Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Camouflage: Overrated?

This all makes me think of one of the times I got busted by a coyote from way out there where I really had no reasonable expectation for having that happen. Nor a reasonable explanation.

I was set up in a fence row with camo head to toe, face mask, tree at my back, camo'd gloves, even. Even better yet, there was a treeline behind me that was about 60 yards away and was really a solid black back-drop. I thought.

I called and had a coyote on a string coming at me through abandoned pasture salted with a few multiflora roses and cedars. At one point I had let up on the call and then went to move the call the inch or two back to my mouth. AT that slight motion that coyote became electric and left the county. At the time I was perplexed as to why that happened. Everything was in my favor. Wind, camo, backdrop, you name it.

The coyote had spooked right beside a small cedar that I was able to mark and step-off the distance to. >400 yards and that coyote had spooked with the wind NOT in his favor. I looked back at the fencerow I had been in and saw nothing but black against a background of black provided by the woods that was 60 yards or so farther behind where I had been.

There was absolutely no explanation behind why I had failed, until I got down on my hands and knees beside that small cedar.

From that perspective the view before me was a perfect side-view of the 4 feet of the tree trunk I had been a part of, hopelessly silhouetted courtesy of a 10x10 (?) hole in the branches/leaves of that 60 yard black back-drop I thought I had.

Color or pattern did not matter, movement did. I can not think of any color or pattern based analogy similar to that that I've experienced.

I'll qualify that by stating that I'm just a simple hunter in this for my own benefit.

Wearing good camo and stalking deer in the juniper covered ridges around the lower areas of the Pecos river, I have had deer see my movement from 40 or so yards and come to attention. Then, I stayed motionless as they have approached while looking for what moved. Many times I thought they had me spotted and the jig was up, only to realize they were looking 'through me' and not seeing me, as they kept looking around and sometimes passing by only yards away.

The same has happened with elk.

I have walked while hunting and wearing ASAT camo and had deer see movement and look at me. When I stopped moving, they would loose me and often go back to feeding if I stayed still.

Deer in the east texas woods are deathly afraid of camo and if the see it move they will quickly leave the area, with the knowledge they have trouble honing in on it. Yes, as someone previously said, deer in many areas where visibility is short, do their business while looking for the white of a face or hand in the forest. For that reason, while sneaking through woods, I wear a face net and don't move my arms much and move slowly while carrying my gun or bow down as low as I can. My best camo in the early part of the season in the pine and oak ridges and pin oak and gum bottoms is the dark green/ black dickies. Deer see me coming quite easily and from a distance, but they think it is a cow and don't pay attention until I am close enough to pick them up, if I am moving real slow and taking my time looking hard for movement ahead of me. Generally, it helps to be moving much slower than a traveling buck.

My brother and I, archery hunting, have had bull elk see us sitting and come to within 3 yards trying to figure out what we were. Don't expect that with a red emblem showing on a cap. Predator camo is great if you need to be close, but we have done well wearing grey wool rich pants at times. Carhart color has been good while calling elk.

I consider carhartt or grey to be camo in many hunting environments, as I do the wonderful dark tan thinsulate insulated Wranglers.

I have never had wild turkeys come close in the fall if I was sitting on a live oak limb in central texas while having bright colored fetching on my arrows. Even without movement and otherwise having total camo they have always nailed me. I have stalked and drilled a few though, with total camo.

Camo is not necessary if one is a great hunter, sits on a ridge and shoots a long way, is still and has an animal travel over him, or is real lucky, but it helps if it blends in to the environment and one is subject to Murphy's Law.

And, there no getting away from it, it just looks SO COOL!

I wear full blaze orange head to toe while white tail deer hunting and have shot over 100 deer all in full blaze. as long as you know the wind and DONT MOVE you are good. I have never had a deer see me because of orange it was movement or scent and my fault and i knew it the joys of being busted. if you sit in a tree long enough you learn alot. I have had deer stare at me 10 to 15 feet away trying to figure out what i was a few times only thing i can say is you will never win a starring contest with a deer. I do think cammo would be a good idea when bow hunting or hunting close to the game trails as i never sit on a trail always off to the side as far as I can and still be able to get a clear shot. but deer that travel the same trails know what is suposed to be there and what is not.

Avoid UV brightened detergents for your clothes (get a "sportsman's wash - a bottle is cheap and will last a long time), odors, movement and solid colors (break up your outline) and you will be way ahead of those who don't.

While usually I wear camo, I don't pay much attention to the pattern - anything that breaks up my outline is better than nothing.

That said, I've often hunted in blue jeans and always have to wear blaze orange outer gear (on upper body and head minimum) when hunting in Colorado. Camo orange isn't legal so I rub dirt on it.

Ah! Now there you have the ultimate consumerist fashion notion: UV. Invisible rays that can only be removed by a secret spray. I've written extensively on this.

1) Although a deer's eyes are built to receive UV, they are not built to resolve an image.
2) For all the so-called scientific testing, no one has shown deer have an aversion to UV.
3) Your clothing fluoresces in visible light in response to UV. That's why they put UV brighteners in your clothes, so the whole idea that deer seeing you in the UV part of the spectrum is bogus. Read up on the difference between fluorescence vs reflectance. You'll see what I mean.
4) At the request a manufacturer of the most popular anti-UV spray, I tested their product. The details are on my weblog. The bottom line: totally bogus and largely ineffective even for what they claimed the stuff could do.
5) For any game species other than cervids (deer, elk, etc.) anti-UV is completely ridiculous. They do not have the receptors.

Now, here's an article from just a short while back:

http://genesis9.angzva.com/?p=1605

Studies on reindeer indicate that they too can see in UV. However, what that does for them is allow them to see dark, non-UV reflective objects against a hi-UV background on snow. What has low UV reflectance? Predators like arctic wolves. The white fur shows up dark on the snow in UV. What this means is that (if anything) deer probably are more adverse to a LACK of UV.

Read through my weblog using "elephant repellent" , "UV" and such as keywords.

If you are still unconvinced after reading all my stuff, just take your hunting clothes and wash them once in hot water. So much for UV brighteners.

Limit the blue tape on your muzzle and odds increase tenfold

So true.

good point.....a field of flowers is gonna be a huge UV beacon, its how they attract bees....the natural world is full of non threatening things that is gonna reflect and fluoresce UV.....

A while back, I limited out on ducks here on the coast with my son wearing a white University of Texas jersey, inside out of course in case any of the ducks were Aggies or Sooners

[/[URL=http://s1208.photobucket.com/user/Scopolamine1/media/finaltalley.jpg.html]URL]

When it comes to wearing clothing for hunting the first thing I look at is how quite is the material. A lot of the camo out now has some sort of nylon in it and makes to much noise. I look for neutral colors because when you are hunting on open hillsides with bunch grass fancy camo really makes you stand out. All you need is something that breaks up your features, Washington dictates that you wear hunter orange. My son and I have camo orange vests and when crossing a hillside I have known he was crossing I could see him. I do wear camo for elk, not to hide from the elk but to hide from other hunters. I have been sitting under trees and had guys walk up to were I am and start glassing and taking off their packs. That is when I clear my throat and watch them pee themselves. Camo for most hunting situations is not really that big of a deal, but I feel that it is a marketing gimmick to sell cloths.

A couple of points.

1. Camo has become the hunters uniform and anyone wearing camo represents the entire hunting community. I tell my firearm safety students that if they act like a jerk in McDonalds in July while wearing camo, you have negatively impacted non-hunting people. Be careful with this. I smile and say, "go ahead and act like jerks, just dont do it wearing camo. Of course, your parents just rolled their eyes at that statement!"

2. You cant prove a negative. All of the testimony that someone got close to game while not wearing camo is not proof that camo isnt better. Say they got within 30 feet of 400 deer in the last 20 years while not wearing camo. Well, by wearing camo, that may have been 420. or 520. who knows and it cannot be proven one way or the other without some serious scientific methods.

If you are happy not wearing camo, fine. If you like it, fine. I would not laugh at or disparage either group. I personally like it as I like the garments that it comes in (Cabelas wooltimate is a great example as it does not come in in non-camo).

the point alot of guys have is camo is about breaking up your outline and you dont need camo patterns to do it.....to a critter that basically sees in grayscale by putting on a dark shirt and light pants you have broken up your outline quite a bit.....in alot of places the right plaid patterns do just as good of a job breaking up your outline as any camo pattern.....


and movement awareness and scent control(even just playing the wind right to hell with magic sprays) are far more important than breaking up your outline....

Better than no camo? Yes.

Overrated as to how much better? Yes.

What shaman said. Fluorescent orange absorbs UV and emits orange light, that's why it's brighter than plain old orange. Very little if any UV gets reflected back to the deer. Also deer don't see orange very well, looks like a muddy brown to them. See NY DEC for pictures and a short explanation of both points.

The biggest problem with commercial camo is not wearing it in the hills, but when worn out in public.

It automatically pegs you as a hunter, which means you're a target for the bubba hunters to corner you and tell you all about their thousand yard top of the backline hold shot with their 300 Ultra Mags. You're wearing camo, so of course you wanna hear my "hunting stories", right?

Wearing camo in public also pegs you as a bubba to non-hunters, or locals who are pissed off at being overrun with bubbas and just want their towns and countryside back to themselves. This often results in jeers as you walk by, or other locals attempting to sell you something. You're wearing camo, so you need to use me for your taxidermy, right?

There's this whole camo-as-fashion thing that has come on in the past couple decades. Me? I am of the opinion that camo duds belong in the field. However, I see a lot of folks wearing camo out in public now. It's a statement about lifestyle and attitude, in the same was wearing the Stars and Bars used to be-- something vague about freedom and the outdoors and doing what I want to do.

Then there is the idea of Mossy Oak as a sign of affluence. If you wear the latest camo pattern, it shows you can afford the newest and best. You know someone that wears Realtree APC is doing so because he can. You also know that someone who has some oddball splotchy camo shops at the Dollar Store.

Pink Camo? Now camo is making a political statement too. Chicks who wear pink camo are saying they can hunt like the men. I have a daughter-in-law that is big into pink camo.

Urban camo marks you as a bad mofo. Never mind your backpack has Ninja Turtles on it.

Me? When I need to take the bus, I wear my old M65 in GI ERDL and talk to myself openly. In 30-some years, no one has ever tried anything, in fact I can always get a seat by myself, no matter how crowded it is.

"Me? When I need to take the bus, I wear my old M65 in GI ERDL and talk to myself openly. In 30-some years, no one has ever tried anything, in fact I can always get a seat by myself, no matter how crowded it is."

Are you sure that fact is due to your actions or the lack of personal hygiene?

+1, and like GregW said, some of my light jackets happen to be camo, but not necessary. I'm simple minded...and pay attention to wind, shade, etc.

JGR- nice that you mention shade...I thought I was the only one. Virtually everyone I know thinks nothing whatsoever of walking in the open in the sunlight. Never occurs to them not to...
A close bud operated that way till I took him hunting one day...until that day he did not know it was possible to sneak up on a whitetail and kill it...