I’m not trying to troll, I’m genuinely curious. Thinking about deer specifically, it doesn’t seem like visual camouflage would really help much when hunting them. Deer sense predators by sensitive hearing (big ears) and smell (long snout). Their eyes are on the sides of their head, so they detect motion rather than high-resolution.
So trying to blend in with the surroundings doesn’t seem to be an advantage in this case. Assuming all this, what’s the point of clothing with camo print on it?
For deer camo is irrelevant because most cases you have to wear hunter orange (or pink) because you don’t want to die by being shot by another hunter. Also the deer don’t really notice the orange so it works out. If you strictly hunt deer you should focus on staying warm and wear hunter orange, camo doesn’t matter.
For waterfowl and Turkey especially though camo is necessary. Birds are really good at seeing danger so if you don’t blend in you have almost no chance of getting one.
The reason a deer hunter would likely be wearing camo is they also hunt turkey/waterfowl and gear isn’t free so they use a lot of the same gear for both seasons.
At least this is why I wear camo while hunting, I do both, but I’m fully aware it doesn’t matter for the deer. The gear is just good for long duration outdoor activity in all weather.
I have family who hunt deer. They almost all wear camo I think (with hunter orange), but none hunt anything else I don’t think. I think there’s two other reasons for it. One is because everyone else is doing it, so they think they need to.
The other is that hunting gear is likely to be made in camo anyway, because it’s versitile. Sure, none of the clothing needs to be marketed as “hunter clothing” (besides the orange), but a lot of people will shop and not question if they should buy a non-hunter alternative instead. They just follow the marketing.
Yeah, if you want hunting gear, pretty sure camo is your only color choice. Kind like HenryFord with his any color as long as it’s black. I am not a hunter so what do I know.
but the other day I was looking for a long sleeve summer shirt to wear on walks/jogging this summer (I hate sunscreen), and ended up with a shirt for fishing. Every lightweight loose fitting long sleeve synthetic shirt was advertised as fishing gear. I guess I am a wannabe fisherman now.
You can get hunting gear that’s not camo but yes there is a lot that is.
If someone doesn’t think about it the camo will serve them better in the long run if they do decide to hunt other things so it works out.
I assumed the job of the camp was to break up the silhouette more than make the person invisible. Humans know an orange hat and strap comes from the store; deer do not. Is that really not the case?
As a colourblind person, they look the same to me!
Are you sure you’re not just a deer or boar?
I’m sure @queerdo@feddit.online is totally a dear and not at all a bore.
Also, green isn’t a colour found in fur. So there really isn’t a way there can be a green mammal. Only two types of melanin exist in mammals, so we’re stuck with shares of white, brown and light-brown-but-we-call-it-orange.
Birds get to cheat with crafty structural colours, but that doesn’t work for fur. So alas, no green, blue, red or iridescence in mammals.
It may not work with fur, but it can work with skin. I submit: mandrills and velvet monkeys!
Well camo doesn’t make people invisible obviously, but it’s good enough to fool birds or people at a distance if there isn’t much movement.
There’s lots of photo examples of this online where entire hunter tents and hunters are very hard to discern from the forest itself which is effectively invisible if you’re deciding to take a shot or not.
I hunt in whaterever I’m OK with getting dirty but I always have a blaze orange hat because someone shot at me when I was a teenager.
I’m honestly shocked at how many people will seemingly fire at something without confirming their target first, going by all these stories. Like there’s really that many dummies that will just send a round at something that might be moving in the distance?! Sheesh!
Depends on the deer. Some species have good eyesight. If you live on a big open field that is a very effective way to detect predators.
Breaking up the contour of your human shape is why you have camo when hunting animals with poor colour vision. They can’t tell if you’re a boulder or human but no big gray blob is supposed to move. Grass and branches swaying in the wind are all over the place.
You may also use the same clothes for hunting birds, which usually have very good vision, including color.
Most of the hunters I know sit in a tree stand and chug Busch lights. So it’s basically a sniper nest. And they wear camo because… reasons?
To better break up the contour of the the arm when they lift the beer can.
Brilliant. They even make camo Busch light cans. Guess they thought of everything!
There is also no shortage of people willing to sell you something you think works.
Golfers buy expensive clubs, gamers buy expensive hardware, hunters buy expensive clothes. None of it is guaranteed make you more successful, but I’ll sell you this golf ball polish that is guaranteed to make your slice go 10m further off into the rough for only $5.99
Gold plated, vacuum sealed $50 HDMI cables.
My friend paid $100 (roughly $150 today) for one of these cables around 2008/2009 when HDTVs were fairly new. $50 would be a bargain comparatively.
Was it a Monster cable?
Just look up how much an active thunderbolt usbc cable costs.
About $60. They put the transceivers on either end of the cable. Only necessary if you require 40 Gbps at distances over 2.5’ or .8m. Not necessary for most applications, including 8k streaming.
A gen5 NVME can read at about 15 Gbps, which will not saturate the thunderbolt at 20Gbps unless you have a raid array. At 40Gbps, you would need three sticks. You will ALSO need that much hardware on the other end to sustain the transfer.
And why wear full camo except for orange hat? Since deer can’t see colour, wouldn’t orange camo be safer?
Hat is usually the first thing you see and they are cheap.
If you hunt e.g. birds with the same clothes they have better colour vision than we do so it would not work.
There is orange camo if you want to invest in color bilnd only hunting gear.
If you hunt e.g. birds with the same clothes they have better colour vision than we do so it would not work.
Ah, thanks for explaining.
Blaze Orange is legally required in some jurisdictions. The idea is that it signals to other hunters that you are a human, don’t shoot. But people are stupid and I would rather they didn’t see me at all.
Orange camo is a thing.
https://www.amazon.com/Volein-Hunting-Lightweight-Closure-XX-Large/dp/B0BGXHKQRM
There is definitely a fashion aspect to camo. Less so in hunting, and more so in the military world. Relevant fashion podcast:
https://www.articlesofinterest.co/podcast/episode/39c00bac/gear-chapter-5
The rare times I have been hunting we wore blaze orange hats & vests with no camo at all. Not getting shot by accident was priority #1, avoiding hypothermia was priority #2.
Love articles of interest! Going through their season on ivy now, the military history season is up next for me.
Yeah, it’s a fun show. I never thought I would care about a fashion podcast. Avery does an awesome job.
I happened to be passing by the Maryhill Museum a few years ago, and had to stop in to see the Théâtre de la Mode dolls. Had I not heard the episode about them I don’t think I would have appreciated the exhibit nearly as much.
@kersploosh@sh.itjust.works I’ve sent a reply via DM. Can you check it?
@kersploosh@sh.itjust.works I replied to your DM. Can you take a look at this?
deleted by creator
Yeah, I never understood the camo with an orange vest.
Hunt birds with great colour vision with the same clothes. Put on a cheap vest when hunting deer instead of a whole expensive new jacket.
Camo is probably cosplay when they’re hunting deer, but the orange vest is specifically for other humans who somehow have worse eyesight than deer and will shoot you because the camo worked on them better than it worked on the animal they’re hunting.
Maybe we should ask the animals what camo works best instead of asking humans.
Drinking and hunting has always been a thing.
People already covered a few reasons deer hunters wear camo (only wanting one set of hunting clothes, camo does work on deer to an extent, etc). I’ll add a couple of other reasons.
Many hunting seasons overlap, so someone might head out early on a Saturday morning to their hunting area to hunt for deer then spend the heat of the day hunting birds. Or maybe they have a license for both bear and deer, and they’ll take what they see.
Second, camo works on humans. Non-hunters absolutely love to mess with hunters. I have several stories of waking up hours before dawn, driving to a place I can hunt, sitting in a tree stand in the freezing cold waiting for dawn, and then having a random person spot me from the road, then hike up to me to tell me I’m not allowed to be there cause Mr X doesnt let people hunt on his property (despite the fact that I have a signed permission note from Mr X). Or someone who doesn’t think hunting should be allowed spotting me and then just letting their dogs off leash through the woods to flush away any deer, despite the fact that if I had a dog with me while hunting, it would be illegal because of how stressing it is for deer to be chased by dogs. Or the DNR officer doing their job by checking to make sure I have permission, the proper licenses, weaponry, square inches of pure blaze orange, etc, and next thing you know, you’ve lost 1 of the 2 days you’ll be able to hunt that season. You only have a few prime hours per day, and having a person show up during that time will keep deer away for the rest of that window.
It’s far easier to just hide from people.
Edit: and another thing I just remembered to add, camo lets other people know you are likely a hunter. If you are just walking the woods with shorts, a t-shirt, and a weapon, you will likely freak some people out.
Thanks for the write-up, very good explanation.
If you are just walking the woods with shorts, a t-shirt, and a weapon, you will likely freak some people out.
Results may vary depending on what state you’re in. I’m in Idaho, and while I no longer hunt, if I’m going backcountry I carry as a last resort if my bear spray won’t cut it or in case of survival emergency. But I admit, if I was in the Foothills north of town I’d probably be a bit perplexed at some rando hiker with a rifle, though not surprised.
Everything about hunting is just down homey cosplay.
Now for the ones who hunt Turkeys. There is a value in the head to toe camo as Turkeys have unreal eyesight and can see UV light.
As someone who lives in northern BC: only city folk/wannabe hunter cosplayers bother with camo. Sweats and sunglasses work fine.
I know several people that dont even leave their truck to shoot unless they actually need to.
My dad lives in the sticks and always makes fun of hunters with their fancy multicam outfits and $1000 scopes since he frequently gets entire families of deer at his doorstep. He jokes he could take one out with a .22
It’s all about stimuli. I’m sure most hunters have sat for hours without seeing a thing only to absent-mindedly stumble on a deer while noisily walking or riding back home. Deer might react to a stimulus, but they won’t react to nothing… obviously right? I’ve had deer snap their heads straight to me because of a slight movement I made. While others have just kept an eye on me while they continued whatever they were doing. The point is to give them as little to react to as possible while actively trying to hunt.
Another aspect is that’s simply what is available. I’ve got nice warm camo bibs because they are made with soft quiet fabric. My buddy who ice fishes has warm bibs as well that are not camo but noisy as hell because fishermen don’t need to worry about noise. There’s almost no options for warm and quiet clothing that isn’t camo.
The first paragraph didn’t really seem to matter with regard to camo. The second one makes sense. If there were non-camo options for silent clothing, would you pick one over the other?
I’d pick camo for the reasons in the first paragraph. Both options are equal with regard to sound but camo is superior with regard to breaking up your outline. Even if it’s barely an advantage, it’s still an advantage. That being said if my only option was non-camo, I wouldn’t be worried.
I just shoot deer off my back porch in jeans and a T-shirt, personally.
That’s the dream. Non-hunters (and some hunters) have this idea that hunting should be difficult. I think it just needs to be humane and sustainable. When you try to add difficulty, you often make it less humane and/or sustainable.
Don’t get me wrong, a tricky bow hunt in a far flung wilderness sounds fun, but if I had to chose between that and reliably filling my freezer from my back porch, I would pick that.
The lengths some folks go to hunt, just nah, but not everyone lives in the woods like I do. I don’t claim to be a hunter of any sort. I just occasionally harvest supper from the forest, just like the chanterelles that grow in the leaf litter, they show themselves to me when I can use them. I get a small break on my property taxes for keeping the majority of it a natural habitat and the woods bless me from time to time.
What do you drink during this activity?
I really only ever drink coffee or water. I don’t drink alcohol except for very rare social events. I’m probably a bit of a spoiler for your statistics.
Yeah, it’s less fun if you don’t fit the stereotype
Sorry, I guess.
I think I’m less upset by all this than the deer.
The deer aren’t upset about a thing.
Elephants like shifting logs.
Dissection is fun for frogs.
Pissweisser most likely.
Ew, no.
I do just about everything I can to minimize me disturbing the area. So breaking up the contour, hiding my face (eyes and faces looking at you mean predators), and try to match camo to where I live and when I hunt. Not just for deer but also the birds, squirrels, etc because if they are acting scared they might alert a deer or at least put them on edge.
Also it might I can see wild life a little more naturally then if I was just screaming “human here!” Visually, audibly or through smell.
Well, camo can be effective for people in forests. There was this paintball player who got run over by a car because he was well camo’ed…
This is a blog post talking about their camouflage product but it still goes over why it is effective for ungulates and they specifically reference deer
https://www.hunterselement.com/pages/desolve-veil-camouflage
