Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Is Camo Needed?

Was out tonite. Have a 2.5 or 3.5 year old 8 point here that shows ok promise and I'm hoping that he and a 1.5 year old 6 point survive.

I'd been seeing them about the last 5-6 hunts regularly. I've a ground blind and took the camera along a few times to see if I could get some good shots.

I happened tonite to toss on green bottoms and a green top. No big deal as I'd be in the blind. Could have ended up just as easily with clean blue jeans instead of the green pair I grabbed off the hanger.

Anyway there was a bunch of racket, neighbors sounded like they were cold forging artillery pieces, lots of spanish to the south, evidently there was some celebration, honking horns and such. Dogs going wild barking driving me nuts. So I sit there reading flags of our fathers and relaxing. Twas getting fairly dusky and I decide to get out of dodge before it got dark as its first quarter and I figured they might show up at dark with all the commotion.

Got the camera and bow all ready, book and diet coke away. The blind is basically light tan, and its stuck between 2 green cedar trees. Out to the side of them. I get out, and just as I'm on the front edge of the blind I look to the new tank, here comes the 8. Nothing to do, I can't move but I have no cap on, no gloves, no camo facepaint. As he passes a thin veil of grass I slink down to sit on one foot(never do this and I knew better....) He comes on and is 10 yards from me parallel to my spot and the fence. Stops and stares a bit as the only background I have is tan. I am stuck out like a sore thumb. He stares a few seconds and goes on about 25 yards down the fence. then jumps the fence to the oats and other green stuff. Ends up 15 yards upwind and eats till well dark. While he is there I have to stand up while he is facing away, and now I'm worse silhoutted. But standing and foot is coming to life. This lasts about 25 minutes till he heads on with his rounds. Waited till dark and took some night vision pictures of him for grins.

Lesson learned(I knew it already....) as long as the wind is in your favor, and you are still they don't have a clue. I got caught one time fending off a mosquito, but I outlasted him and he went back to feeding.

I suspect that a black and white photo of me against the tan background in my green, would look very similar to orange vs tan. I could have gotten away with this easy with my tan supplex and dark red supplex mountain hunting outer layers too.

Is it needed, nope, not even 10-15 yards on the ground.

Granted this was not a mature buck, and much less wary than an old doe too. But had this been a mature buck I had the chance to draw at one point and would have had a 12 yard shot that would have been a slam dunk, if I'd been ready and needed to. Now whether I could have sat there/stood there almost half an hour with a mature one, can't answer. But most 2.5/3.5 year old bucks in our woods are fairly educated. Until antler regs they usually didn't live much longer....

Not scientific, but I find that it reaffirms my thoughts.

As an aside to those naysayers about deer lure, I had not seen these bucks on a regular basis for the last month or so. But I had put out a Tinks 69 bomb Thursday evening and have seen one or the other or both every hunt since then. May not be the tinks, but damn sure didn't spook em.

Regards, Jeff

To answer your question, No.

For bow hunting it helps a bit, but as a rifle hunter the material matters more IMO.

No you don't really need camo, I agree. However I do believe deer see solid colors better than they see broken patterns. Maybe the way the light comes off them or is absorbed by them or something. I am convinced that they "see" a solid surface better than they see something that isn't solid one color though.

Movement gets them every time and they will notice immediately anything new and strange in their territory.

Your blind isn't new and has proven to be harmless to them. So they don't notice it any more. You have been there and they know your scent and you too have proven harmless so far. They don't really notice you either as long as you don't do something foolish.

Now unlike the rest of us they don't know you are a little strange. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />


BCR

Boggy

It was those solid colors against a camo background that should have had me sticking out like a sore thumb, and the fact I was silhouetted part of the time. Yep the blind has been there a few weeks, funny thing about it though, I put it out one day at lunch, and that evening when walking, took the glasses and find 5-6 does within 5 yards of the blind eating, less than about 5 hours from when I stuck it out there.

The more I hunt, the more I realize that camo is mostly a gimmick. Pay attention to the real details, wind and movement and it won't matter much about the rest.

That being said it was unusual for me to not have a different color top and bottom. To that point when I wear camo I usually try totally different tops and bottoms to help break up even better. And normally when wearing regular clothes, its broken up for color some way, just not those tiny patterns that become blobs past 50 yards or so.

I"ll probably continue to wear camo off and on as I have it, and some of my favorite wool is in camo, but I"m convinced it doesn't help all that much.

Jeff

I never owned a shred of it until 2001, where I tried it on a red deer hunt followed by a fallow deer hunt back to back.

I have only one set now and a couple of odd pieces which I wear mostly around the house.

It seems to offer some advantage but I have many memories of deer walking up to within 15 feet of me and standing there looking at me, knowing I was not supposed to be there, but unsure if I was a threat until I said "boo".

This seemed to clarify the situation in deer language.

AGW

rost,

Camo can't hurt in the boonies. It doesn't do anyone much good when used as a fashion statement ... unless being a redneck in public draws chicks in your area.

Yep, there isn't a real downside to it, EXCEPT most of it blobs up worse than when I wear diferent tops and bottoms mixed up. In fact when I do wear camo these days(which isn't all that often as I've found its really not much help) I do try to put on 2 different patterns top and bottom.

Had on wool camo the other morning, cause I have it, and it was cool. Noticed that its such a big blob, at least its about the color of deer hide.

the newest 3d hd camo pattern shirt and a Z-71 pickup will have the chicks fighting over you. What else would a well dressed man wear to the local dance?

seriously though, my hunting coats that are not camo...my wife ends up wearing because she is always cold. I have tried and no scent killer or detergent will get perfume or hair product stuff out of those coats. if I am not down wind, forget 'bout it. so I buy the ugliest camo I can so she stays away.

No, just keep your powder dry and the wind in your face!

CD

rost..,

I like the new Advantage Max 4D real well. It's supposed to be for duck hunting,but it blends very well with winter leaf litter and is invisible in open winter fields.

Doesn't blob up to my eye,anyway <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Some of the most up close and personal encounters I have had with elk involved red plaid Pendleton shirts and jeans...

"unless being a redneck in public draws chicks in your area"

now that's something I can relate to!

If you're being still, you don't need it. If you're moving, it won't help anyway. I often wear it anyway because it makes me feel better.....more predatorish.

An old guy who hunted out of the duck club across the bayou from us (before Katrina got both camps) used to use two liter bottles painted Coast Guard orange and flourescent green for decoys, and wear an orange deer hunting coat in the duck blind, just to prove it didn't matter. He killed as many ducks as anybody else, sometimes more because he was a great shot.

I don't think camo is necessary. I'm with Boggy that broken patterns (plaids) are less likely to be seen than solids. I also think that how much uv brightener in the material makes a huge difference. I have a camo jacket that in the predawn light just as well be a neon sign. The worn out old green carhart, or red and black plaid wool jacket don't have that problem.

We don't need no stinking camo!



Please excuse the camera timer shot.

ROg..,

Geeez. That photo's blinding!!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Ya, if you hunt with that crew (mostly cops) you wear hunters orange. If you show up without a vest your given one. Every year here there is at least one shooting, and the shootee is never wearing orange, usually in full camo. General over the counter tags are the worst. Dorky, but not dead is the montra.

The short answer is NO.

Well if you go by what most outfitters wear...lumberjack type of outfits seem to be in vogue.

The type of material i.e. how noisy it is plays more of a role than any break up pattern. (some guides just absolutely hate rain gear b/c of the noise)

Smell and hearing are more important to most game animals than eyesight.

Sure camo helps, but it is a bit overemphasized.

I was killing deer, hogs, birds and small game long before Camo was introduced. Other than the fact that the latest technology in clothing for the Nimrod is only brought out in camo, I see no reason to buy any.