Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Camo Clothing: Necessity or Scam?

Just a question I've always wondered about.

Of course there are advantages (maybe...) for bowhunting, but do you folks see a huge upside for rifle seasons?

Any time I see guided hunts on hunting shows on TV, in pictures, or in the woods, very few of the guides wear the leatest and greatest Seclusion 3D Ultra Invisible Sniper camo stuff the rest of us seem to be in love with.

So, how would you characterize the worth of camo clothing for elk/deer rifle season hunting?

For rifle season in Colorado I don't see an advantage of camo for the way our group hunts.

I think that if the critter gets inside the range where they can discern a 1" pattern they might be of some use. I also think they may be good for folks that fidget a lot (seems a lot of guys I take out can�t sit/stand still for more than a few minutes).

I think is good if you want to stay hidden from people, a nice option in areas where folks are anti-hunting.

For me personally I�ve pretty much given up on commercial camouflage clothing except for archery. I now wear blue jeans and flannel shirts and whatever blaze (hunter) orange vest and/or hat that�s common for the region I�m hunting.

It�s pretty rare that I don�t get a critter or two or 12 (regional again) during a big game season.

I'd say from my experience (firearm elk & deer) commercial camo is an unnecessary expenditure of hunting funds... use the savings for better boots, another pair of blue jeans or a tag upgrade.

In states which require a minimum number of square inches of hunter orange on the torso and head, the benefits of camo seems to be pretty much defeated. However, if all of your hunting gear is camo, you wear it anyway and look a bit ridiculous (as has been pointed out in numerous posts on these forums).

For those states which do not require hunter orange (such as my home state of New Mexico), there are definite advantages, even during the rifle season. We spend a lot of time sitting and glassing for Coues deer. Hunters who don't wear camo are definitely easier to spot in the field. Many times I have seen deer looking at other hunters who were wearing blue jeans and solid colored jackets or shirts, while they virtually never detect me sitting in the open with a tripod and a binocular. The drawback is that, in areas with lots of other hunters (such as public hunting areas), you are increasing the risk of getting shot accidentally by careless or inexperienced hunters. If hunting pressure is heavy, I usually do put on a hunter orange vest or cap.

I discovered the benefits of camo back in the dark ages when I was doing graduate studies of white-tailed deer behavior in Texas. Previous workers on the refuge where I did my graduate work had used elevated platforms on utility poles to try and observe social interactions among deer marked with colored collars. This worked OK as long as deer were in the open grassy areas, but when the animals retreated to the brush or relatively closed savannas, they were rarely visible.

The deer that I studied had a number of animals (both males and females) that were equipped with radio collars. Working with another graduate student, we compiled information of deer location and movements using a series of antennas to determine exactly where a given animal was at a particular time.

When it was time to gather my behavioral data, I used a portable yagi antenna to determine the locations of one or more radio collared deer and then stalked to a point at which I could watch them without being detected. About 1/3 of the way through the project, I bought my first camo coveralls and found that I could get closer without being detected by my study animals, and that I could sit and observe without being detected as long as the wind held in my favor. When deer are in cover in which they feel safe, they are not particularly alert, depending on their ears and noses to alert them to approaching sources of danger. It was not unusual to have animals going about their business or bedding down only a few yards upwind of my position. I usually sat or layed down behind a shrub so that I could scribble notes in my field notebook without being detected and was able to obtain a lot of data on both marked and unmarked animals that could not have been obtained otherwise.

I have been a faithful user of camoflague clothing in all of my hunting here in the states ever since. In Namibia, ealier this year, I "went native", hunting in khaki shorts and tan shirts (along with a camo cap) and had good success. Except for impala, the African game seemed to be a little easier to stalk than our whitetails and I did not miss my camo gear...

Camo is an absolute ncessity for the well-dressed Colorado hunter. It goes so well with the required 500 square inches of daylight fluorescent orange head gear and outerwear.

The fact of the matter is that deer and elk are colorblind, but they detect blues very well. You are better off in blaze orange that has been washed in a detergent that doesn�t have �brighteners� than you are in new camo or camo that has been washed in detergent that does include �brighteners�. The :brighteners� enhance the UV reflectivity of the material. Manufacturers add UV brighteners to new clothing because it catches your eye better � just like it does for game, but not to the same degree.

I once saw a photo that was taken with a special UV sensitive film. In the woods were two guys, one in camo and one in regular clothing. The regular clothing had been washed to suppress he brighteners, the camo had not. You could barely pick you the guy in the regular clothing but the guy in camo stood out like a neon light.

For the hunting I do, rifle and BP in Kentucky, I'm not sure camo makes a whole lot of difference. The problem is finding quiet, warm, dry waterproof outerwear that is not camo. I really like the Cabela's Super Slam fleece jacket and pants and would be just as happy if they came in Olive or Khaki but alas they just come in camo. The one area that I believe makes a big difference is covering hands and I wear an old pair of nomex and leather flight gloves most of the time. They're just olive and gray.

I have plenty of camo. I still wear it since its workable and I have it.

But I don't worry about it anymore since with a few exceptions, camo all turns into a block of color, solid color, when viewed from very far off. I've had MUCH better luck with differing color pants and shirt, added the break up of a pack with straps and maybe orange vest, I'm much blockier and animals pay much less attention.

Bowhunting still doesn't make much difference to me, though I will knock down the tone of the bright face and hands if I have a choice. But i've had as much success within 15 yards with and without camo on.

Needless to say we wash in scent free non brightening soap, though I have never been able to ask a deer if they can see UV light or not... and I wear what works. I don't think that cammo makes much of a difference if you are hunting correctly.

What still amazes me is the feel of the need of camo, yet game is fairly hard to see normally, and their hides are far from camo, unless talking bobcats and the like. Much harder for me to see than the common way to dark camo patterns that turn you into a dark blob.

YMMV and this is, IMHO
Jeff

AWESOME!!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
LMAO!!!

Don

I think that it is largely a waste of money. I went to buy some new hunting clothes last year and was dismayed at both the high prices and poor quality of construction of the camo clothing available locally. Based upon the poor quality of most camo clothing, we are getting ripped off.

I ended up getting some good plaid & flannel CarHart shirts and heavy blue jeans. I had deer walk to within 10 yards of me several times last year and a number within 40 yards. I was sitting on the ground in those clothes, with the wind in my favor.......

I know that I won't be spending much money on camo clothing in the future, unless that is the only way to get the gear I'm looking for. I really think that the clothes like most hunting gear (and everything else) has gotten over hyped and commercialized.

My experience and opinion, FWIW.

If hunters would put half the effort in reducing thier smell by frequent washing and also restricting movement, that they do in camo, they would shoot a lot more game.

Also-
If you're wearing camo, and have to go to town for some reason, and the town is Granby or Walden, it's cool. Women will even come up to you and ask where you have been hunting, etc.

If you go into town, and that town is Boulder, you probably won't like what happens next......

bighorn,

this is one of the reasons I've gravitated more towards loden greens, etc. as you don't have to stand out in town. you can also usually find better quality clothing in solid greens and grays as well.

I think camo is mostly a scam, except for archery. I've got plenty, only because most hunting clothing only comes in camo. I buy dark green stuff if it's an option. I usually wear woolies unless it's raining hard.

I think that most of the grazers and browsers out there have similar vision because they live similar lives. I have seen differences in the way horses react to various colors. It's not the color per se but the light level reflected from it.

Very bright neon colors and hunter orange they see really well, the same with new white stuff. I think those things reflect a lot of UV.

I think anything that breaks up your outline, be it buffalo check plaid, or camo, makes you harder to see as a recognizeable human. I've had elk come to within 30 feet looking right at me in my Filson cruiser in red and black. I also had on an orange vest but it had been washed twice in UV reducing soap and then sprayed with a UV reducer...oh, and I painted black tiger stripes on it. It hasn't been washed in years since then but it meets the law.

Wearing the same thing while laying prone I had six mule deer does walk within six feet of me single file and none of them reacted.

I don't think any of the new camos, including military surplus stuff, has any UV brighteners in the dyes they use and hasn't for at least 10 years.

I think if you pay too much for some super whammo camo pattern it's a scam. If you pay a few bucks for a pair of camo BDUs or shirt or something it's not.

It is neither, it is fashion.

I think your posts is as good of scientific evidence that Camo can be beneficial as I've seen. It pretty much proves that Camo can make a difference, at least when not wearing orange.
With the direct evidence you've provided I find it humerous to read the posts of those who still stay it doesn't matter at all.................DJ

good one DJ! I would guess that degreee of movement has alot to do with it, assuming you're not skylined and the wind is right. when I used to smoke, I'd have mule deer walk within feet of me in street clothes as long as the wind was okay (they were actually watching the smoke stream with curiosity). a wiff of that from close range though, and you'd see just how ungraceful an animal can be <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> this is opposed to antelope who I swear have seen me wipe my nose from a 1/2 mile....

'lopes have 8X vision though...

What about gillie suits. From what I have read these suits seem to make a real difference. I was in a sporting goods store recently and a customer was trying on one of these suits and he just about disappeared right on the show room floor in the middle of all the other clothing.
The fact the army uses them suggests they have established the worth of this kind of disguise.