Does Camo really make a difference?

Agree its mostly movement and breaking shape - lots of fox callers wear jeans etc and simply sit with their back against a tree to break up thier outline.

Over here when hunting open areas it does make a difference for me! basically where I go the sulphur crested cockatoos seem to like nothing better than flying overhead and screeching loudly and alerting every animal for 500m. Thye literally circle overhead screeching. Keeping them form sounding off is important - and they see in colour.

Its a bit like what I have heard from Africa - you don't have to hide just form your target but from everything else as well!

Also in open areas at long distance (outside forests) most camo detail just blurs anyway into one colour anyway. My realteree jacket which is really designed for forests seems less effective than plain auscam (australian military) which is basically olive drab/light green from any distance - as realtreee is darker and probably stands out more against the lighter coloured fields and scrub I move against.

That said wearing military clothing is practical - but not a good look if you have to talk to anyone!
 
For most all critters it is movement, but with turkeys you have to camo from head to toe. Additionally I've personally found that camo helps, if you match your surroundings and BREAK UP YOUR SILHOUETTE, which is what camo is really for. It allows you to get away with a little bit of movement, not much but when hunting deer I've found that every little bit helps. This holds especially true if your hunting an area that receives a lot of pressure like public land in the south or a hunting club with way too many members for the amount of land they have leased, most of which you will find in the south as well. When I hunt privately owned land are at my club which has 20 members and 2,500 acres, it not as much a factor because the deer aren't on red alert 24/7.

One last thing with deer it is most important to hunt the wind are be a scent control FREAK. Also I have found that if your hunting climber than hunt high like 25 to 30 feet and you can get away with murder. You can move, not wear camo, etc. Hunting that high allows for a lot of miscues on your behalf as they just don't look up that high. I've had bucks literally feed at the base of the tree I'm sitting in.
 
remember the old timers wore plaid colors, I watched a hunting show one time, the guys were in the milk river area in montana and the guy was a traditional bowhunter, and he killed a huge 8 or 10 pointer, wearing browns and greens, no camo.......
 
dd61999 said:
I wear just plain brown or other earthy color clothes and seem to do just fine hunting as long as I stay really still.

So is Camo really worth the investment?
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THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN HUNTING DEER OR OTHER BIG GAME IS WIND...your scent will give you away long before the deer or whatever can tell if you are wearing the right camo..


btw camo is over rated. lots of men back in the day used red plaid shirts to hunt in.. be still and watch the wind direction...
 
At the risk of sounding a bit harsh, camouflage clothing only makes a difference if you're hunting people (or you work for one of the big camo clothing manufacturers)...remember, ghillie suits were designed for just that. Never had much use for wearing any while hunting "critters."

Just my $0.02 worth,
Ron (22 years, Special Operations)
 
rwc53 said:
At the risk of sounding a bit harsh, camouflage clothing only makes a difference if you're hunting people (or you work for one of the big camo clothing manufacturers)...remember, ghillie suits were designed for just that. Never had much use for wearing any while hunting "critters."

Just my $0.02 worth,
Ron (22 years, Special Operations)
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Actually they were made famous for that purpose. They were invented by Scottish gamekeepers for working with game. Ghillie suits are outstanding camo in that they destroy the human shape and they do that more effectively than plaid (as much as I like plaid) or classic camo print clothing.

Not to parse words but I think the OP is discussing camo print clothing, which many maintain isn't necessary (I agree with that). The notion of camouflage is much larger than camo print clothing though. A ghillie suit is great camo, plaid can be great camo, a completely white suit can be great camo (if the background is unbroken snow) and standing behind a big tree can be great camo.

I think blending with your environment (by whatever means) is more important for hunting than the print on your shirt / pants.
 
My opinion is that the military camo is as effective if not more so than the latest mossy realtree marketing hype ,although the natural gear line seems more intent on producing good camo vs. cool camo -----------just my 2 cents.I have some multicam and a hunting buddy of mine was quite amazed at its concealment abilities.
 
dttomcat said:
The thing that makes me nervous about the OP is that it sounds like you will look a bit to much like the game (i.e. a whitetail deer) that other hunters will be after. I would no sooner wear a light brown Carhart jacket into the deer woods during open season than I would dress in bright red from head to toe and walk into a known crips' neighborhood in south central Los Angeles.
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Important point, bears repeating. You'll never see me in deer colors during regular season. Greens mostly, maybe gray. No brown. Camo is overrated IMO and generally unnecessary. Move slow, slow, slow. Stay in or near cover, from tree to tree, shadow to shadow and always know which way the air is moving (and it always is). A light thread hanging from the muzzle or limb tip is a handy tell-tale.
 
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I've killed plenty of deer with my blue jeans and bright colored sweater (with orange vest on). I usually always hunt high up in a tree and watch my scent. All that cool camo you see on TV isn't necessary.
 
i bowhunt pigs, goats, bunnies and various other feral pest species with a 70lb compound.

i find that moving quietly, keeping cover and using the wind to your advantage is far more important than camo gear imho.

camo might allow you to get away with one minor slip-up in your stalk technique, but no more than that.
 
Cpl Punishment said:
The biggest mistake I see most deer hunters make is not covering their smell.

You can get away with a surprising amount of motion around deer, so long as it's quick, and they don't directly see you. You can move, and then STOP. They'll halt, look, listen and sniff around. But if you smell like aftershave, you'll never even see them.

For deer/hog hunting, I just bury a set of regular clothes in a pile of dirt and leaf litter for a few days, only shower with water, no soap, sometimes baking soda (to remove artificial smells from my work environment). Then just be careful with noise and when I move.

Birds, especialyl turkeys are a real biotch because they see so darn well.
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you can NEVER totally conceal your smell.. EVER... so wind direction is #1 thing if you hunt. esp bow hunt for deer. i use scent neutralizers and take every precaution i can but it only helps but so much. hunt downwind of where you think the deer will come, keep still and cross your fingers lol

1. wind direction
2. movement
3. conealment (breaking your outline)

top 3 things to focus on to be a successful hunter/bow hunter.
 
hung-solo said:
you can NEVER totally conceal your smell.. EVER... so wind direction is #1 thing if you hunt. esp bow hunt for deer. i use scent neutralizers and take every precaution i can but it only helps but so much. hunt downwind of where you think the deer will come, keep still and cross your fingers lol

1. wind direction
2. movement
3. conealment (breaking your outline)

top 3 things to focus on to be a successful hunter/bow hunter.
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Right on the money! Wind is king.
 
After bow hunting for a week I saw some interesting things. I tried a few different camo combinations. I noted a few things.

1st. Staying still and concealing movement is important. Sounds weird but you can look around more wearing a boonie hat than a ball cap.

2nd. Staying quiet is important.

3rd. Camo helps break up your outline so they don't immediately think human.

I managed to shoot a 6 by Bull elk from 25 yards with a broadside shot. He saw me when I stepped on a twig. I froze and he couldn't figure out what I was and went about grazing. Much to his demise.

I had 2 turkey hens with ten chicks walk right up too me just about thirty minutes before the Bull walked over to me.

I had a mule deer buck that wanted to bail but stood between 10 yards and 30 yards away while I was tracking the Elk. It was odd but he never spooked.

I also had a mule deer doe walk right up to me while I was sitting on a ridge. She froze when I turned my head to watch her. (ballcap no other head covering or camo).

In short camo helps. But staying still, staying upwind, being quiet and concealing headmovements and your eyes are the main thing. Everything else is just a bonus.
 
Camo, whatever color doesn't so much hide you ask mask your silhouette. So you don't stand out amoungst your background. Color blind or not if you wear and earthy tan against a white rock you look human.
 
with turkey, it most definitely makes a difference. With deer, its scent you need to worry about, and quick movements.

thats why deer and turkey seem to travel together. Turkey have the eyes to see danger, deer have the nose(s) to smell it.
 
GingivitisKahn said:
Actually they were made famous for that purpose. They were invented by Scottish gamekeepers for working with game. Ghillie suits are outstanding camo in that they destroy the human shape and they do that more effectively than plaid (as much as I like plaid) or classic camo print clothing.

Not to parse words but I think the OP is discussing camo print clothing, which many maintain isn't necessary (I agree with that). The notion of camouflage is much larger than camo print clothing though. A ghillie suit is great camo, plaid can be great camo, a completely white suit can be great camo (if the background is unbroken snow) and standing behind a big tree can be great camo.

I think blending with your environment (by whatever means) is more important for hunting than the print on your shirt / pants.
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I've used a ghille to litterally walk right into the middle of herds of grazing deer. just being slow and carefull with my movements. my cover scent was diesal fuel. (Deer arent afraid of farm machinary... ask any farmer!) anyway to the oppisit end of the spectrum I took this buck in jeans and acarhart coat. 11/22/2008 @ 1740 pm

5652_126068675241_625615241_3036261_8259923_n.jpg
 
JasonSCarter said:
I've used a ghille to litterally walk right into the middle of herds of grazing deer. just being slow and carefull with my movements. my cover scent was diesal fuel. (Deer arent afraid of farm machinary... ask any farmer!) anyway to the oppisit end of the spectrum I took this buck in jeans and acarhart coat. 11/22/2008 @ 1740 pm

5652_126068675241_625615241_3036261_8259923_n.jpg
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Pretty cool!
 
Heck, When you are 600 yards away I dosent matter!:)
Not me - I can shoot a rifle ok.
Look up Shawn Carlock 338 shooting on youtube. It is cool stuff!:)
 
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