If you want to get in close to your prey, camouflage is very important. There are many other important factors that play into a successful hunt. Scent, noise and movement will always give you away, that’s a fact. But concealment is also a major component of a successful stalk, especially when getting into archery distances.
WHY BLACKFOOT CAMOUFLAGE?
First, let’s break down some styles of camouflage.
MILITARY – Auscam, US woodland, Tiger stripe and Flecktarn are few that quickly come to mind. What the average Joe might associate with the word “camo”. Whilst better than nothing, they are truly suited to hiding humans from other humans. Game animals see the world very differently to humans, we need to understand they have dichromatic vision, for the most part they see in a grey-scale.
REALISTIC – By realistic, we refer to patterns that have images of bark, sticks and leaves on them, designed to mimic a particular environment. The average person might think they are perfect, and to be honest, they look great up close. But they have their limitations. They are great at the tree stand and ground blind hunting style employed in the USA. Most guys here in Australia simply don’t hunt that way, and your camouflage is going to be compromised the moment you leave your matching background. The other downfall is that these patterns tend to ‘blob out’ to a dark shape from a distance. This is bad news, animals know their environments well, a lot better than us and they will certainly be very wary of the dark blob on the hill that wasn’t there yesterday.
BREAK UP – The third, and most effective hunting style is a break up pattern. They might not look as fancy up close, but do not be fooled. Break up patterns are made from contrasting colours, geometric shapes, and disrupting micro patterns. These designs fool game animals eyes, not by trying to mimic our surroundings, but by diluting our shape into the environment around us. You lose your predator outline, and animals have a hard time seeing you at all.
BLACKFOOT CAMO is the original Australian break up pattern, and still as effective as it was when introduced 21 years ago. Our pattern works across a myriad of different backgrounds and forest types, it is a very adaptable hunting camouflage. The results speak for themselves, many customers over the years have come back ecstatic about their close up experiences with their quarry, and being “looked straight through”.
Whilst the colour image shows a camouflaged hunter being hard to see, when you approximate it as an animal would see it, you begin to see just how effective it truly is. There are always shadows in nature, and the contrasting patches in our design use this to take all depth out of your shape, making you disappear.
BLACKFOOT BLAZE retains the break up effectiveness of our camouflage pattern, whilst delivering a high visibility alternative. Wearing an item of blaze orange is a legal requirement in some states on public land, and highly recommended when hunting with a group. Fortunately for us, animals do not see the orange like we do, it’s just another shade of grey to them.
STAY SAFE, BE SEEN. Try Blackfoot Blaze on your next hunt.
