Does Your Camo Fit The Season?
Camouflage hunting gear is big business, and with so many different patterns to choose from, you may be wondering just how many different sets of gear you need to get through a season of hunting.
The Purpose of Camo
Keep in mind that camouflage is not meant to be a fashion statement. Forget about impressing your hunting buddies with the latest and coolest and remember that camouflage clothing has two purposes: to help you blend into the background and to break up your body’s silhouette.
Color and Pattern
The terrain in which you will be hunting will determine the basic style of camouflage you need. Will the background be forest, or open brush or cornfields? You want to choose a pattern and color that will generally match the environment. Most modern fabrics will give you a nice blend of a blurred background with a more detailed foreground.
More important than a perfect match to the terrain is the ability of the pattern to break up your outline. Your aim is to avoid giving your prey a chance to see you as a human-shaped blob. It is important to step away from any clothing you are thinking about buying and look at it from the distance you expect to be from your prey. Fabric that looks indistinguishable from leaves and branches up close may blend into a solid dark blur when seen from a distance, blowing your cover.
What the Prey Sees
You should also do a little research on the visual abilities of the prey you will be hunting. Deer, for example, have a much different visual system than birds. Take into account the colors that the animal can see. Often the contrast between light and dark in a camouflage fabric matters more than the actual colors. Imagine that you are being filmed in black-and-white; you do not want to be brighter or darker than the background.
No matter which camouflage pattern you wear, it only works when you are standing still. There is not a prey animal in the world that will not see you when you move; their lives depend on it.
Get in Touch
For more tips on hunting gear and general information about the Oklahoma outdoors, contact the Oklahoma Hunt Club at Oklahomahuntclub.com, or give us a call at 918-633-4589. We are always ready to welcome a new member to the Oklahoma family of hunting enthusiasts.
