Camo Selection

[HM2PAC]

What camouflage patterns do you use and for what type of hunting?

My choices:

Deer (Bow/Gun): RealTree Hardwoods HD Grey

Ducks: Mossy Oak Shadow Grass

 

[ArmedBear]

It's really tough here. San Diego County has 13 of the 17 biomes (types of ecosystems) that exist in the world. AFAIK it's the most ecologically diverse county in the US.

We have everything from forests to sand dunes, grasslands to chaparral.

Something like Natural Gear is a decent catch-all. I have some of that.

Mossy Oak Brush is good stuff for fallow fields, grasslands, etc. I have one of their Trek-Lite shirts for hot weather, and it's great! Max-1, Desert Shadow, etc. are good, too, but I don't currently have any.

Most everything comes in MOBU, but that's not the best in most places here. Too dark for the sandstone Southwest, at least anywhere even partially open. I have some, because that's what something (e.g. a backpack) comes in.

I have a little Max-4. That's also good; covers shorelines as well as farmland and even semi-desert pretty well. Shadow Grass is too specific for most areas here; even lake shores can be brushy, not grassy.

Most people I hunt with, or run into in the field here, have a mishmash of camo types, often all at the same time. I've been places where 1 or 2 kinds of camo would cover just about everything you'd want to do. This isn't one of them, unfortunately.

 

[PackerfanXD]

I use digital camo for all my hunting needs.

 

[Lennyjoe]

Seclusion 3D open country when deer hunting here in the desert.



Seclusion 3D Conifer for high country turkey and elk hunting.

 

[41magsnub]

I hunt in eastern Montana. Standard tan carharts work great for me for all kinds of hunting.

 

[islandphish]

Let me +1 the Carharts, I need to be warm.

However for spot and stalk the Carharts are too loud so I will slip a pair of Cover up pants over them to quiet the canvas.

My preferred pattern is Advantage Max-4 HD, Great for the plains states.

Oh, and up in AK the preferred pattern seems to be PLAID.

 

[uk roe hunter]

camo

Most of my shooting is in woods and open arable land. I use a camo M65 jacket and khaki coloured moleskins or british issue goretex if it is rainy (most of the winter)

steve

 

[redneck2]

I use Mossy Oak, Hardwoods (?) Don't remember the exact pattern but it's pretty dark with a little green here and there. I've had turkeys within 5 feet that didn't spook.

FWIW...years ago I had insulated coveralls in original Real Tree. I could sit perfectly still and deer would still spook at 50 yards, even when I was mostly covered by brush. Looking back, I suspect they gave off UV light reflections.

 

[koja48]

Shadowgrass for waterfowl, because thats what my waders & foul weather coat came in. Anything else, either large-pattern camo or contrasting earth tones that match the terrain & break my shape. I think camo is more important when hunting ducks/geese & turkeys . . . blending with the terrain color(s) & hiding are more important when hunting predators. Excluding bird hunting, the best camo available won't help if you don't pay attention to noise & scent, in my opinion.

 

[MCgunner]

I have net coverall that is 3D. Works fantastic. It came with a hood for the head/face and mitts. I rarely wear the mitts, but do the hood. I disappear in it no matter in the duck marsh or woods. Just look like a bush, I reckon.

 

[armoredman]

Natural Gear, best stuff ever for desert scrub...with the exception of the impossible to find Rhodesian.

 

[Art Eatman]

Unless I'm bird hunting, and then mostly just for turkeys, camo isn't necessary. Any old dull, earth-toned material will do.

Turkey hunting? Yeah, whatever camo fits in with your local vegetation.

Shiny little faces peering up at the sky probably spook more doves/ducks/geese than the choice of clothing. Deer and coyotes react to motion; they see colors in shades of gray.

Art

 

[birddog]

Some variation of RealTree grey or brown here in the Northeast. Effective use of cover and backdrop when you're in a treestand OR on the ground are more important than the camo pattern. I've killed deer with the bow in my Levi's jeans, too. It's all in how you hunt / prepare. My thought is that a good camo pattern can't hurt, but it's not the be-all and end-all. What I absolutely do when bow hunting (and waterfowl hunting) is use a face mask. The sun shining on a round face stands out from incredible distances.

Good hunting,
Joel

 

[The Deer Hunter]

I use my dad's old lightweight coveralls, they are Advantage Max4 IIRC(same on the Benelli guns). Under that I just wear sweats appropriatly.

I plan on using the red plaid jacket a friend gave me last year though.

 

[MCgunner]

Shiny little faces peering up at the sky probably spook more doves/ducks/geese than the choice of clothing. Deer and coyotes react to motion;

See that thing draped over the top of my boonie hat? It's a face mesh camo thing sewn into the hat and breaks up the face outline and eliminates reflected glare from my glasses. I don't keep it down, keep it up over the hat and just drop it when I see birds coming. It can keep me from seeing birds at a distance. It works, though, to cover up your mug and all I use it for while dove hunting. As you can see, I just wore jeans and a green t shirt. I never hunt doves in camo. Ducks, though, do require either hiding in a blind or camo if you're in full view or you'll flair 'em. Keeping still is a good part of it and not staring up while calling them unless your face is covered. The hat works great for that, too, and the call is under the net to keep it from being easily visible to the birds. when you're calling, the birds can tell RIGHT where you are from the sound of the call. If you're well camoed, many times with a few quacks and feeding chuckles you can get 'em to come right to you like a magnet. That's always a good feeling. If you aren't camoed up while you're calling, they'll bust you. If you're hunting and the other guy is calling, their attention is not on you and if you just stay motionless, you'll usually not spook the birds. They can see you, though, that's why a lot of folks hunt from blinds. Late season snow geese are REALLY spooky and they seem to KNOW just how far your shotgun will reach. The deal down here is either camo up and hide in a blind or ditch, or wear white coveralls and lay out in the rags.

 

[Muzzy_B]

I only wear full camo when hunting three toed strutters. Otherwise it's dark or natural colors that blend with the surrounding terrain. Tan slacks or shorts with a matching shirt during dove shoots. Similar colors when sitting in a tree stand or blind. If it gets too hot in the blind, I sometime have to hunt in my drawers.

 

[WuzYoungOnceToo]

I think far too much to-do is made over this camo pattern vs. that camo pattern. Any pattern that vaguely resembles the vegetation you'll be hunting amongst will work about as well as another. For the majority of N. American game animals, all you need to do is break up your outline and minimize large areas of contrast with whatever you're standing/kneeling in front of. The animals we're hunting don't generally have the visual accuity to tell Mossy Oak Breakup from Real Tree Hardwoods, or what have you. As already noted, the faces on we pasty white boys is a bigger problem than what camo pattern we're wearing.

 

[ArmedBear]

The animals we're hunting don't generally have the visual accuity to tell Mossy Oak Breakup from Real Tree Hardwoods, or what have you.

So true!

They can see a guy in a half-black camo pattern walking across a sand dune, though, or a guy in sand-colored clothes "hiding" at the edge of a clearing in the woods.

Sometimes, we might be better off wearing Levi's. Then we wouldn't act like we're hard to see, when we stick out like sore thumbs.

That's what I mean when I say it's tough here, to wear camo. Not something called camo, but something that actually hides you in your environment better than just wearing khaki or olive clothes you can buy cheap at any store, and wear when you're not hunting, too.

Also, if you're washing camo in something like Tide, it's not camo to any animal that can see a wider range than we can. The UV dye in a lot of laundry detergents makes you GLOW, to the animals. Check it out with a black light sometime.

http://www.bowhunting.net/artman/publish/atskodeersee.shtml

This is what deer see, when you wear camo that's been washed in Tide:


Here's an interesting picture. It tries to represent what humans see, what deer see with UV "brighteners" in clothes, and what deer see with plain fabric:


WuzYoung's words really ring true when you look at that picture. Note how plain blaze orange doesn't stand out in the last frame, even though it doesn't have any camo pattern to it?

 

[Art Eatman]

MCgunner, that little face-net dealie is about the best thing I've found for reducing the chance of being seen when I don't want to be seen. Deer, coyotes, whatever.

The wildlife-biology boffins have claimed that doves don't like the color blue. But for sure, deer and coyotes aren't offended by Levis...

It's amazing what's a giveaway, though. My father was hunting with a ranch hand one time. The hand said, "Mist' Willie, Mist' Willie, look! There's a buck!"

They go through the routine of see the big white rock and then up to the bright green bush and then on over to another rock...And the deer flicked an ear and my father spotted the buck. About 400 yards up the mountain side, lying mostly under a bush.

"Howin'ell did you see that deer?"

"Oh, I see his eye..."

No telling what will give you away...

, Art

 

[ArmedBear]

I don't know. I guess doves flare. I haven't seen it lately, though.

Pigeons flare. Raise your gun fast, and they fly up out of range. The doves next to them, though, seem to keep going right towards me.

I'm trying to think if anyone was wearing jeans last weekend. The doves didn't seem to mind the big green Cadillac we were next to, though, or the big blue-and-white Dodge dually. Dropped some of the best doves right in front of the cars.

 

[MCgunner]

Doves early season are less wary than late season. Same for waterfowl. They ain't THAT dumb. LOL Doves are about the dumbest, though. You can be walkin' across an open area in plain sight and they'll fly right over you. Only thing, they usually come from behind me, dangit! Why is that? I'll look behind me for a while, turn around and look in front of me, that that's when the little beggars fly in from behind me! I've often thought if someone would invent some sort of battery powered dove radar you could sit there and watch the screen on, it'd make a bazillion. I mean, hey, they sell fish finders, right?

 

[koja48]

"Oh, I see his eye..."

Once my Dad 'fessed-up & told me to look for a perfectly round, dark bunny eye instead of the entire bunny, I got dang near as proficient as he was at spotting them. After that point, eyes, ears, & slight movement have betrayed the presence of a lot of critters to me over the years. Back on thread, I do find that a good ghilli suit/poncho can be effective when cover to set-up in is sparse, but typically when predator or upland hunting, I'm in Filson chaps and a contrasting lighter earthtone color topside (covered by an orange vest when birds are the prey).

 

[Lennyjoe]

I think dove flare and turn direction more from movement than seeing the hunter due to clothes worn. But, I use camo cause it doesn't hurt. I don't go out and spend mega bucks on the latest stuff, but I do use something comparable with the terrain I'm hunting.

To each his own I guess. I'll use it, you won't but we will both have game on the table. That's what matters most.

 

[Art Eatman]

Lennyjoe, I figure that if somebody's gotta buy some hunting clothes, there's no reason NOT to buy camo.

Me being a cheapskate, I sorta follow a cycle: I buy quality khaki ranch-style pants. They get baggy, eventually, and then become work and hunting pants. Then the wife gets fed up with running threadbare/greasy/bloody pants through the washing machine and they finally go away. So, I'm never really in the market to go out and buy "hunting clothes".

After all, khaki is about the same color as winter-dead Johnson grass or desert dirt.

And, hey, Goodwill lotsa times has earth-toned stuff. Cheep, cheep, cheep!

, Art

 

[Lennyjoe]

Good point Art!

I've actually been issued and paid to buy great hunting clothes for the past 22 years. BDU's work rather well in most areas.

When they become unserviceable for duty wear they usually go in the hunting bag for wear. I do like to have different patterns to pick from so I have just a couple of others for wear out here.

I applied for a job about 1 hour from Dallas. Maybe we can shoot some birds if I get up that way. Best!