Camo? Bah!!! Humbug!!!

Don't know about the "expensive" camo stuff. For years have taken old coveralls and used "Ritz" dye to get the right shade of color. Then a can of spray paint to finish up.

The properly dyed coveralls give me the option of moving about without drawing unnecessary attention..
 
My (late) father always said that animals were fooled by a large plaid pattern. For many decades he wore a woolen red and black plaid hunting coat. He had it dry cleaned every year and it's now mine and still in good shape. Couldn't even guess how many deer and elk have been toppled when this coat was worn.

Camo is a great marketing strategy to sell more stuff. True Bark and Real Tree appear solid grey from only 75 yards away. Yet consider that our armed forces in WW1, WW2, Korea, and Viet Nam wore olive drab fatigue uniforms. It worked for most situations. An olive drab field jacket with liner is still a good hunting coat for those cold November hunts.

Buy whatever you want but don't assume camo stuff = success.
Jack
 
I, too, have been sitting in the open on a flat rock and eating a sandwich when two yearling fawns and their mother came into the clearing. They got so close to me that I could have poked them with my gun barrel.

It was during the hunting season.

This has happened several times in my 40+ years of hunting.

I was not wearing camo.

I think it's because I was not moving.

Does are a lot less skittish than bucks and not nearly as wary.

As was mentioned above... I didn't appear to be a threat.

The deer family keys on movement and shapes... camo breaks up your outline and tends to hide small movements.

The deer's eyes are tuned to night vision and the color receptors in their eyes are the least of their senses.

They are not color blind, but their eyes are to color, what our eyes are to darkness.

I wear camo now... but if I stink, or I move, or I make noise... the deer is outa there. :eek:

Just like the very best rifles, camoflage is meant only to assist the hunter...

not to kill, gut and butcher the quarry. :D
 
camo or not...

I would argue that camo can help, but isn't the be-all end-all. My father-in-law (not to mention several friends) has shot deer while wearing jeans and a t-shirt, with a thermos of coffee at his feet. Of course the deer was 200yrds away...

I myself have stalked within slapping distance (literally; if it were gun season I could have taken the deer out with the buttstock of my rifle) while wearing full camo (face paint, gloves, etc). Of course I was hunting turkey at the time....

So it really depends if you're trying to sneak into a hot deer area before setting up a stand, or sitting a good distance (hopefully downwind) watching a trail. With either situation you just want to move slowly as not to attract attention.
 
The effectiveness of camo is grossly overrated especially on big game. Most of it has too small a pattern with too many colors resulting in a blending of pattern and color at a very short distance which can vary depending on the lighting conditions. Ever notice how most advertizements for camo are done under full light conditions. This allows for optimum efficiency of the given pattern. Unfortunatly as hunters we are luck if we hunt under optimum light conditions 5% of the time.This also makes camoing of small items such as gloves, facemasks, boots and etc. pretty much worthless. It is just as effective to wear varying shades of clothing. Pants one color, shirt/coat another, hat another yet and so on. Beyond 20-25 feet camo is going to look similar anyway. This weekend while stillhunting with my only camo a worn coat I had 2 bucks walk within 10 yards. One saw me and discounted my presence until he winded me and even then was not spooked. The other never saw me dispite the fact I was slowly standing up when I spotted him at 15 yards. I also tailed a small 3x3 that only got suspicious after about 45 minutes into the game and just wandered off.
 
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