Smart Camo Tips

For an amateur hunter, camouflage may be just a matter of shopping a camo outfit, wear it and going out for hunting, what else could be easier?

Well, if that's your way to think, you are totally wrong! Because camouflage is much more than camo clothes, in fact, buying a camo outfit is just the first stage to blend your shape with the nature, but not the only one; furthermore, there's a critical previous step to shopping; the recon.

Before even thinking about buying a simple piece of camo clothing, you need to know precisely the characteristics of the area where you are planning to hunt, thus besides scouting looking for the best places to set your blinds and decoys as well recognize the best areas to find a good catch, you also need a deep recon of bushes features.

To do that you need to visit the area on the same season and same hours you are planning to go out hunting; once on the bushes, try to figure which is the dominant color, how much green and brown there is and which are the predominant tones; be careful to evaluate shadows with different light intensities since the landscape colors change depending of the hour, then you'll probably need a different camo at dawn and dusk.

Recon is the best way to find out which color and pattern is the best for your camo outfit, afterwards you will be able to choose the best outfit well on your closet or the store. But remember to think like your prey, that means: don't focus your camouflage only on eyesight sense but on all senses.

Almost all your potential preys have keener senses than yours and they will be able not only to see you but smell, hear and feel your presence much before you are aware of them, thus if your camo is focused on defeat eyesight, you have done less than half the job!

First thing to do is to wash all your clothes before each hunting trip using neutral odor soaps otherwise you will be announcing your presence since your first step on the bushes. Remember to neutralize as much as possible all man made odors using baking soda and try to be as quiet as possible, so your boots, clothes and coat must be "noise free".

With the above in mind, remember also to be prepared for weather changes. On this regard clothes layering is the best solution since you may add or remove clothes layer depending of local climate conditions, however remember to add camo to every single clothing layer, otherwise you will be showing your position when there's need to add/remove layers which are not properly camouflaged.

In addition you must be prepared for snow conditions, specially on the mountains where a day may change from non-snowy to snowy in just minutes and then you will be spotted against the white landscape miles away, unless you are prepared with winter/snow conditions camo, not only for you but also for your rifle, backpack, tent and so on.

Once again, if snowy you'll probably will need several clothing layers, so be sure to have at least a couple of white coats to blend your shape with the surrounding white.

Finally a few words about face painting. The key here is asymmetry! Don't try to paint your face just like make up, instead use asymmetric, random patterns to break your shape and render you undetectable; remember, regarding face painting, the most asymmetric and aleatory, the best and once again, be prepared for snow, that means to have how to clean or cover your face quickly when snow starts, otherwise your face will be a very visible dark spot on the white landscape and every single animal on the area will be aware of your presence and will run away!

As it may be seen, camo it's not just a matter of buying nice camouflage clothes, but an art mastered with time, patience and practice.
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