Pa hunters, do you wear camo during the intlock season

[Sidney Smith]

And, do you make any attempt to camo your firearm?

I have a couple camo options that I use during the late season. One is a basic older style of Im guessing Mossy Oak Obsession, fall brown jacket, and a newer style of the same pants. Another is an insulated jumpsuit with a darker Realtree pattern, again older style but it blends well but has some green in it. I just purchased a set of non insulated snow camo overwhites in a jacket and pants. Hoping we get a dusting of snow or two before the season ends to try them out. I have a surplus West German snow poncho as well but it doesn't fit well over my heavier clothing.

I normally don't camo my flintlock, but I do have a roll of snow camo medical type tape that I plan to place in a couple strategic spots on the gun just to break its outline.

What camo or lack thereof do you use?

 

[Ponderosaman]

The adhesive on some types of tape will pull the finish right off a gun. I had a buddy that severely damaged an unmentionable with camo tape, although I believe he may have been using duct. Just be careful. I found camo'ing up my gun to be less than useful due to it getting in the way of my sites etc. That's why my unmentionable turkey gun came with a camo finish. I won't camo my ML shotgun when I turkey hunt with it this coming spring. I feel like it's part of the challenge of using a more primitive weapon. You know connecting me with the old guys that didn't use camo. I won't forgo the camo clothes though, many on here hunt in full traditional clothing.

 

[Sidney Smith]

No, it's called camo form. Comes on a roll like tape but it only sticks to itself. It's like medical tape. It's stretchy and clings as you overlap it on itself. I've used it on my turkey guns and it works well. Doesn't harm the gun at all. Even clings when wet. If it gets wet though you need to remove it, and then wipe the gun dry, and hang the tape to dry out before placing it back on the weapon.

Can't really use it near the ramrod though or it'll cause it to hang up. I plan to only cover the fore stock from the entry pipe back to the front of the lock, and maybe the stock behind the trigger guard to the butt plate. Just enough to break up the guns shape a bit. Figure it can't hurt.

 

[Tom A Hawk]

Sidney, In NY we are required to wear a bit of blaze orange, however I can satisfy the requirement with only a hat. I don't camo any of my guns. To the game they looks like tree limbs. And, come to think about it, a couple of the heavier ones carry just like tree limbs. Today I was wearing a new snow camo outfit and I swear this pattern makes one nearly invisible. Second time I have had deer walk by within a few feet without even cautious glance. Nothing.

 

[2 shots]

no need for camo. i have had bucks, does and does with fawns grazing within 15 feet of me in blaze orange . if you dont move , have a good backdrop [ pine or a blowdown ] behind you and the wind is right they know nothing. camo is so hunters dont see hunters and to richen the people who make and sell it. and yes i was sitting on the ground [ log ] not up in a tree. also dont make direct eye contact.

 

[Flanders]

I like to wear my 18th century items in late flintlock season. It’s pretty dull colored for the most part, I do usually wear a orange knit hat while moving and usually hang it above me if sitting.

 

[Daryl Crawford]

No orange on me usually. Asbell wool hunting shirt or anorak with gray wool pants. If I'm on public land with other hunters I may have an orange hat while moving. I leave the gun as is.

 

[good ole boy]

Uually the only thing camo on I have on is a hat.But with snow I have been known to put on some snow camo duds.

 

[oldwood]

Back in the 1970's, we were hunting in the late Pa. flint deer season wearing 18th century , red wool Hudson bay blanket coats. They broke up your human form well, but on a bright sunny snow covered woods they stood out like a lump of poop in a bowl of milk. Very tough to sneak up on a deer in those conditions. We went to green wool blanket coats , and , success. No human form visible , just looked like a blob of mtn. laurel. Deer zero , hunters +. These days we just can legally wear camo. We are careful though to have bright color head wear in case we encounter other hunters who might not see us.

 

[Ponderosaman]

Sidney, In NY we are required to wear a bit of blaze orange, however I can satisfy the requirement with only a hat. I don't camo any of my guns. To the game they looks like tree limbs. And, come to think about it, a couple of the heavier ones carry just like tree limbs. Today I was wearing a new snow camo outfit and I swear this pattern makes one nearly invisible. Second time I have had deer walk by within a few feet without even cautious glance. Nothing.

One morning my pop and me were sitting a tank for fall turkey and an elk cow walked up to me sitting in a juniper bush blind. My pop was sitting the other side of the tank. I heard it and started turning so slow to see what it was, until the smell hit her and it sounded like a Tiko drum concert. My pop watched the whole thing and couldn’t believe I didn’t ever see her. 3 feet away from me.

 

[SDSmlf]

And, do you make any attempt to camo your firearm?

Yep. No high gloss or shiny finishes. Dull blue or browning on any steel, tarnished brass and oil finish on the stock.

To your thread title question, ‘Pa hunters, do you wear camo during the intlock season’, kind of yes to that question. First few years I hunting big game were in PA, though I lived in NY. After a couple of bullets ticked through the branches over my head I got religion about blaze orange. Took some ribbing here in North Carolina about the camo blaze orange vest I wear (have been called a pumpkin and worse), but I don’t leave home without it during big game firearms seasons of any kind. Being HC or PC snd shot or shot at is not on my bucket list.

 

[bushytail]

Sometimes I wear camo. Sometimes I wear my period clothes. Wearing a orange hat while moving is a good idea. Not everyone identify there target before they shoot.

 

[johnraleksa]

Sometimes I wear camo. Sometimes I wear my period clothes. Wearing a orange hat while moving is a good idea. Not everyone identify there target before they shoot.

camo clothing is for human eyes. movement is the one best give away. also is U V. that comes from washing your clothes in normal laundry soap. soap companies put that in the soap to make it look brite and clean. animals and birds see it different. you glow a bright blue glow and they can spot you right away moving or not. if you are white skin person they can see your face from a great distance .

 

[sb 54 cal.]

I find no direct eye contact to be most important.

no need for camo. i have had bucks, does and does with fawns grazing within 15 feet of me in blaze orange . if you dont move , have a good backdrop [ pine or a blowdown ] behind you and the wind is right they know nothing. camo is so hunters dont see hunters and to richen the people who make and sell it. and yes i was sitting on the ground [ log ] not up in a tree. also dont make direct eye contact.

 

[pwbsmokey]

And, do you make any attempt to camo your firearm?

I have a couple camo options that I use during the late season. One is a basic older style of Im guessing Mossy Oak Obsession, fall brown jacket, and a newer style of the same pants. Another is an insulated jumpsuit with a darker Realtree pattern, again older style but it blends well but has some green in it. I just purchased a set of non insulated snow camo overwhites in a jacket and pants. Hoping we get a dusting of snow or two before the season ends to try them out. I have a surplus West German snow poncho as well but it doesn't fit well over my heavier clothing.

I normally don't camo my flintlock, but I do have a roll of snow camo medical type tape that I plan to place in a couple strategic spots on the gun just to break its outline.

What camo or lack thereof do you use?

Do you hunt deer with an unmentionable? If you do is that camo? If it’s not why would you need to camo a muzzleloader? Camo if it makes you feel better but I don’t see the need

 

[oldwood]

Never camo'ed any gun. No need.

 

[moose23]

I don’t camo my gun. I usually wear camo clothes, orange hat when moving. But like a few guys above said, if you’re still they won’t see you even if you’re in a head to toe suit of orange. Heck, my buddy’s dad shot his first archery deer while he was wearing blue jeans and a white tee shirt back in the 1970s!!

 

[SmokepoleSam]

I was wearing an orange coat once hunting and I was sitting on a stump when 4-5 doe meandered down to within 20 yards (no doe permit) and one of them kept looking at me, but they kept eating and I didn't move so I didn't scare them and they went on their way.

 

[good ole boy]

I hunt my own property and the only people on it are those who I know and we all know where each of us are.But anywhere else especially public land I,d be in orange.

 

[Sidney Smith]

I feel the need to clarify here. I hunt a piece of private land during most of the deer seasons here. Same as good Ole boy said, there's only a couple of us who hunt there, and we each know where the others stands are, and don't encroach on each other, so wearing orange during flintlock season here is not necessary.

I too have hunted while wearing required amounts of orange during other seasons, and have had deer walk to within feet of me without spooking. I do believe though that wearing camo during flintlock season offers the advantage of being able to get away with minor movements that deer might otherwise see.

I don't believe in the UV business that some have mentioned. Blaze Orange gets washed in the same soap as camo and if the deer can spot the UV on camo, then they should be able to spot it on blaze orange as well. I also don't buy into the idea that camo is only to hide from other hunters. Camo has its merits.