Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Looking like a dark blob- reconsidering my opinion on camo

Greetings all.

I looked at a trailcam picture that was taken yesterday. I was walking in to my spot and a deer triggered my camera while I was about 200 yds or so away. I was wearing a jacket with kryptek altitude jacket and pants that were Realtree advantage. I effectively look like a dark blob.

Now I have always been of the opinion that camo doesn't matter. What does mattered is being still. Like many I have killed them in jeans and solid shirts.
So yesterday I saw them stepping out and I froze. However, while standing still they immediately picked me off. Wind was in my face so they did not smell or hear me. They stomped a few times then trotted off.

So these deer picked me out being perfectly still. I am thinking it is because I looked like a dark, solid object and the camo at distance did not break up my outline. While its difficult to let one scenario completely change my thoughts on camo this scenario was pretty interesting.

What are yall's thoughts on this scenario? What camo patterns have you all found that do not turn into a dark blob at distance? Based on this picture and scenario I may change things up a bit with my camo. Thanks

I think most camo is entirely too dark and too busy and is made to appeal to the buyer.

I've had good luck with two camo patters. One was "Mountain Mimicry" on a Core4 Element hunting pant and jacket (since has gone out of business). The other is Kuiu Valo.

Good advice thanks

I agree with gsganzer as to camo being to dark and to busy.
In my experience it is all about the tone and being VERY aware
of the background behind you.

I've long known this. High contrast (like black and white), and large patterns are more effective in hiding you from "color blind" animals, IMO.



fish and birds, are not color blind, so If you are water-fowl or turkey hunting, maybe the standard camo works better. Plus, you are a harder target to find by other hunters.....

This is a picture of my 2 sons in a pine forest with Kuiu camo. If you don’t believe it works, you are blind…

I don’t have no science to back me up , but this has been my experience
Skme years ago I was reading up on deer vision
Supposedly they pick up ultra violet light very well
So looking into it , it seems that most clothes give off a ultra violet light or reflection
Especially the ones washed in color brightner detergent
So I found out about this spray on that kills the ultra violet light
You can also get it as a detergent too
So I laid my camo out and sprayed both sides thoroughly . Hung it across fence and put it on next morning
I am very skeptical about gadgets , scents , and such
But like scotts308 have been busted many times setting very still and sometimes at distances
So late in the evening I was setting back under a holly tree that had some low limbs on it
A 5 point came through , stopped in front of me just looking around
It’s gaze crossed right over me
When it looked back over its shoulder I took the shot and got him
So now I got one positive effect from it
Which don’t hold much water with me
Couple more times I had deer walk right up to me either on the ground
So as years went on I gained confidence in the stuff and use it regularly
I have been busted a few times using it , but it definitely doesn’t happen often anymore
Supposedly you can get the same effect by simply using detergent without color brightners in it
But I continue to use the uv killer spray and kill the hell out of deer
Just my experience
Kenneth

And yes, they are a buisness, and they do design camo to attract the human eye and supposedly some of it I’d high in UV light spectrum

What are you trying to say
Those boys stand out like dogs balls

Predator Fall Grey totally breaks up your outline in any conditions.

Yeah, I'm not sure of the point. If it worked, we shouldn't be able to see them, no? Maybe if they had on snow camo gaiters...

Yep, the Core4element mountain mimicry stuff is great, use it all the time. Have to buy it on Ebay these days but some is out there.
It has a good mix of white and lighter colors with dark to break up your outline. Works really well during archery season up here and in open country.

You guys need to get out more…

Here's more what a deer would see. They see much better at night so they'll be seeing this when it's too dark for us to see much at all.

You're right, I do need to get out more. Good hitnrun comeback...

I've had deer walk within feet of me while wearing my blue and black plaid Filson and sitting against the base of ponderosa pines. I hear tell they can see blue really well, but the large blocks of plaid must blend in well with the vertical stripes of pine bark. That was back when I got out more though so maybe it's different now.

What do you want me to say, I’m wrong?

If you can’t tell there is an advantage of blending in with good camo, it really doesn’t matter. It does create a lessening of a threatening outline by having a good camo pattern. Take it or leave it…

I certainly have had deer, elk and antelope bust me while staying totally still too. Sometimes (though rarely) even when I am laying prone or hidden behind bushes. Sometimes they just have that incredible ability to pick out danger no matter what you’re wearing. The UV theory can certainly be a factor too.

Count me in the camp of most camo = dark blob, in a general sense to human eyes. I rarely wear camo of any kind but when I do, I prefer it be very light colored. I just have had better experiences with it, as opposed to darker camo. 9/10 times though I have blue jeans and a red/black plaid shirt on and can’t say I have seen any consistent situations or circumstances where critters pick me out visually, if I stay still. The red/black plaid seems like a dark blob too but maybe the red color offsets the blob effect? Hell if I know…

If a guy just likes camo of any pattern/shade, then rock on I guess but I see zero advantage to it over plaid or at least something other than solid colors in front of a contrasting background.
Zero.

Like others have ^ ^ ^ posted.
Most is sold because of human eye appeal.

JMHO- the most effective pattern I ever
had was the original ASAT stuff.
It was never easy to find around here, and
I don't like buying clothing or footwear
that I can't try on before paying

That Kulu looks good per my previous post - good contrast, large pattern. If it is also UV killed. Thoroughly de-scented also helps.

I've experimented enough with both to agree with Kenneth66, not just on the UV killer, but also with scent killer if done properly, and if advantageous to the situation. A couple sprays front, back, and boots ain't gonna cut it.

LMAO when I see that on hunting videos.

Twice I have been wearing ordinary camo pattern, de-scented and UV killed which had worked often before (even as a blob if against a tree, brush, etc). I donned a new, untreated jacket once (elk) , and a day pack the second time (moose) , and got nailed because of them in dusk conditions. "Deer" see farther into the UV spectrum that we do, and those two items apparently attracted unwanted attention with their "glow". With the daypack, I had cow moose filtering around me in heavy dusk, within yards. Those in front of me never twigged - those that could see the new daypack - every single one stopped and stared for a bit, before continuing on. By yards, I mean 15- 30 feet.

The scent killers? As above, and I have had moose standing over me as I was seated on the ground, back against a tree, with the critter 5 to 20 feet away, scenting the air. I believe they could smell something, or were searching for a scent (I'd been calling) , but never twigged to "human", and kept about their business, sometimes for extended periods of time. Had a young , maybe 3 year old sub-legal bull, come into my call once. I was behind a couple logs, anyway. He bedded down 12 feet away, and I did not move more than my eyelids for the next several hours. The big boy kept circling, but never showed.

Of course, if you are out of sight, down wind, and don't get caught moving, you are golden no matter what you wear or how you stink, assuming you have a steady, and not swirly wind. Moose hunting where I do, in heavy cover, I can have the wind change directions 10 times a minute at times. Makes it tough with visibility under 30 yards.

Killed a yearling bull one time when the only approach to see him was with him directly downwind. I knew he was there when I'd smeared rut-pit dirt all over me, since I'd been several days out there already. Walked right up to 30 yards from him. Bang, splat!

After awhile, I myself started to like the way I smelled.

Caribou hunting on open tundra, alpine or arctic, I don't give a rip how I look or smell. Sheep are another matter. Those things have EYES! It doesn't matter what you are wearing - if you are moving in their visual range, they WILL see it!

I once sky-lined myself before seeing the band of Dall's rams a week before season. When I did, through the 10X40s, later the spotting scope, they already had me pegged. At 3 1/2 miles by the map! There was an over-full curl in that band of 9, across the valley.

I should have hunted there, instead of the mountain I was on, where later that day I found a band of 7 with a legal full curl, who didn't seem well. The next weekend opening day I found what the wolves had left of him; some small rib-pieces, and a skull with tooth marked horn tips, which I kept.

My camo hadn't helped a damned bit!

Camouflage is a lot like sock puppets in that some are better at concealing one's identity than others. And some stick out like sore thumbs.

When I don a camo item I don't think it's going to make me one with the surroundings, it just happens to be camo and fits the comfort bill at the time.

Regarding the pics posted above, if rod and cone differences between our eyes and those of ungulates causes them to view the world as Rock Chuck shows, to my eyes that Kuiu pattern would stand out more to an animal than it would to me. Individual eyesight likely plays into how well we think something blends in as well so somebody else may see it differently. To each their own.