The colour of camo

[Phil Russell]

I am not a hunter so the only reason I sometimes wear anything with any resemblance to 'camo' is because it is hard wearing and cheap and perfect for wear while working outside.
But it seems there are many many designs of camo clothing all competing in the marketplace for the hunter's cash. Generally speaking they all seem to offer the property of hiding the hunter's outline from the wary eyes of the prey.
But at the same time I cannot help but think back to an article in AirGunner by Mr Chillingworth in which he looked at the colour of clothing and declared that a brightly patterned orange outfit he was wearing would appear as good camo to the prey. The prey not having adequate colour vision. So it made no difference whether or not the outfit was orange or a shade of green, the camo effect came from the disruptive pattern not the colour.
So why are there not more brightly coloured camo outfits around?

Cheers, Phil

[piggy589]

Perhaps unlike North America there isn't the risk of being plugged by another hunter.

[angrybear]

Because it stands out to people & plenty of people don't understand that animals eyes see differently to humans, 80% of camo design is to attract the buyer.

I know deer cannot see Orange, Americans wear orange for safety because they have huge areas where anyone can hunt so they need other hunters to see them,
Here in the UK we don't have that open ground for anyone to shoot on, so we don't have the same need.

I must admit I don't know how most UK prey perceives colour, but I'll be sticking with green anyway.

[bighit]

W.L Gore developed their optifade camo for hunters .

THE SCIENCE OF NOTHING
The traditional approach to hunting has been to smell, sound or appear as something familiar to prey - through cover scents, calls and camouflage patterns of sticks and leaves. GORE™ OPTIFADE™ Concealment is the first concealment system designed around animal vision and not human eyesight. Unlike mimicry camouflage, GORE™ OPTIFADE™ Concealment prevents your prey from recognizing you as a predator – even if detected – making you NOTHING in their eyes.

They have different desins for different areas ,

Up in high seats , rocky areas and so on

HOW UNGULATE
VISION WORKSThe world of the backcountry hunter is defined by stark contrasts - bright sky, dark leaves and branches - and by the vertical lines of trees. These lines make it easier for whitetail deer and other ungulate prey to detect the hunter’s presence.

Ungulate eye placement is designed for an extremely wide field of view and a quick scan of the horizon for potential threats. The trade-off is diminished visual acuity. While we see 20/20, an ungulate sees around 20/40, making deer vision slightly blurrier than ours.

While humans have a full range of color vision, ungulates lack the receptors for red tones, viewing the world in shades of yellow, blue, and grey.

Bottom line: Ungulates suffer from red-green colorblindness.

The human's field of view is 120°. The ungulate's field of view is 280° and a simple turn of the head expands its view to 360°.

Bottom line: Ungulates have a wider field of vision.


HOW WATERFOWL
VISION WORKSWaterfowl hunting is done in a high contrast environment. Skylight from the horizon or light reflected from the water surface will shine through gaps in rushes, creating concentrated light spots.

Waterfowl have a large, almost panoramic, field of vision.

Their visual acuity is very good for an animal, though not superior to human acuity. However, they have low contrast sensitivity – an inability to see “edges” very clearly – and relatively poor depth perception.

Waterfowl have a fourth photo-receptor that allows them to see some colors that humans cannot see.

Because birds are overhead and in motion, and not viewing the hunter horizontally, the macro pattern in GORE OPTIFADE Waterfowl is more vertical than it is in patterns designed for ground prey.


http://www.optifade.com/patterns




What may work for humans may not work for animals .

I mainly Wear an MTP smock and my Dickies DPM trousers . some times a green fleece if its colder and a jack pyke camo hat with the Leds on the brim .


I have a warren area on my permission that is full of rocks and boulders but looks inot an open field and I hide behind one of the larger boulders and snipe the bunnies from there . or some bits with fence posts with tallish grass and i hide behind them .

The pics show some of the areas . The one with the poncho made in to a shelter was when it peed down most of the day but I got around ten rabbits that day hiding under the poncho .


the two pics below are one looking into the field and one looking out of the field but a little space between .
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This is at the larger warrens. There is multiple holes right the way through that field . My brother in law breeds cows so they are the only animals in the fields apart from rabbits, foxes,deer wild birds and birds of prey .
[/url] [url=https://ibb.co/rdbyKmN]

[piggy589]

Because it stands out to people & plenty of people don't understand that animals eyes see differently to humans, 80% of camo design is to attract the buyer.

I know deer cannot see Orange, Americans wear orange for safety because they have huge areas where anyone can hunt so they need other hunters to see them,
Here in the UK we don't have that open ground for anyone to shoot on, so we don't have the same need.

I must admit I don't know how most UK prey perceives colour, but I'll be sticking with green anyway.

I remember Katie Price modelling some DPM shorts,it's debateable as to what effect it had on sales

[Gary C]

I was a consultant for Realtree back in the day, and animals don't see the red spectrum but do see the Violet end. Therefore red in a pattern no problem, but wash your gear in a bio powder that gives you that "blue whiteness" then you may as well shine a torch.

I did a study over a couple of months and the only appreciable difference I found in any of the cammos was in the above, washing, and that was only for the crow test. Rabbits the thing was movement and noise, eventually scent.

The one thing that made a massive difference was altering your shape, a gillie suit made a huge difference to my static shooting of corvids and squirrels. Not great for stalking though..

[bighit]

I was a consultant for Realtree back in the day, and animals don't see the red spectrum but do see the Violet end. Therefore red in a pattern no problem, but wash your gear in a bio powder that gives you that "blue whiteness" then you may as well shine a torch.

I did a study over a couple of months and the only appreciable difference I found in any of the cammos was in the above, washing, and that was only for the crow test. Rabbits the thing was movement and noise, eventually scent.

The one thing that made a massive difference was altering your shape, a gillie suit made a huge difference to my static shooting of corvids and squirrels. Not great for stalking though..

Yes. The optical brighteners in washing detergents was another that scuppers some hunters if they use detergents with it in the formula.

[SilentSniper]

Hunting vermin, all camo goes out the window the second you move.

Camo patterns are a money maker!

Cover your face & hands, a green or brown top will match any rich camouflage pattern.

[Shed tuner]

The one thing that made a massive difference was altering your shape

yeah, I recall you had let yourself go a bit.. good to hear you've recognised that at last

[Shed tuner]

A guy on here called FYGT (was his name Duncan ?) who worked at a gunshop down south, and used to shoot HFT back in the day (when Gary and I could still get around), wore a red and white camo pattern for bunny bashing. This was what, 20 years ago ? Same logic - the bunnies couldn't see the colours, but it was less "worrying" to Joe Public if they stumbled accross him in the countryside.

[xbow]

These were all the rage in the US a few years ago. They don’t seem so popular now?

https://www.beretta.com/en-uk/collection/blaze-orange/

[Thamesides]

Perhaps unlike North America there isn't the risk of being plugged by another hunter.

Years back had permission on land next to a golf course.
Heard a buzz go past my head.
Said to the landowner about it & he said it was someone shooting the golf course.
He was always getting shots hitting his house.
Golf course owners would say it was trespassers.
Anyway ordered a real tree boonie/ jungle hat in orange as I didn't fancy getting shot.

[Kuyajonathan]

Gary C;
"I did a study over a couple of months and the only appreciable difference I found in any of the cammos was in the above, washing, and that was only for the crow test. Rabbits the thing was movement and noise, eventually scent.

The one thing that made a massive difference was altering your shape, a gillie suit made a huge difference to my static shooting of corvids and squirrels. Not great for stalking though.."

[COLOR="#0000FF"]In my youth we would go after rabbits around sunset, carrying guns they would get spooked about 100yrds away, even if we kept them to our leg line. With out guns we could get to 20-30 yards as could other walkers . We Quickly learnt different tactics[/COLOUR

[ZAKDINGEL]

All of these posh cammo cloths are mostly and marking sales to get you to part with your money --I have real tree --mossy oak clothing --and can say they do no different to wearing any dark green-brown clothing its really all down to movement you cant go past the go old DMP clothing or AKN "Ashington tweeds" But they are not as warm or waterproof as these more branded cloths we have on offer but are one hell of allot cheaper