I hopefully will make my first coyote hunt this winter and realized I should have some winter camo. Poked around at Cabela's, etc., and realized that I would be shelling out over $80 for something I might never use if the hunting arrangements fall through.

Stopped into an army surplus store yesterday and saw some winter clothing: a 3/4 length top and pants for $25 in a thin synthetic/cotton blend type of material. The area where I hope to hunt is farmland cut with brushy creekbeds, so I assume something with a pattern would help in concealment.

Was thinking I could sponge/brush on some RIT dye or something similar. Anyone try this approach, if so, would the die work ( not run, etc?) and what sort of pattern might work best ( I've seen "blotches" and twig-like patterns).

Like I said, I'm a rookie at this and don't want to make any more mistakes than normal.

TIA,

Bob

[ 11-08-2002, 03:27: Message edited by: Borealis Bob ]

Just dip yourself in glue and roll around in a pile of dead leaves.

Can get a bit itchy though...

Id pick up the snow/winter camo from your army surplus store and go to the nearest fabric store or ben franklin and buy a couple yards of dark green or any came material. Cut the material into blotches, strips, and patches and sew them randomly all over the snow suit. Dont make it too dark. But if you are going to be laying prone, sew some blotches of fabric on your shoulders and back. If you are going to be sitting, sew them on your back, your arms, and your pants legs. Being as you are doin a winter hunt and getting snow camo clothes, Im guessing you arent going to be doing much prone shooting, as laying in the snow just doesnt work. Also, get a white stocking cap and sew a couple blotches on it too. Dont over-use it, if you make it too dark you will stand out. Places with a lot of exposed white material, like the back, should be targets for your green/camo blotches. All you need for your whole back is maybe six or seven 6" x 6" blotches, 5" x 5" blotches would be good too. Also, maybe buy a yard of white cloth and cut it into strips and tie them around your barrel. Good luck.

Bob,

Send me an email about where you live and where you plan to hunt.

Mark

Oh, also Sportsmans Guide has surplus german army camo for really cheap
http://www.sportsmansguide.com/
do a search for "surplus camo" there are a ton of surplus camo shirts, pants and jackets from different countries, sure you can find someting there.

I'd also think about looking for just some X-Large shirt and pants and wearing them over your clothes

Thanks for all the good ideas. Hadn't thought about painters coveralls. I am planning on painting the living room, etc., this winter, so if the hunt falls through I've got a leg up on the "honey do" project.

Bob

Get a set of military BDU's and tie dye them with bleach as much as needed.

Bob-

Paint the living room in camo colors, and the splatters you get on you will work just fine!

Gees guys, no creativity here.....I start off with a pair of White sweat pants and hooded shirt. Next I go to my local Wallyworld (WalMart), back to the Fabric and craft area. You can buy a cheap stiff bristled brush, a tube of brown and black paints. Now the fun. Lay the sweat pants/shirt out on the table, imagine what brush looks like without leaves, draw in the big limbs, then the small and if your real creative, you can get a small patter of leaves at WW and use it for leaves on the brush that has not fallen off. This works very well, stands up to the laundry and can also be done on beige or gray sweat pants for your tree stand in late winter....
Better yet, check out the local Goodwill store for the sweat suit or an old white sheet and paint it up......I usually have $15.00 in the whole outfit, including paint......

B Bob - I have a little different philosophy about camo and I think this especially true hunting animals that can't SEE COLOR.

My thought is it doesn't matter what you look like so long as you don't look like what you are.

Coyotes know exactly the size, shape, motion and smell of humans. I'm a little concerned going hunting covered in paint...even dry paint. A smart coyote won't know what it is but he will know to be suspicious of what he doesn't know.

Your next worst enemy is MOTION. Animals look for motion from cradle to grave and thus are GOOD at spotting it.

Camo is great fun to play with while hunting, but there have been a LOT of coyotes called up and ambused without it. No, I'm not saying camo doesn't work at all. I am saying it's possible to do fine without it if you obey the other factors involved...especially motion.

Pecos45 got it right. You should also conceal yourself in the shade, wear a cap and face net to hide the light shade of your face.Some dark gloves to help hide the movement of your hands also. You can get by with drab clothing to start off with. If there's snow buy the cheap painters coveralls, these are sold at auto paint dealers. Tape off the glare of your rifle barrel with camo or electrician's tape. MtnHtr

[ 11-10-2002, 10:52: Message edited by: MtnHtr ]

I'd go with the sewen on strips of green, gray and a smige of black cloth. looks close to a expancive gillie suit.
Al

Again, thanks to all. Got the type of good info I was looking for. Now, to keep my fingers crossed that it all comes together.

MtnHtr - Good points. For sure use the little bonus things available to you like shade or some sort of natural cover you can see and shoot out of easily. And as Mtn suggests, don't forget the hands since they will be doing some moving for sure.

But again, camo doesn't need to be elaborate at all. Some of the dangdest animals to spot really don't have any elaborate camoflage at all. They just know how to use the terrain to their advantage and when to move and not move.

It's pretty simple really when you look at it objectively. We don't need to become a walking leaf to blend in.

[ 11-11-2002, 06:08: Message edited by: Pecos45 ]

This thread got me going this weekend. Went to the surplus store (why are ranch stores and surplus stores turning into yuppie wannabe stores, anyway?).

A cotton snow camo poncho was $15. I think I like that better than coveralls, anyway. At 6'5", I've never found coveralls that fit, anyway. The poncho hides the human form, particularly when sitting down. At the ranch store, I picked up a white and light brown roll of veterinary wrap. This is the bandaging stuff that sticks only to itself: great for wrapping rifles and shooting sticks. $1.99 each.

That leaves me with some sort of face cover to figure out, and gloves. I'm going to be ready. Dutch.

The last time I went Yote hunting I realized that my overalls were much too dark to blend in with the light colored clay and brush all around me, so I rolled in the dirt! Voila! It worked, instant camo!

I made my "ghillie"(can`t spell,sorry)suit for turkey hunting,cost me under $75 and the older it gets,the better it looks.started with the cheap camo that looks like very small netting(for warm days)then bought some camo dyed burlap by the yard,not knowing that cut in pieces it unravels and falls apart(the best feature,the older it gets the more it looks like random grasses and so)cut 6-8"wide and from 8-15" long pieces,then cut into strips about 1" wide almost to top end,leave an inch or so to keep it partially together.I tried the sewing route,took a long time (sorry,no machine)then went to hot glue,in about 2.5 hours I had a whole suit.i made a canvas front that can be easily removed (for crawling)and when done take it outside and shake it,the more you shake(or hang it out on windy days)the better it looks.hell I even use it duck hunting now.I get strange looks from others,but I usually get to shoot when they don`t.ain`t pretty,but is functional.good luck.you can have some of mine(coyotes).

Ive started making a ghillie suit. Started it about 4 months ago. I am unweaving the burlap into individual strands then tieing bundles of such strands around a neck sewn to the back of a field jacket. I think I am going to get a different jacket as teh field jacket is much too heavy. After I finally get done putting all this burlap on it, I am going to randomly tie in 1" wide strips of green cloth. This suit is more for fun and paintball than hunting but I imagine it would make a good coyote rig for where I plan on hunting them.

An idea fron a friend of mine, just get an old sheet, tye-die it in appropriate colors, cut a hole and wear it poncho like. - Dan

Stopped back at the surplus store last week. Since my last visit they got in some of the snow ponchos like Dutch got. Also new was an "extreme cold" face mask. It has a synthetic shell with a 1/8" thin foam insulation within. Ear and mouth openings, two cold-air mouth filters which attach with velcro over the latter, and a velcro-attached "bib" to go down the throat area.

The poncho had just a few pine-needle type patterns on it. Stopped by a craft store and got some fabric paint which supposedly won't bleed or wash out. Going to put just a little bit of pattern as suggested above and try it out ( hopefully ).