Cammo or just subdued colours?

[Paul_B]

Well as a kid I used to always get told to buy some colour in my normal clothes as I only tended to wear black. So I got out and bought some dark blue/black jeans!!

I now wear mostly dark or subdued colours in town and country. My only concession to colour are my outdoors kit that have bright red detailing as that was the trend over the last few years in hill clobber. Got black windshirt with red zips, black hard shell with red zips and red cuff closures, etc., etc. My fleeces are mostly blue, grey or black. My trousers are black, brown or rohan's green/khaki (don't wear these anymore as I don't like them). My rucksacks are blue/grey, black (custom job from Aiguille so I chose the colour of the fabric), black, blue or blue/yellow all bought for the spec not the colours. My tarp is green (nice darkish green), Tents are all dark green with black details, bivvy bags are either blue (Rab SZ) or red (Rab Storm bought for £35 so beggars can't be choosers with the colour at that cheap price).

Anyway apart from the tarp and one of the tents that I use in the hills (as opposed to car camping) none of my gear or clothing used in the outside has been bought for colour more for specifications and lastly for colour. I don't think I need to be discrete in appearance in the hills. Even wildcamping in England or Wales I have no problem with being obvious or discrete. I don't see a problem but that is probably due to me only wildcamping in areas where it is legal or the landowners have a history of accepting it such as in Scotland or the Lakes. I guess if I camped in the Forest of Bowland I'd need to be more discrete in my colour choice. Fortunately the gear I have bought happened to be such colours as green and subdued colours.

As far surplus gear in cammo being cheap I would have thought that a lot of cheap surplus gear is in plain green (olive green), black or cammo. The same make too. IIRC Vulcan bergen for example is available in cammo, olive green and even black. In that case if I wanted such a sack I'd never get cammo. Its down to the pre-conceptions people have about people wearing or using anything in cammo colouring. That is glamourflage excepted of course. You do see people in cities wearing a sort of cammo clothing as a fashion statement and indeed cammo has been in and out of fashion among those sorts many times. None of it is DPM type cammo though

 

[johnboy]

IIRC Vulcan bergen for example is available in cammo, olive green and even black.

YDNRC.. The Vulcan is OG only... A lot of the Sabre Packs are available in DPM, Black, OG, and Tan.

 

[rik_uk3]

Wear what colour you like, the animals don't mind as they can't differentiate that well and if your hunting or tracking with a weapon you should be in a high viz jacket for your own safety really.

As for what others think of you wearing cammo or any other colour for that matter? Who cares, their problem not yours.

 

[johnboy]

Wear what colour you like, the animals don't mind as they can't differentiate that well and if your hunting or tracking with a weapon you should be in a high viz jacket for your own safety really.

Apparently Ducks have good colour vision.

Every Duck Shooting Season the Local Hunting a Fishing Store has a heap of camo nets facepaint and camo clothing on sale along with Decoys, Duck Calls and a heap of 12G cartridges...

 

[Martyn]

Wear what colour you like, the animals don't mind as they can't differentiate that well and if your hunting or tracking with a weapon you should be in a high viz jacket for your own safety really.

As for what others think of you wearing cammo or any other colour for that matter? Who cares, their problem not yours.

That's fine, you could wear a pink dress if you want. But if you want to avoid attention, then camo is best avoided IMO as it doesnt take much before it starts to look like a uniform. Remember that wild camping without permission is illegal in England. Not that anyone on this forum would do such a heinous thing, ...but if they did, ...then they might want to be as inconspicuous as possible.

 

[Maggot]

A nice tweed, there's the answer. Most stalkers and gamekeepers are in tweed. It's like tartan, it just sort of disappears at twenty yards. Otherwise to really, really blend in, it's Ghillie suits all round!

 

[Retired Member southey]

A nice tweed, there's the answer. Most stalkers and gamekeepers are in tweed. It's like tartan, it just sort of disappears at twenty yards. Otherwise to really, really blend in, it's Ghillie suits all round!

Tweed is for winners, Dpm can be very dark(just look at the new mtp for the contrast from dpm to the new stuff) but tweeds just work close up and from a distance, obviously not pink though!

 

[WoodMan]

Supprised that none of you old sweats haven't reeled of the old 'reasons why you are seen' mantra; Shape, shadow, shine/surface, spacing, movement, air, technology.

I once did some experiments for stalker training, I took a whole range of coats and laid them out on various habitats and photographed them from various distances. The one that clearly came out top was a Swanndri in light green/brown check followed closely by light coloured tweed. Most of the garments that stood out were too dark. Of course this is only relevant to human eyes. Animal vision is still poorly understood but one thing that is certain is that movement, scent or noise will give you away every time. One area that I am interested in is the type of washing powder that we use, remember the days before we all got old and spent our time on bushcraft websites! we used to go to nightclubs where your clothes glowed in the dark like the ready brek man under certain lights. Maybe deer pick up on this? Glyn

 

[pauljm116]

I used to wear DPM trousers a lot as they are cheap and hard wearing, I stopped when I saw loads of other people wearing more than just trousers in DPM and thought they looked like wannabe soldiers and I didnt want to be looked at like that. I still buy lots of army surplus stuff, just make sure its not DPM.
As for ex-army keeping their kit, if I had loads of free DPM stuff Id probably use it as you cant go wrong if its cost nowt, I just wont pay for it anymore.

 

[spandit]

I get a few odd looks but I don't think it's over the top:

 

[pauljm116]

I get a few odd looks but I don't think it's over the top:

You'll be fine with that, its quite subtle.

 

[spandit]

I went to the War and Peace show last year - there were people walking about with far more kit on that this, replica weapons etc. That's a weird place...

 

[rik_uk3]

That's fine, you could wear a pink dress if you want. But if you want to avoid attention, then camo is best avoided IMO as it doesnt take much before it starts to look like a uniform. Remember that wild camping without permission is illegal in England. Not that anyone on this forum would do such a heinous thing, ...but if they did, ...then they might want to be as inconspicuous as possible.

Well said Martyn, if your camping legally wear what you want, that said does it matter if it looks like a uniform? Naaa not at all. Dressed all in green, flecktarn or Jack Pyke woodland could also look like a uniform though so we are all better off in Bermuda shorts and Hawaiian' shirt just so the public know we are nothing to do with the armed forces and don't 'talk about us' the idea of which upsets some members.

Tomorrowwill mainly be in blue and purple (family camping) with my trustee Crocs

 

[Maggot]

I get a few odd looks but I don't think it's over the top:

Of course you get odd looks, your left hand is sticking out like a jewel in the night! Sort it out!

 

[The Lord Poncho]

To be honest, i would think few people would think of someone as being a wannabe soldier if they were spotted wearing DPM trousers, or a DPM Jacket. If you were wearing both at the same time though.......

And even then it just comes down to whether you really care what people think. Who knows, some people maybe are wannabe soldiers and are out and proud about this!

As for the benefits of camouflage over plain subdued colours- well, in camouflage terms only, then there are clear benefits- breaking up the familiar shape of the object (you/your equipment) being the key one. Everything else comes secondary. Of course, having the right camouflage for the area is also rather important- DPM in a non woodland environment is (as has been mentioned above) often on the dark side, and the disruption that it provides to the shape is outweighed by its colour.

In purely bushcraft terms, unless staying hidden is absolutely paramount (and the terrain in which you are in doesn't afford these qualities anyhow), then the OP makes a good point that plain subdued colours may be the better option for the bushcrafter. The evidence for this being that the majority of kit that bushcrafters use is of a plain colour and not a camouflage pattern....

 

[Martti]

Based on Finnish Defence Force uniform colour choices, I would say that greenish or brownish grey is the best choice along with steel grey if you want to hide from animals with similar colour vision as human has. However I would say that taiga has a bit darker colours than in broadleafed forests.

 

[Maggot]

Or just wear bright, geometrically challenging shaped colours, the observing party have great difficulty in reconcilling what they are seeing with anything that should be there. The bold clashing shapes make it hard to pin down an edge, a distance and a shape to the 'thing'.

Like this

 

[The Lord Poncho]

Or just wear bright, geometrically challenging shaped colours, the observing party have great difficulty in reconcilling what they are seeing with anything that should be there. The bold clashing shapes make it hard to pin down an edge, a distance and a shape to the 'thing'.

Like this

and this:

http://www.cix.co.uk/~mollusca/tank/9607bel05.jpg

 

[santaman2000]

Supprised that none of you old sweats haven't reeled of the old 'reasons why you are seen' mantra; Shape, shadow, shine/surface, spacing, movement, air, technology...

You mentioned "scent" so I assume you're referring to hunting cammo. Doesn't yout hunting clothing have "scent blocker" linings over there?

You also mentioned "shine." I think a few posts back someone did ask if anyone painted their faces ans I replied, "when duck or turkey hunting."

 

[WoodMan]

You mentioned "scent" so I assume you're referring to hunting cammo. Doesn't yout hunting clothing have "scent blocker" linings over there?

You also mentioned "shine." I think a few posts back someone did ask if anyone painted their faces ans I replied, "when duck or turkey hunting."

No mate, the scent blocker stuff hasn't taken off over hear although I am aware of it. In fact, a fair few people smoke when stalking (hunting) especially if they are using high seats (tree stands). The thinking, which I tend to agree with, is that deer have such a well developed sense of smell that, if the wind is in their favour they will smell you, if the wind is in your favour they won't, simple as that.

Most of our stalking takes place in relatively well populated areas and there is a fair chance that you may meet a member of the public. Hunting in all its forms is under pressure in the UK so it is important that we give a good impression.

Glyn.