The makers of hunters clothing are as varied and diverse as the gear they produce and the people who wear it.
From Mossy Oak to Advantage, to RealTree, ( trademarks of their respective makers) there are people who swear by each and every kind and variety of camo clothing on the market and chances are that no two of them are ever going to agree.
The one thing they do agree on, is that you need it.
Common sense dictates that we select our camo patterns to match as closely as possible the area we’re going to be hunting in, but our own experience hunting also dictates that we also need to suit our camouflage to the kind of hunting we’re going to be doing as well, keeping in mind what the backdrop is going to be for our seating, standing or anything else.
Mossy Oak Tree Stand Camouflage
A case in point is the archery hunter in his tree stand, whose background is going to remain essentially the same, so he should attempt to match that tree bark, while the guy on the ground who does a good bit of walking around is going to come into many different backdrops, even open fields and be more concentrated in breaking up his own form than matching what is surrounding him because for the most part, unless he has four changes of clothing, he just can’t.
One of the best ways to acccomplish that is to cut your outline (figuratively speaking of course) into thirds, using one camo pattern for the hat and mask, while another comes into play for the shirt or coat and a third, or an echo of the hat pattern, for your trousers.
It may seem erratic, but thats actually the beauty of it.
Advantage Camo
The mixture in patterns will do a super job of confusing the preys visual senses, and is a strategy that is used by many turkey hunters matching their pants to the lower ground elements, while they match the shirt or jacket to the tree they will be sitting against.
No matter what you’re hunting or even if you’re hunting with a camera, having full camo cover is important, for your clothing and your other accessoriers, particularly when hunting turkey.
Camouflage works primarily because it confuses the senses of the prey animal.
We all know it doesn’t render us miraculously invisible, but it breaks up the outline of the form by the use of both shape and color to do so.
The shapes and tonal changes will confuse those animals who don’t have a great sense of color, while the use of the earth tones makes an effective contrast for those animals which do see colors such as the turkeys that are savvy enough to elude even the best hunter.
Whatever your choice, find a pattern or patterns that will work for the area and the backcdrop you’re going to be using and don’t leave home without it.
