Camo even for outer clothing is primarily for the hunter not for the game. Folks got along just fine hunting without it for hundreds of years. I just accept that it is for my eyes not those of the game I might hunt and so buy what looks good to me. If I like the looks of it then what do I care how well the game likes it. If I do my job right they will never know I'm there with or without the camo.
I totally agree with the above, and here's a sampling of why...............
During the 2008 primative arms season here in Oklahoma, I killed my first ever whitetail deer. I was on the ground, leaning against a tree, and dressed like a freakin' orange popsicle from the waist up.
Shortly after sunrise, a group of deer came in to view and proceeded to lazily feed on fallen acorns. The buck I shot was about 150 yards off when I first caught a glimpse of it. It kept coming closer and closer. It would looked right at me every now and then, sniff the air a bit, and then get back to munching on acorns, and the process would repeat, with the buck coming closer the whole time. I just stood still.
Finally, when the buck was 20 yards away, I couldn't stand it anymore and killed it.
I went back to that same spot the following day, once again looking like an international orange popsicle from the waist up, with pretty much the same action taking place with the doe I shot.
This year's hunting didn't go as planned. Work kept me out of the field throughout the primative season and most of the modern gun season.
When I did get to go, I took my 10 year old son on his first deer hunt as an observer. We were both dressed like orange popsicles from the waist up. I went to the same spot where I'd killed my deer in 2008 during the primative arms season.
An hour and a half after sunrise, with my son feeling cold and impatient whispering about how badly my "spot" sucked and how we should try another, we heard leaves crunching behind us.
He turned around slowly and started tugging at the sleave of my bright orange jacket, whispering, "Its a deer. And its right here. Get you gun and shoot it."
"Buck or doe?"
"Doe."
"Okay. Now be still and shhhhhhhhh."
I didn't bother to turn around. I kept looking at my hillside in front of me. I could hear the occassional footstep behind, thanks to the fallen leaves.
"NO, Dad. You don't understand. It is RIGHT HERE looking RIGHT AT ME. Kill it.," my son said again, in a whisper.
"Shhhhhh. Be still. When she turns away and isn't looking at you, let me know." I understood more than the kid thought I did. I understood that if I moved with that deer looking right at us, she might well bolt off without me being able to get a good shot off at her.
Well, she eventually did turn and lazily went about sniffing the ground. I eventually turned around, too.
When it was over, I asked my son where the deer was when he saw her first and where she was when she finally turned around. She entered the picture about 35 yards behind us. She kept advancing toward us, keeping an eye on my son who was keeping an eye on her. When she finally turned, she was mere feet away, rather than yards. She was less than 50 yards from me when I first laid eyes on her.
All we had to be was real still and downwind to get that close to the object of desire. We didn't have to look like a real tree or a mossy oak to do it.
I'm an amatur whitetail hunter. Still, it doesn't seem to me that their ability to see the red / orange light spectrum is any better than the blacktails and mulies that I DO have experience with. That deer that my son spotted came within feet of us as we sat there looking like two frozen desserts (and feeling like two frozen desserts that morning) sitting on a deadfall.
I don't see how camo would changed things for the better.
JP
