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I was talking to a PH who said one of the top 10 mistakes made by foreign hunters is to wear khaki. He said game sees khaki as white, and guys wearing khaki spook more game than guys who wear dark green or dark brown. Other foreign client mistakes that he mentioned: - keeping the scope set on a high power instead of on its lowest setting. - bringing Nosler ballistic tips. Edited to add: Clarification - he was speaking of TAN khaki, not green khaki. Sorry for any confusion. | ||
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I agree with dark green or dark brown. I also agree with the low power on the scopes. I have no comment on the Noslers because I don't use them. | |||
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Dan, I generally wore the green/olive khakis, but there were occasions where the sawgrass we were walking through concealed the tan safari clothes I wore. Nosler BTs? They are great for prairie dogs and baboons, but game animals? Never! George  | |||
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...one can hardly beat leopards coat pattern regarding camouflage - tho some khaki in there   | |||
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Alf, Interesting to know - I have always wondered. I have heard some years back that blue clothing was the best to wear in the bush, but I have never bothered. The various USA colours and patterns are so beautiful as camouflage - at least to us human beings. 1) Can a bull see the red rag as RED (as in bull-fighting)? 2) In the army we used to paint our faces with green stuff - is that good for animals too? 3) Is the light reflection of a gun's barrel in the sun not perhaps the prime give-away to game animals? 4) Can the medical profession really determine what colours animals can or can't see? I was told that dogs are colour blind, but my dog will bark at a black person, even sitting in my car whilst I am driving at night time, and within a few meters as I approach the black man my dog will growl and bark. When I pass a white person, he will not bark. Here we talk about black and white - profiles and resemblances are the same. What do we make of this - your opinion please. Thanks Chris | |||
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In the typical hot African sun you couldn't pay me enough to wear anything other than khaki. African game is not as spooky as the US critters anyway. Can you imagine sneaking up to within a few yards of a whitetail deer? Ha! I'm with Richard Harland. I want them to see me. I want them to charge. It saves a lot of walking, stalking, and wear and tear on my Teva's.  ------------------------------- Will Stewart / Once you've been amongst them, there is no such thing as too much gun. --------------------------------------- and, God Bless John Wayne. NRA Benefactor Member, GOA, N.A.G.R. _________________________ "Elephant and Elephant Guns" $99 shipped “Hunting Africa's Dangerous Game" $20 shipped. red.dirt.elephant@gmail.com _________________________ Hoping to wind up where elephant hunters go. | |||
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If any of you have tried to see the outlines of a kudu or waterbuck in the thick bush then I think you are looking at one of the best natural camouflage color combinations there is. Brownish grey with a few vertical strips makes those critters darn hard to see. Why don't the "camo" manufacturers try to imitate that? As for human type clothing, I have always thought that the Wermacht field grey was a good all around color. _________________________________ AR, where the hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history become the nattering nabobs of negativisim. | |||
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I guess that makes the Lions screwed then? | |||
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I thought per an article in AH maybe a year ago (by Ganyana?), "camo blue" was THE color for the bush? | |||
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I once lay in the grass near a herd of buffalo and slowly waved a white canoe paddle in the air to see if they would bolt. They took no notice. Then I realized they were surrounded by constantly fluttering white cattle egrets. Maybe if it had been in a place where there were no cattle egrets they would have taken notice. | |||
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Dear Wink, you will see hunting staff wearing old felgrau parkas, it was amazing how well it worked. We were using Naturalgear in their Natural gear original pattern. It was extremely effective, quite ofter we sneaked into herds of Oryx at 40 metres. The stuff is amazing and suits Namibia well  | |||
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Chris, I know you directed this to Alf but going back to my collage days. Bulls do not trigger on the color red. They trigger on the motion of the cape. The face paint we used in the service worked two ways. Firt humans do see in color so something that masks color will work if you are trying to hide from humans. Secondly, the color being a flat color tends to cut reflection. Sunlight off barrels will certainly give you away to game. That is why shiny blued shotguns are a bane to waterfowlers. As I remember from biology, science understand how visual stimulas is process using rods and cones in eye. The number of rods and cones in a given subjects eye determine the amount of and type of information that can be procecessed to the brain ( think of this like a filter ). Again going back to my biology class, your dog sees in shades of gray when looking at a black object it looks like an undifined shape that the dog has trouble identifing. Hence a black face is harder for a dog to recognize than a white face ( assuming that the dog has not seen this person before and associated his sent signature as friend or foe ). Again this is going way back, and I am sure that ALF can fill in where I am off base. Regards, Mario | |||
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I don't think it has got anything to do with eye sight, it's got to do with different body odours.  The opposite is also true, a dog belonging to a black person will bark at whites but not at blacks. Life is how you spend the time between hunting trips. Through Responsible Sustainable hunting we serve Conservation. Outfitter permit no. Limpopo ZA/LP/73984 PH permit no. Limpopo ZA/LP/81197 Jaco Human SA Hunting Experience jacohu@mweb.co.za www.sahuntexp.com | |||
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Americans often call olive or green Khaki, at least from my experience and also what is described in catalogues as "khaki". The "British" khaki is very lightly coloured. On my first safari I took a 'khaki' jacket and it was way too light in colour. All of the rest of the gear was olive, green or brown. Even though the hunt in Zimbabwe was right before the wet season and little green anything anywhere, the PH explained the tree trunks were all black and darker colours blended in better. The classic use of khaki seems to come from the wide open areas of East Africa with grassy plains and sparser forest where it might have worked OK. All of my gear is now brown, tan or green. | |||
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Only been there once, but I've got to agree with a previous post about dark green or brown. I would have honestly roasted alive in Zambia if I had clothes on that dark. Besides, if it is such a "top 10 mistake", why do you see so many PH's in both video and photos that are not wearing these dark colors? I think this aspect is a bit over played and watching the wind and using cover is 90% of the game. Just my thoughts. "I envy not him that eats better meat than I do; nor him that is richer, or that wears better clothes than I do; I envy him, and him only, that kills bigger deer than I do." Izaak Walton (modified) | |||
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MAkes one wonder why we do not see any Blue Lions and Leopard out there..........  Charl van Rooyen Owner Infinito Travel Group www.infinito-safaris.com charl@infinito-safaris.com Cell: +27 78 444 7661 Tel: +27 13 262 4077 Fax:+27 13 262 3845 Hereford Street 28A Groblersdal 0470 Limpopo R.S.A. "For the Infinite adventure" Plains Game Dangerous Game Bucket List Specialists Wing-Shooting In House Taxidermy Studio In House Dip and Pack Facility In House Shipping Service Non-Hunting Tours and Safaris Flight bookings "I promise every hunter visiting us our personal attention from the moment we meet you, until your trophies hang on your wall. Our all inclusive service chain means you work with one person (me) taking responsibility during the whole process. Affordable and reputable Hunting Safaris is our game! With a our all inclusive door to door service, who else do you want to have fun with?" South Africa Tanzania Uganda | |||
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With as much contemplating of clothes I'm surprised any of us actually load-up in the truck to go hunting. I prefer camo for hunting because I like it. I shot my buffalo this year wearing a blue long-sleeved shirt that was worn by the magazine model while he was pretending to be bonefishing. The buffalo appeared not to have seen the same magazine, was not offended by my choice of color / design, did not spook, and died when hit. Based on the above, I believe blue shirts, designed for fishing are best for buffalo in Zimbabwe. I hope to do further study on buffalo in a few years, maybe in Tanzania or Mozambique. | |||
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This is mostly commercial advertising http://www.atsko.com/T15.html but there is some interesting reading about photoreceptors. | |||
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Alf wrote:
Noticed the following during dry spells in Limpopo province when we needed to feed animals (cattle as well as game): At one stage no yellow maize were available and we had to use white maize as an energy supplement - more expensive, but that's the way it goes if you are really concerned about your animals! Impalas for instance, time and again turned away from the feeders as if they were empty when they were filled with white maize. Not so when yellow maize were put out in the feeders. To overcome the problem we had to use brownish coloured fodder pellets to cover the white maize - only then they would start eating the pellets as well as the white maize. Só, based on this non-scientific observation, Impalas apparently don't 'see' white colours, but definitely see 'yellow' colours. Any specific explanation for this? OWLS My Africa, with which I will never be able to live without! | |||
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I haven't gone to Africa yet, but certainly with North American animals, camo is overrated. IN each of the lat three years I have been leaning against a telephone pole on a hill on a power line wearing green wool pants, a mossy oak breakup coat and a blaze orange touque, numerous times I had as many as 6 whitetail deer within 25 yards of me and as long as I was sitting down, kept still and kept the wind away from them they couldn't tell what I was. IN fact when I shot a buck the year before last it was funny when I stood for a better shot and all the others freaked out tearing away in all directions. Colour of clothes is overrated. | |||
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ALF, That is very interseting. Ever since I was a young man, I knew that once you penetrated the bush it was pink, but I'm not going to wear pink into the hunting fields! "There are worse memorials to a life well-lived than a pair of elephant tusks." Robert Ruark | |||
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  "If you can't go all out, don't go..." | |||
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Can't comment on all game as I'm but a lowly east cape bushbuck hunter, but it seems to me its movement that triggers a reaction more than anything else.I've stalked the buggers in everything from blue overalls to khaki and green to a red golf shirt, and my biltong supply doesn't seem to suffer. | |||
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Glum, You are probably correct. My mule is attracted by movement more than anything else. AS Phil Lozano says, stay out of sight and down wind. ------------------------------- Will Stewart / Once you've been amongst them, there is no such thing as too much gun. --------------------------------------- and, God Bless John Wayne. NRA Benefactor Member, GOA, N.A.G.R. _________________________ "Elephant and Elephant Guns" $99 shipped “Hunting Africa's Dangerous Game" $20 shipped. red.dirt.elephant@gmail.com _________________________ Hoping to wind up where elephant hunters go. | |||
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One more thought: Effective camo does two things; it breaks up the silhouette and prevents light reflection(shine).Also, motion will attract the attention of whatever you are hiding from quicker than anything, so, sit still. I find that my old snipers veil draped over my head and shoulders breaks my silhoutte enough to allow pretty close approachs to game, all other things being equal. i wear whatever I have at the time: khaki, green and a combination of the two in Zim and Namibia. I have never been mistaken for Stewart Granger, but, we have always closed the distance to 100yds or less. | |||
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Wink, Blair, Not sure about in Africa, but certainly in Europe, the German Field Army Grey seems to work well. The gent who was my stalking mentor prefered tradional style European hunting clothing and a lot of his summer clothes were in this shade of grey. When out stalking with him, I noticed once he was stationary, time and time again how well it blended in our woodlands. It was almost as if colour was "neutral" such that the human eye/brain didn't register it? Perhaps it is no coindecence that many animals in this parter of the world have a coat which approximates this colour grey...rabbits, grey squirrels, the winter coats of various deer ect... With regards current cammo patterns, except for a few military patterns, most are primarily designed with the human eye in mind and many of the modern hunter patterns are very specific to certain back grounds. This is not a mistake but good marketing as it encourages people to buy more. Very often patterns that look good close up suffer from "blobbing out" from a distance, as the pattern is to fussy and doesn't offer enough contrast. This is often compounded when the fabric is wet and goes darker... Of all the military patterns, I've always thought the one on the old British WW2 era Denison smock would work well in Southern Africa. Having said that, I am a firm believer that if you watch your scent and movement, you don't really need cammo for hunting... Regards, Pete | |||
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Can't you just see Hunter Blaze Orange in Africa even the camoed type.  | |||
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martinbns: This old man (76) was glad to read your sentiments - exactly what I always thought all my life. There is a big hunting clothing industry out there that makes much money in persuading people to buy "camo"because otherwise the animal will "see" you. A lifetime of hunting has shown me what my father taught me from age 8. Animals see movement - and don't stand as the single object on their vision screen. ( I did notice that you said you stood against a telephone pole) Oh, yeah, aren't animals basically color blind -and the only animal that seems to distinguish color for practical purposes is a dolphin? {I never had much interest in hunting dolphins} You had better be careful! You are a heretic! | |||
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It would appear the PH is not doing so well with this one! Just for fun who was it? | |||
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Just watched Cabela's outdoor show..They were hunting DG Buf but missed the location..The client was not very excited when going after buf and at least he had on looked like British tan and the Ph was wearing a khaki shirt..Looked white and they both had on what looked like white hats.... Mike | |||
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This is exactly what the PH was talking about. | |||
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Frankly, the kahki bashing on here seems even more fashionable than the clothing that Americans simply must wear when they hunt - Africa or anywhere else. There are places, in Africa where kahki might be ideal and dark anything certainly would not. The Kalahari and the Namib would be two such places. For my money, I think you could wear pink polka dots and the game would not care. Brent When there is lead in the air, there is hope in my heart -- MWH ~1996 | |||
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The funniest sights I think are the photo safari clients that think they need to wear khaki to sit in a landcruiser or bus. ie as if wearing a khaki bushshirt in the cruiser makes them less conspicious than wearing a normal T-shirt. When going on a combined hunting safari and photo trip unfortunately one sometimes must wear the hunting clothing and also look like an "eco" goose. | |||
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I believe ALF is absolutely correct. Honestly, I'm thrilled to see someone else say this. Observe the below photo.  What he is saying is the ungulates only see the right Green/Blue side of the visible light spectrum. This is the high energy side of visible light and more of this kind of light is available throughout dusk, dark and dawn. This gives ungulates superior night vision. It's an advantage for them to have vision like this. That being said. In my experience any Blue is the absolute worst color to wear hunting. Also anything shiny (even your eyeballs) will give up your position quickly. I've shot so many animals wearing a bright orange hat I'm convinced they don't see it as we do. | |||
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According to the above colour line, it seems quite logical that angulates should also see some yellow colours as well - see my field observation below:
That brings me to believe that lots of these so-called camo clothing is doing exactly what they shouldn't do - some of them have quite large quantities of 'yellowish tan' colours blended into their patterns. With bright African sun light on tan khaki it may just as well create a very visible 'yellow' colour! 500grains' PH may just be right about tan khaki, except that game perhaps sees it as very visible yellow and not as white! Refer observation in original post above again. OWLS My Africa, with which I will never be able to live without! | |||
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On what planet? John | |||
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Any reasonable color clothing is okay for me as long as it is NOT. 1. Made from a noisy material. 2. Made from a material that easily picks up burrs and prickers, and leaves you stuck in thorn trees. 3. Made from a synthetic material that melts when a hot iron is applied by the camp staff. | |||
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