. I had deer walk within 25 yards of me sitting there in a blaze orange coat and hat.
Movement and odor are bigger issues for deer.

Camo clothing is like fishing lures. Why catch fish if you only have to catch a fisherman.

What makes a better hunter? Research on the land and game. Most of all, patience. Got to wait them out sometimes. My dad always said you don't get anything sitting in the cabin.
 

Intheshop

Banned
I shot a trophy buck @10 yds with a CB 357 wearing a bright yellow full length rain slicker with a Marlborough "red" in full toke.Took all of 15 minutes.

That did NOT make me a better hunter in the big picture.It just meant I knew which way the wind blew....and what that particular animal's habits were.

I agree emphatically with your dad.
 

Intheshop

Banned
I will say,and it cost me real money....with regards to health in general.

King Kenny Roberts (M/C racing school) notion that,given equal conditions as we consider it,the rider in the best physical shape,will,over the long haul prove to be the easiest student to improve their position.

So...cross train and build endurance.

Edit;look on utube,howtohunt.com It's a pro guide tellin hair raised stories.Up close N personal
 
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fiver

Well-Known Member
It just meant I knew which way the wind blew....and what that particular animal's habits were.
I agree emphatically with your dad.

that's pretty much the ticket.
I watch some TV hunting from time to time.
the majority of the white tail hunting seems to be hanging out over food plots, feeders, bedding routes,,etc.
you have to know the animal and where they are going to or coming from and when.
then set up to play the wind. [shrug]
they come close enough to get an arrow or stop long enough to catch a bullet of one sort or the other.

around here it's a different game altogether.
you have to find the right area, then find the deer, then work on seeing it again.
now the rough part.
short seasons, high doe to buck ratios, the Deer bail for private ground as soon as any pressure is applied, high hunter numbers [they are free to go anywhere you can go] and we don't get to hunt the rut.

as far as camouflage goes I do and don't wear it.
my hunting coat is [don't laugh] made for duck hunting in cat tails.
it however has allowed me to back slowly across an open grass flat with 10 deer on a ridge above me before shooting one eating up there.
I have also walked up within 15-20 yds of bedded deer wearing a checker pattern black/grey or black/red flannel shirt, and have had them walk up within 50 yds while I have been patiently waiting on the side of a hill.
sometimes deer are just busy doing deer stuff or are worried about some other sound they heard and you could be sitting in a muffler less big block pickup with the radio blaring skrillex and have them walk right past you.
 

RBHarter

West Central AR
It makes a difference in a duck blind , it can on dove , I'd say 50/50 on deer . The idea with fowl is that you need to be part of the background , color vision and all . With deer you just have to not glow/halo and not look like a people .

The bucks will lay up in a half acre quakey run and only cover an acre feeding . So until you catch a buck out of the trees or are right on top of them there's little to no sign they are there . Add that we have a 1 by tag only lottery draw on 24 units and the unit you draw , knowingly , might be 350 miles away one way ,makes a guy want to use everything he can get .
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
my dove hiding outfit this fall was a camo hat.
i did sit in a lawn chair in the semi-shade of a sagebrush.
 

Chris

Well-Known Member
Deer, for me, means wearing black and green checked wool jacket.

If you have not tried it, white camo in the snow is amazing because it disguises movement as well as shape. It is magic and deer 10 yards away won't see you if you hold still.

Turkey hunting does need camo, especially for the face. They can see through a thin rock.
 

Intheshop

Banned
Sitting in the woods dripping sweat....will make a nice slow walk back for dinner.

Broke up a little luuuv triangle goin in.Figured staying upwind of a cpl does was the smart move...got to within 60yds.Problem was,bucky was not downwind if them?The does are starting to get a little anxious,figgered the bucks would be checking their scent.Not,finally kicked him up after sitting a spell.He let me get to within about 40 yds and had enough.

Wish it would rain,dry and a touch warm here.I think muzzle loader comes in this weekend?I'd say two weeks and the bucks are gonna be climbing trees?
 

Chris

Well-Known Member
Chris,I keep buying face nets....now where they keep going to....taptaptap,stupid kids,haha.
Yeah, good thing they are cheap. All the small stuff I lose and misplace... got a regular collection of single camo gloves too.
 

Tony

Active Member
I wear camo for waterfowl and turkey. All of my big game kills have been spot and stalk while wearing khaki.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
I wear both gloves but quickly take off the right to shoot.
 

Intheshop

Banned
Cheap brown "jersey" gloves,Dickie carpenter paints,hat dujour which is usually some obnoxious shop hat,Browning..Black Widow (bows)...Morrison archery...etc,all of which aren't helping the scent thing but they are favs.

Last year? Got a big $$$ tip on a cabmet job.Bought a Badlands super day pack and one of those 3D leafy jackets.The latter is a higher(they make some really cheap ones) quality jobber from Cabelas.

I think it works.Not the color though,it's the "action" of the bits N pcs.Bens snake thread is what made me think of this all.From a "God" standpoint,or from any standpoint really.....if color and certain physical characteristics weren't all that important.....then explain that stupidly cool,camo snake?
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
the snake isn't camouflaged.
he just has a coloration that takes advantage of light and shadows in certain areas more effectively, lay him out on the lawn and there he is bright as daylight.
look at a zebra, or an orange tiger, they ain't really camouflaged either, they are just able to take advantage of the light and shadow of their surroundings.
same as the army guy's in the walmart they stand out like a sore thumb in their digital camo [I'm sure the surveillance camera's have to look real hard to find them:rolleyes:]
but when they are in a group a single individual is hard to define so that camo is actually effective.

the leafy camo stuff works just like the others, it breaks up your shape by fuzzing the edges with the leaves sticking out at every which angle.
if you happen to be near some leafy vegetation then it works out better.
 

Intheshop

Banned
Depth perception.Just how I have noticed deer....they don't seem to be real good at it?

Lane change;

In instinctive archery,a well set up 3D course,the hardest shots are because there are optical depth,obstacles.Which is why I missed a bucky the other day.Sure,range finders work,and have shot with pros who use them.Yes,it works in hunting as well.The problem is time,when hunting from the ground.....it all happens waaay to quick.

So,IMO...deer and possibly other animals have issues with depth perception.Anything I can do to build time in,be it color,patterns,blurry outlines is an advantage.

The deer the other day didn't"jump the string"...he heard the fletching as it passed over.He also,never saw or scented me.
 

Intheshop

Banned
Pretty good action this afternoon.Would have been nice for a 44 lever action with irons?

Set up on a natural draw,ditch,funnel that leads to a big field.New spot and downwind of where I was yesterday.Wind @<5 mph,in my face,seated against an Oak amogst a grove of the same.

6 does...that's 12 eyes,as if on cue come sailing up the funnel,traveling about the same speed as the breeze.They head downwind"at speed" in an effort to cheat scent travel.See'm @60 yds but they're on a rope.There's a window at 35,this would've been your lever's shot btw....shoot the last one.This is where it gets tight.

I wait forever for the last one to pass the sighting gap...while they're behind cover I get the hot rod longbow at say 80% ready.They are headed to the kill zone window....which puts them 1/4'ing away @15 yds.But I didn't figure on a 6 doe train.

If I wait,they'll be downwind,so while pretty dadgum calm....it's quickly becoming a problem.Did NOT want them to scent me so as soon as that first does shoulder hits the kill window I'm pullin on the string.

Last doe saw the move and they were gone like a fart in the wind.It would've been a sweet lever shot....or waited and been a 15yd handgun shot,it was fun...challenging...and fast action!
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
As far as camo goes, the best day I ever had duck hunting I was wearing a red checked shirt and had no real cover. Ducks can see color, deer can't. I don't think camo does anything for the deer hunter other than make his wallet lighter. I'm not a big deer hunter, but I do know I've had bucks walk up within maybe 25 feet when I was squirrel hunting wearing jeans and a black tee shirt. They will smell you long before they hear you and hear you long before they see you. Coyotes...they catch your outline, but again I don't think camo makes a huge difference to the rifle hunter. A shotgunner, maybe.