How did hunters back "in-the-day" manage to kill game without camo guns and attire?

You don't need camouflage to be a successful hunter then or now. Most game animals are color blind to some extent, moving slowly/quietly and having a keen eye was/is more important.
Camo has it's place, mainly in turkey hunting and helping get within the last few yards when bowhunting.

You don't need camouflage to be a successful hunter then or now. [b]Most game animals are color blind to some extent, moving slowly/quietly and having a keen eye was/is more important. [b/]

The second sentence is not true !

Ungulates are not colour blind !

They see colour very well but their vision is dichromatic and not trichromatic as in humans. They see colour in the blue and green spectrum very well and colour in the red poorly.

1. They have excellent night vision !

Because of 3 adaptations. The size of the pupil,The ungulate pupil will increase seven fold in size at night. The presence of a reflective layer in the retina called the tapetum which reflects light and bounces it around in the eye ball and lastly because of a large number of RODS which are responsible for night vision adaptation. Rods have no red light wavelength sensitivity. Rods are the most numerous receptors.

Cones "shut down " the dark and only rods function.

2. They have mostly cones with blue and green light sensitivity and Poor red light sensitivity
ie peak wavelengths of 445 nm and 535nm and no 575 nm light sensitivity. Humans on the other hand have excellent red wavelength vision in daylight.

3. ultraviolet vision. Humans have, because of the relative old age they live to UV , violet and blue filters in the retina. This is to protect they eye and prevent "sunburn" of the retina.

Ungulates do not have these filters so they are very UV sensitive. Our day clothes and colour enhancers in washing powders reflect UV very well and this is seen by ungulates.


UV reflected off the flat surfaces and high points on the human face light up like white clothes under UV light on a disco floor !

This lights up like bright beacons ! Old time hunter gatherers knew this thus they painted dark lines on the high spots on their faces.

Camo has it's place.....I'll keep mine

They were thinner than we are. May be something to that.............

From experience, learning how to remain still is more important than anything regardless of what you are wearing.

Working the wind is also important.

If a person chooses to wear camouflage that is their business, I only wear it when hunting turkeys/waterfowl.

Turkey are sharp.....the pop up blind shouldn't work on them but it changed the way I hunt them....can't forget decoys.....another improvement in turkey


I must add because I have hunted both

Wild public land turkey vs private land turkey is apples to oranges


Ben Lee said if they could smell we wouldn't be able to kill them

worry more about the "brighteners" in the clothes, or the wash, than the camo.

Anybody recognize this guy?



Grizz

Camo is not going to make you a more successful Hunter, except to the extent you "think" it will make you a more successful Hunter. Like a placebo.

The American camoflage marketing scheme is one of the most remarkable examples of selling people what they do not need, by simply tricking them into thinking they need it.

Not only do hunters need camoflage, but they also accept the fact that the pattern they have bought, is now so inferior that they must replace it. I don't think we can really call our species a "rational" one.

The biggest thing is that the eye , yours and the deer's , is movement !!! Keep still ! Slow movement is possible if necessary , fast molvement is a reminder to the deer that you may be a predator !

When it comes to camouflage and scent control, remember:

Buy whatever is on sale, wet your finger and hunt toward the cold side!

Never worn camo in 50 years of hunting. Stalked within 20 yards for most of the animals I have taken.

Dave

Grizz, I'm guessing some old fart, probably dead.

The comment about flat surfaces is a good one. In most places, there is very little in deer realm that is flat except some rocks. I watch this as much, or more than camo. I mainly buy camo because it is made with better insulation than a lot of the "commercial" stuff. I don't care about pattern. If you have an orange vest over it anyway, what does it matter. I do also wear it full length for turkey hunting as Ted said.

Africa taught me that camo is not necessary and I don't fall for the sales gimmick any more. Move slow play the wind and get close. Works in Africa, Canada and the U.S.

I buy it because I like it. That's enough for me.

Don't like it, don't buy it.

à chacun son goût.

quote:

Originally posted by oddsix:
Move slow play the wind and get close. Works in Africa, Canada and the U.S.

Agree!

Bill Quimby

Camo is a tool. Used properly, it can help your success.
Unfortunately, too many people think it means you don't have to use the wind nor know how to be still. In the east particularly, a deer seldom goes a day without hearing a car or smelling a human so I kinda wonder if being still doesn't trump using the wind. I've never tried it but........

Camo is part of our North American hunting uniform.

I wear it because we have a recently established history of wearing it.

Beyond that camo is made to fool hunters, not animals.

There are a lot of non spring public land turkey hunters in this thread

Wear blue jeans and a plaid shirt and call a SEMO turkey in sub 40 yards in April

I'd have to see it

quote:

Wild public land turkey vs private land turkey is apples to oranges

Personally, I think the gulf between the two is a lot wider than apples to oranges.

Private Land turkey hunting is nothing like Public Land in any way.

Numbers of hunters is less, methods of hunting is different.

ANYONE killing a Turkey on Public Land is both skilled and lucky.

My opinion is based on what I have experienced here in Texas, but from experience, Private Land birds do not receive the pressure Public Land birds do.

Indians a backwoodsmen wore buckskins with fringe to break up the outline. Snipers and turkey hunters have copied the idea.

quote:

Originally posted by Brice:
Indians a backwoodsmen wore buckskins with fringe to break up the outline. Snipers and turkey hunters have copied the idea.

Buckskin fringe.....I would bet anything this is purley decorative no mater when

quote:

I would bet anything this is purley decorative no mater when

BINGO!!!!! Fringe was basically decoration, nothing more. The stuff catches on every limb/branch the hunter brushes against.

quote:

Originally posted by oddsix:
Africa taught me that camo is not necessary and I don't fall for the sales gimmick any more. Move slow play the wind and get close. Works in Africa, Canada and the U.S.

Same here!!!

I used to obsess about camo and scent control until stalking game with a tracker dressed in a blue jumpsuit who hadn't taken a shower in a week!

Public land mature spring gobbler is still one 'trophy' I'd like to get someday.

Tom

quote:

Originally posted by TWall:
Public land mature spring gobbler is still one 'trophy' I'd like to get someday.

Tom

Come to NYC...you will see them in Central Park!

Yeah, I started the topic because I see so many folks in the store that have to have camo of the exact same pattern over every square inch of their body. What's really funny is that they hunt from camo blinds or stands where they are not visible. I had a gun buyer recently that brought in his shirt and pants so he could match it exactly to a shotgun. I had to bring out four guns so he could pick the right pattern and he still wasn't quite satisfied.

quote:

Originally posted by Leopardtrack:

quote:

Originally posted by oddsix:
Africa taught me that camo is not necessary and I don't fall for the sales gimmick any more. Move slow play the wind and get close. Works in Africa, Canada and the U.S.

Same here!!!

I used to obsess about camo and scent control until stalking game with a tracker dressed in a blue jumpsuit who hadn't taken a shower in a week!

I hunted with/ behind a tracker wearing bright red pants.

For me, camo is vital in waterfowl hunting. I generally can't or don't use a blind and am hunting over decoys, so now I even use face paint. Most of my shots are preferably less than 25 yards and I just can't get concealed enough.

For my big game hunting camo doesn't seem to make the slightest bit of difference and I only wear it because its the warmer jacket or the waterproof one.

I might have missed it but I think the guynis Jack O Connor.

quote:

Originally posted by TWall:
Public land mature spring gobbler is still one 'trophy' I'd like to get someday.

Tom

Come to Northern Wis lots of public lands and gobblers 50/50 with me I shoot them where I can.

I found that a well made Ghillie suit is the best there is for Turkeys, Geese, crows and very close encounters with all kinds of game.

I have ambushed toms in one in 2 inch high grass at very close range.

quote:

Originally posted by Grizzly Adams:
Anybody recognize this guy?



Grizz

I think he shot that elk at close to 600 yards if I remember the story correct. no camo needed for sure my copy of the book is 2000 miles away right now.

600 yds and I don't see no stinkin 2.5-14x56, 30mm scope either.

No, when you're shooting animals at 600 yards you don't need camo. And I'm gonna guess that for the times, that scope was probably cutting edge.

I have told several folks, that people in Texas hunting from an enclosed blind overlooking a timed feeder should be required to hunt either in Formal Evening wear or be Buck Assed Naked.

If it makes a person feel better wearing the latest and greatest camo, by all means do so, it is their $$$$.

I just still have problems figuring out how Jack O'Connor/Elmer Keith and Fred Bear killed so much shit wearing plaid shirts and cowboy hats and such.

[QUOTE

I just still have problems figuring out how Jack O'Connor/Elmer Keith and Fred Bear killed so much shit wearing plaid shirts and cowboy hats and such.[/QUOTE]




WE don't need no stinkin' cammo.


Best,

GWB

Urban camo

Interesting comments on turkey hunts being difficult sans Camo on public land.

Experience has taught me, there is no need for camo, nor face paint to kill public land turkeys here in central Idaho. I've only killed 3 with my bow and 18 with various shotguns on public land (others have been on various private properties) both during the spring season and some during the September and November/December Seasons.
If I can do it, I'm confident I couldn't afford to buy drinks for all the hunters who could do the same.

I am sure hunting pressure has a lot to do with it.