An Abridged Guide to Picking the Best Hunting Camouflage

So, you have finally decided to hit the trail and hunt down the big buck that’s been the source of your agony over the last few months. Your hunting gear and gun may be ready, but are you ready too?

Certainly, you are not going tohead outfor huntinginyourt-shirt andshorts.You need to put on something that can help you with your hunting.Camouflage isa wonderful option to lie lowin thosecritical moments. But,how will you decide whichis thebest camo for deer hunting, based onyour hunting goals? 

With countless camo choices on the market, it’s easy to get confused and pick a wrong option for the hunting season. So that you can separate the wheat from the chaff, let’s first understand what makes good camo.

 

What Makes Good Camo

Themain purposeofhunter’scamouflage isstraightforward: to make you invisible to thepreyyou arechasing.So,how does ithelp you withthat?

Effective camouflage makes use of the patterns and colors of nature to produce gear and clothing that help a hunter blend into their immediate environment.

Now, this is exactly where things may complicate. Let’s understand this with an example:  camouflage which works well in the Northern California woods may struggle to perform in the Georgia woods, depending on the uniquely distinct shapes and colors, specific of these regions.

Colors

A hunter knows that green is not always just green. Nature boasts a wide range of colors. Many experienced hunters can tell apart two different species of a tree or crop, just by looking at their colors. Bear, deer, elk, bore, and other animals and birds can easily figure out that your camouflage does not belong, even quicker than you.  

You may hunt in every environment, as the color combination possibilities to help you camouflage effectively are endless. For instance, a tan grassy land may appear lighter or darker in the shade on the whole. At dusk, the light may cause dark brown to appear dusty golden. Grasses and trees may turn bright emerald. On the contrary, the very same tan grassy land turns into a dark shade of brown color during the evening hours. Weather conditions, such as rain can also impact your hunting environment’s colors.

As a hunter seeking the perfect camouflage, it’s crucial to observe, understand, and capture pictures of the land in the beginning of the hunting season. Consider all of the factors that may help impact the kind of colors you would need, including weather conditions and the hunting time of the day.

 

Pattern

The woods may appear quite different from an open field vs. a marsh. Grass is commonly found in different hunting environments across the country, and it is the major thing to focus on when it is about camouflage patterns. In most hunting situations, you may require tucking yourself up on the ground, near tall grass, bush, or a dense tree.

For woody regions, camouflage will come covered in leaves, branches, and plants. Downed trees are a common sight in forests or woods that help you blend in well with your surroundings, and woody camouflage is an excellent option for tree stands.

Patterns have a pivotal role to play in determining how effective camouflage is going to be – but usually not in the manner you would anticipate. Camouflage can blend well into nature even without any images of grass, bark, or trees – the more realistic your camouflage, the better!

 

Different Styles of Camo

In order to pickthe righthuntingcamouflage, your focus should be less on your game,and moreonthehuntingseason and thearea, where you will hunt.

Nature is all about a mix of grass, fields, trees, bushes, and other kinds of flora. Camouflage is often developed, keeping in mind the characteristics that could match the hunting terrain.

In most situations, camouflage is the starting point of becoming a well-hidden hunting expert.

 

Waterfowl

Waterfowl hunting – a popular sport in the Northern U.S. – is a practice of hunting geese and duck in boats, fields, grasslands, and marshes. It is quite common along the migratory routes and flyways between Canada and the U.S. Waterfowl camouflage is developed to stay versatile across varied terrains, with minor differences between patterns.

Waterfowl camouflage is generally designed using large corn stalks or grass stains – in shades of tan and brown colors – combined with cattails, thinner grasses, and hints of green.

In the initial days of the duck hunting season, grasses are greener. For waterfowl hunting during the early fall, consider having a light waterfowl jacket, featuring more greens.

In the late fall, the grasslandsstartto die off and huntingbecomes limited to the cornfields. This creates theneed forlight tan camouflage, featuring corn-stalkstyle.Trypurchasinga heavierjacket withthecamouflage style mentioned above.Waterfowl hunting continuesthrough thewinter season.During this timeof the year, youmay needyouto makea choice – whether thesnowisdeepenough toswitch to snow camouflage, or the grass-style camouflage will stillwork. 

 

The Woods

Throughout the country, the desire to hunt big animals drives hunters into the depths of the forest. This has led to the popularity of woody camouflage, not just among hunters, but common people too. Hunters may find that the patterns and terrain in Utah woods differ substantially from those of Florida woods.

Wooded camo generally has brighter greens and darker browns to match terrain as well as the “temperature” of the terrain, which basically refers to the brightness and darkness of the terrain during specific periods of the year.

Wooded camo is available in blurred patterns or high definition (HD). High-definition camo produces photo-realistic pictures across your gear and jacket to blend in easily with nature. Although it works wonders while hunting in the forest, it may be unsuitable if used elsewhere. This is the reason behind the creation of blurred-style camouflage as it is more versatile and appropriate for more environments.

 

Blurred Camo

Blurred camo focuses majorly on the colors required to blend into a specific terrain, and the broken patterns aids you in blending in with multiple types of terrain. Blurred woody camouflage showcases an out-of-focus design of woody colors, which allows the camouflage to blend in easily when used in grasslands, woods, or other types of terrain.

This type of style is used in the modern digital camouflage, which makes use of several colors, with no patterns, to blend into many different terrains. Such a camouflage style are perhaps not the best option for a specific type of terrain, but they perform fairly well in a wide range of terrains. For this reason, they are so popular with the military.

 

Snow & Winter

As snowfall begins, your regular green camouflage may start to stand out. The trees lose their leaves and the grass gets covered by snow in the season. So, your camo needs to be changed. Winter camo are available in many varieties. Some winter camos are loaded with branches and trees with white accents for densely wooded regions, while a few other winter camos are simply white with several twigs and branches.

Get out there andfind outwhat to wear when hunting in the coldandwhich winter camo you need to match your hunting goals.

 

Brush & Stone

Tall thin grass and bushes cover some of the top hunting areas in the U.S. This terrain is characterized by cliffs, stones, and open areas. Brush and grassland camo makes use of blotched patterns and thin grasses to produce a stone effect while being matched with blurred camo to develop a universal pattern.

 

Orange

Everystate has its ownrulesand regulationsrelated to “blaze orange” requirements.Severalstates requirehunters to weara solid piece oforange clothing,while othersstates allowthe use oforange camouflage.

With major focus on patterns that involve breaking giant flat spaces with texture, orange camo offers the necessary blaze orange protective cover while allowing you to blend in with your immediate environment.

 

The Gear

Now that you are covered fromhead to toe inacamohat,jackets,andpants,you need to upgrade your huntinggear with GunSkins wraps.

No more mismatched guns, calls, and bows as GunSkins wraps can easily be applied at home, which help you create your unique gear for the hunt.

Wrapping your gear is a great way to safeguard it. Besides sealing away any past damage signs and scratches, it adds a protective layer to counteract future scratches.

Removing GunSkins wraps is as easy as installing them. You only need to follow some simple steps to remove them just in case you decide to change them. One can easily remove the old wrap by heating it with a hairdryer or a heat gun.

 

Face Paint

Besides yourhunting clothes andgear,you should considerlookingyourselfin a mirror.

The sunrays bouncing back from your face may create a shiny, visible surface that may indicate your position. Face paint does not erase your facial features, but it just takes away the sheen and natural contour of your face. You can make use of blotches, stripes, and other types of patterns when applying face paint. At this point, pay less attention to patterns, and focus more on the colors used in the paint to match the hunting terrain and the required camouflage. Also burning a cork with a lighter and rubbing charred carbon on your face is another option in instead of paint.

 

The Perfect Camo

Camo can make or break your hunting expedition. If a pattern or color combo fails to work, you will possibly stand out and get the attention of your prey.

Camouflage is just the first step to disappearing into nature. Natural cover made out of sticks, twigs, and grass, placed around and in front of you will develop additional layers of camouflage. Proper cover will help hide your movements as you prepare yourself to take a shot.

Choosing theright camouflageisjustthe beginning.Your next steps would be togetnewgear,clothes, and customize your old gearwithGunSkins wraps.Follow thehuntingcamouflagetipsabove totake your hunting experience to awholenew level.