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

I like Camo. It doesn't make much difference with game animals, but I can hide from other hunters, game wardens, ranch foreman, and landowners a lot better.

As a disabled hunter I make good use of camouflage - I painted my Red Ford Explorer green.

shaman, interesting remarks on camo as a statement. There's a tendency here to look upon people wearing new camo in the latest pattern, coordinated from head to foot, as dudes. People more interested in showing their cool than in hunting. Not so long ago someone not wearing farm chore clothes was looked at askance, outside of waterfowl hunters that is. That's changed as camo has become more common on the racks of course. But still I tend to avoid the coordinated look and replace items singly as they go on sale to fit in. Saves money and the game doesn't care.

I read about a greenhorn who was hunting in New England. He went into a small town store wearing blaze orange hat, coat, and pants. The grizzled locals, who wore nothing brighter than a red plaid cap, looked him over and one said "Sonny, aren't you taking an awful chance with those brown boots?"

Camo or I don't hunt.













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Of course not. Guys like that only eat rice and drink and bathe in rainwater so the bad guys don't smell them.

You don't see teh shade thing mentioned often. I often wonder how folks miss it though, a deer in the shade or walking through the shade is often hard and for sure harder to spot. When one walks out of the shade into the sunlight its like someone turned a spotlight on it.

If it works that way on game, you KNOW it works that way for you.

Unfortunately shade isn't always available for a given route but we sure try to take BIG advantage of it if we can.

Yep, your from East Texas. Didn't know camo worked in the dark though.

Awesome stuff. Camo is a marketing gimmick for fashion-conscious hunters. I admit I like the "morning wood" pattern.

I much prefer the European approach - muted earth tones and a preference for Loden green. Looks good in town, works good in the bush.
I wish some of the good USA hunting clothing was available in loden instead of camo. And I also resent paying a royalty to the marketers who tack on a few bucks to the cost of every camo garment.

Just saw a sow last night-shooting hogs from a helicopter in Texas. The dudes in the chopper were wearing camo...I'll bet those hogs never suspected a thing.....

She must have been one pissed little piggy.

Yeah, and all those professional TV show/hunters that crawl into a blind wearing full camo are hiding their azzzes off too.

I hunted crows for many years and needed all the camo I could get. Since the camo was my "hunting clothes" I also wore them hunting squirrels, deer, ducks, whatever. Deer can't see the red/orange colors, hence hunters orange for safty.

I don't think there is any disadvantage to wearing camo unless you wear it to town and some little old lady gets upset with you.

I hunted coyotes and bobcats with a guide down in Texas. The guide had video of himself shooting a double on coyotes and several bobcats while wearing a Santa Claus suit.

He was in the open, so the predators could fully see him. He simply did not move.

Movement, not color or pattern, makes all the difference.

Most camoflage is simply marketing.

I choose clothing that performs and is comfortable, waterproof, windproof, warm, etc. I will admit that most of my clothing is camo because they meet these attributes. I've dumped several pieces of clothing that haven't. But I also have pieces that aren't camo. I keep them around for the same reasons and I'm not afraid to mix and match. I do have a couple of pieces that claim to have "scent control" features, but I still rely on wind direction to mask my order when possible.

Oh, I don't wear it as casual clothing...ever.

I have a couple of Kuiu camo clothes. The four way stretch makes them much better than any other clothes I have hunted or hiked in. That they are made in camo is just a bonus.

When I lived in Pennsylvania, I killed 3 deer a ranges so close I could easily have hit them with rock. My technique was to sit on the ground with my back to a fallen tree clothed in a solid blaze orange jacket.

Damn, Scott! I wasted all that money on camo TP stock? You were the one that told me to invest in it.

Oh, wait.... it's up.

Never mind.

Francis Sell wrote, the less you move the more you see. I have found stillness to be a key point to hunting success.

That said, I have walked for long distances with deer herds by imitating there actions. The lifted head stare, short rapid changes of direction, etc... They were not alarmed as long as I mimicked their actions.