The Camo-less Challenge... (TTT for 2014!!!)

[woodchucker]

I started this, back in 2008... Thought it might be fun to get it going again!!!

In conjunction with Ontario Longbow's "No Camo Deer Season".....

I'm starting this thread seeking volunteers to take "The Camo-less Challenge".

All volunteers will agree to hunt the entire season without any type of comercial camoflage. The only exceptions will be boots (You need good footwear) and a hat (everyone has a "Lucky" huntin' hat,and we wouldn't want anyone to be "jinxed" if they couldn't wear their "Lucky" camo hat.)

For several years now I have been wearing my "GoodWill" wool sweaters and either wool or camo (cotton) pants depending on the weather.This year I have made up some of my home-made "huntin' jeans" so I will be hunting completely "camo-less"(I even have a stupid looking red & black plaid "lucky" huntin' hat LOL)

So let's hear it!!!!! Who's up to the "challenge" and what will you be wearing?????

[BobW]

I'm glad you can find stuff to fit that easily.....

Having nothing to do with it actually being camo, much of my clothing is purchased as it fits my 6'7" frame, and functions in my activities involved in hunting.

I have some non-camo, but likely not enough to qualify for your standards.....  

[woodchucker]

I'm IN!!!!!    (I almost forgot to add myself LOL)

[woodchucker]

It's a walk in the park Bob!!!!! There's "Big Guys" all over LOL!!!!! You wear jeans don't ya????? Look for a couple pairs of old black denim jeans then wash them in bleach. Wool pants might be a problem if you look for "hunting pants" but if you go to the GoodWill store,lots of times you can find 100% wool dress pants.(They're usually light weight though) I like knitted wool sweaters because they STRETCH!!!!! (I'm a short fat guy 2XL-3XL)

Come on Bob!!!!! Join the fun!!!!!

[Dave2old]

Chuck -- I've been doing this most of my hunting career, to one degree and another. As soon as the marketplace succeeded in convincing the bowhunting world that camo is absolutely essential, I rebelled. I have proven to myself over and over that if you don't move and are in the shade, not even turkeys will spot you, much less elk. It's been so long since I've lived where I can hunt whitetails, I can say ... other than back when I started hunting them successfully with a bow, commercial camo didn't exist. But like Big Bob says, it's hard to get away from camo entirely because it's hard to find all the features we need in hunting clothes other than in camo, and camo generally is cheaper. I still wear long-sleeved camo t-shirts because they are dirt cheap compared to standard models. I wear plaid hunting shirts and never camo. I wear non-camo hats but a camo face mask. Darn hard to find good warm-weather hunting pants with all the pockets we need, though wool is great when it's colder, etc. In any event your experiment sounds fun and will perhaps further encourage hunting clothing mfgrs. to offer functional hunting clothes in other than camo. Good luck, dave

[frassettor]

What about burnt cork on your face, does that count?

[Alex.B]

Originally posted by frassettor:
What about burnt cork on your face, does that count?

only if you use one color!   :D

[Steertalker]

It gets pretty darn hot here in Texas during October.  And since I've started using pop-up blinds it gets even hotter inside one of those things.  So I've decided to hunt naked except for a black T-shirt and face mask.  Does that count????

Brett

[bbassi]

Hey Chuck, do surplus BDUs count as comercial Camo? Either way I'm in too.  :D

[sidebuster]

Been there and done that and still doing that.  No challenge to me.  Haven't used camo since I don't remember when.

[Killdeer]

I like my camo.
It is an old friend, a badge of honor. I am not one of the spandex-and-trekking-sandals dayhikers, nor a GPS-addicted "cacher", not a stroll-in-the-parker. When I open my plastic tubs o' huntin' clothes, some camo and some not, I smell the campfires from last year, a bit of spruce and rotten leaves. I have used some of these garments for over twenty years. They are tradition, and I will not leave them behind for this new-fangled no-camo fad.    

Killdeer~Have at it!    

[SteveMcD]

Good Luck! Guys & Gals. I'm with Kildeer. I will use whatever is in my resources, for warmth, comfort, stealth, whatever to help me fill my tag. I still have my WWII Camo patterm jacket for at a time when Traditional Archery was still just called Archery.  
 
I love my wools and plaids too as well as camo .. but I will use both.

[elkbreath]

spent too much on my wolfskin, and that dang outfit could qualify as PJ's as comfy as it is...  I am going to be non camoed a good portion of the time, those times when my wolfskin is dirty, or I'm just in the mood.   That being said, my deer will be killed without camo, and possibly with a saxton pope type suit...

[Lonesome Wind]

The only camo I wear is King of the Mountian blowdown. If KOM made plaid I'd wear that instead. I love the idea of the challange but when hunting I love my KOM clothes more. I'm with ya in spirt, I'll still wear my green fedora, but I'll be in my KOM in the deer woods. While in Africa I'll abide by the no camo though.  

[Dartwick]

Camo has nothing on my collection of plaid, I believe. The only challenging aspect really is that(as others have noted) various great items only come in in camo.


The only time I think you are making a sacrifice not wearing camo is if you are in an area requiring flouresent orange. Pure orange is a crazy.

[Ken Taylor]

I'm already proved to the most important person (me) that commercial camo is not a necessity. It sure doesn't hurt though.

I certainly do not look like I just walked out of a hunting catalogue nor do I look like a modern hunter on T.V.

As I said in the other post, I wear whatever I feel like wearing at the time and as I and others have already mentioned, most hunting clothing on the market today is camo. I am not an  average size guy either.

There is nothing wrong with wearing some camo, in fact, there is a school of thought that says we should wear some camo when we are not hunting and act like the gentlemen we are in order to show non-hunters that we are respectable citizens too.

I don't go overboard, but it's hard not to like good functional clothing in patterns like ASAT, Predator, Outfitter, and Blow Down, etc... also some of the best rain gear is only found in Realtree or Mossy Oak patterns.

I do not have the finances to replace certain items just to prove a point that I already know. I agree though that it can be fun to have hi-tech hunters think your nuts when they see your hunting pictures.

[Coop]

In 2006 I was hunting in South Dakota and 3 whitetails, a 150" 10 point, a huge non typical, and a 100" eight point all walk right under my stand while I was wearing tan cargo pants and a brown flannel shirt. I was maybe 12' high. That convinced me I could wear "normal" clothes when hunting in trees.

They came straight at me, walked straight under me and walked away the same never offering a side shot. Only the 8 point offered a shot and I ah....missed lol.

[Ian johnson]

does a face mask count?, it is a must for the thousands of mosquitoes

[Alex.B]

I'm kinda' with Killdeer on this. while I do not want to look like GI Joe, all decked out in a new, coordinated camo suit, I don't want to look like Elmer Fudd either, all dressed up in expensive new Filson garbs from top to bottom. I'll stick to my mismatched, but ultra-efficient clothes piled up in the basement. Some solid colors, some camo and some old plaid. But my  go-to  are my greyish 60's Swedish Army felt wool pants, as warm and windproof as my high tech climbing gear. ( Actually, back in the days when people were tougher, they used those pants to climb Everest) and a "Duke of the Hill" shirt. Oh, and, but of course, my Terry Green like boonie hat  

[SteveB]

No.

Steve