I always figure i like to blend in as much as possible, but i honestly think we probably make to much fuss about camo.

I have been close enough to deer that you measure the distance by feet not yards, lots of times.

I was out bear hunting saturday, i just stillhunted the whole day.

I had two small buck, mere feet away on two separate occasions.

Here is the thing, first the snow was very crunchy, so i was going very slow, way more standing still than moving during the day.

second, i had a grey wool sweater on with a blaze orange vest over it, PA law during firearms bear even if carrying a bow.

The first buck a one horner with a big Y and brow, came to within about 15' feet before spotting me, and yes then spooked.

the second buck a spike however literally passed by me at about 8' feet..NO FOOLING !! literally 8 feet....and never spooked, looked at me but didn't spook.

I had my cell phone in my pocket, i was able to very slowly get it out. I moved slowly a little at a time, only when he wasn't looking, and even then he would catch the slight movement and look at me, and i'd freeze.

once i was able to get my phone out, turn it on, i couldn't get it to switch to camera with gloves on with the touch screen, i had to slip my glove off, switch get it on camera and take a pic.

He was obviously past me and further away till i got this all accomplished, but still in bow range.

If you look carefully at the bottom right corner of the pic you see his tracks where he stepped over some logs.

He was literally right there i coulda almost jumped on him !

anyway, I do where camo, but i also know we probably make to much of it. Deer are color blind or can only see certain shades etc... What or how i don't know, I mean has anyone actually ever been able to ask a deer what they see? yet we see claims of colors they see ect..how on earth would they know that.

Anyway....oh and i was standing upright and had slipped around the trunk of a big oak when i saw him coming.

guess i meant wear camo..not "where" camo...sorry

I think many times it is more about what they "feel" than what they see. If they don't perceive you as a threat they don't spook.

I sat on a ridge one day many years ago under an oak. A doe and two fawns came browsing up to it. I sat there scratching at the leaves as if hunting nuts. They hung around for a while, then started to move off down the ridge. I did like wise, slowly walking with them, no more than 15 feet from them. We continued like that for close to a 1/4 mile before I needed to head off another way. I wasn't a threat, so no fear.

I've always thought that camo conceals me from other hunters more than it does from deer. Scent and movement are what get you busted around deer.

If you had a deer tag in yer pocket that would never happen! They can smell an unfilled deer tag! Lol

Ol' Fred was right ...

^^^^^^^

The three laws to successful hunting, 1) Don't move, 2) don't move and 3) DON"T MOVE.

There is a great thing to think about when getting close to animals and it's the 6th sense of "intent". They can sense when we intend to do them harm. Try it. Watch a herd of sheep, cows, goats or domestic animals...single one out of the herd to go after and that one knows you're after it and will be more elusive than the others around it.

When we are just observers to nature, our "intent" is nothing harmful to them. Once we switch to predator mode, they can sense it. These animals live by how they react to sensory input from the other animals. They can sense body language so subtle that we cannot recognize it.

So camo your "intent"...:)

I always wore camo to hide from people. Plaids are my favorite for deer although the Gillie is pretty darn awesome. The being still part is getting harder and harder for me, I just ache and hurt too much no matter what I do. Sitting helps if I sit in something easy for me to get up and out of but my body still gives me fits. There is no more getting up fast and doing anything. No, I manage to finally get up and then it takes a minute or two for my back and legs to say its okay to move. So sometimes, it is totally pop up blinds so that I can move around some.

Great advice from the great Fred Bear.

Don't move is THE #1. After that, it's don't shine!

That's why the red plaid wool coat worked(s) so well...wool ABSORBS light, not reflects it.

Asbell wool is all I use.

Sunset Hill nailed it animals are very intuitive they can sense danger.

Wayne, you can stop with that nonsense.

Tough not to move when you draw yer bow.

I've been busted 25 in a tree full camo including my face from 50 yards and I've been standing in the wide open woods wearing a blase orange jacket and had deer a few feet from me. Honestly there's no rym or reason to it. The best ever I was sitting on a stump brown Carhartt bibs and a red plaid flannel a doe walked up to me stretched her neck out and I watched the smoke from my cigarette go up her nose. She gave me a curious look turned and casualty walked off with her 2 fawns behind.

Sit still, be still, don't move. Easier said than done.

I believe sitting still can be a learned art and have not seen many people who studied or learned it if you watch them for a time. They think they are being still but are not.

being still is a Biggie

Like Timex said- wearing a yellow rubber raincoat in a down pour to get a tree stand (leaving next day) and had 4 does go by me like get off of our path attitude

never know what they will tolerate at times

I think blue is about the worst color to wear. I have read that deer can see shades of blue in color. I think maybe there is something to it. I have been busted in blue jeans more than anything. Flame orange not so much. So, anymore I may not wear full camo but I try to avoid wearing blue jeans, even though I have killed several deer with a gun, while wearing them.

And personally, I think white is a bad color. I don't like white fletching on my arrows although I know many do. I do like bright fletching, hot pink, red, chartreuse, but not yellow. I might do a white cock feather from time to time. But I noticed as I grew older, and my beard turned white, I was getting busted more. So, I shaved my beard off, down to a goatee, and started also using bow hunting face makeup on my face and bow hand. I had noticed other people's hands and face at great distances, before, when they were wearing full camo but the the face and hands were like beacons.

There are years of research into what deer see. Here is an interesting blog post that talks about that.

https://www.deer.psu.edu/the-eyes-have-it/

Its more about what they smell that what they see, even if they spot movement. I called in a spike and I know I was practically invisible but he circled,downwind and imediately bolted when he caught my scent. At another hunt, I jumped two doe out of their beds and they stopped after a short run, and both literally turned and started back toward me. Both presented broadside shots, and I missed the closest one at 25 yds standing still looking right through my camo and leafy face mask. She turned away at the shot and the arrow barely missed, passing where her heart was a split second before. They were upwind at the time. I think its mostly smell, them visual detection of movement a distant second, that they rely on most.

Its more about what they smell that what they see, even if they spot movement. I called in a spike and I know I was practically invisible but he circled,downwind and imediately bolted when he caught my scent. At another hunt, I jumped two doe out of their beds and they stopped after a short run, and both literally turned and started back toward me. Both presented broadside shots, and I missed the closest one at 25 yds standing still looking right through my camo and leafy face mask. She turned away at the shot and the arrow barely missed, passing where her heart was a split second before. They were upwind at the time. I think its mostly smell, them visual detection of movement a distant second, that they rely on most. They especially dont spook when I wear a full suit of white camo on a snowy day in the wind. They just stand there and look my way.

I been doing a lot more still hunting this year. Years ago i stillhunted often.

Got back in the groove so to speak. My old rule of thumb.

Move little....stand often, and move slowly, even while standing.

Our season is closed right now, until Sat when firearms open, here in PA we can use a bow during any season, for any game open.

I have doe tags yet, so i was moving a treestand yesterday.

I was slowly slipping along a top thick with saplings. For a short stretch there i had deer all around me for a bit.

If they are not spooking just because they perceive me as no threat.....they are sorely mistaken, freezer still has room.

i think it has more to do with not knowing i'm there.

Gun season here, blaze orange is mandatory. Have had deer and bears 'wolf close' that were not bothered by my presence. Have also been busted by deer 60 yards off that picked up small movements.

Camo, regardless of pattern, or plaid, or even a muted 'middle tone' solid, will let you get away with 'a little bit' of movement. How little depends on how alert the deer is.

I've found that gloves and face camo matter, because you'll move your hands and turn your head even when 'sitting still.'

sure gets tougher once the guns start cracking.

After firearm opener i have watched deer stand for long periods of time and just look, especially mature deer.

you won't get away with movement then.

What ever I have on for the day But I do like Mossy Oak Bottomland not because I think it's better. It was one if the first camo that wasn't woodland camo.

Well, I agree with all of it. But, tree stand hunting when the leaves are down I will and always will use snow camo. Anything else will blob you out. Ground hunting? Yes, anything with multiple earthy colors will work. Mine is camo most times. Why? It is what I bought.

One more point about ground hunting....

If you can, either be on your knees or sitting when deer approach and/or wear head gear that breaks up the shape of the human head/shoulders.

When I first got my Rancho Safari Ahaggie Longcoat it came with a "Boonie Hood", which covers your head and shoulders. I wore it for gun season with a blaze orange bandana tied to the top and when I was sitting or kneeling they walked right on by me without even a second look. I'm convinced that deer that are hunted much can spot a human from a LONG ways away just by the outline of our head and shoulders, especially if we're standing.

woods walker makes a great point. being on your knees makes it much more difficult to be noticed, even in country with sparse cover.

i've called in and killed elk on my knees, as they seemed as if they were looking over or beyond me, and hadn't noticed me.

One year my son and I were deer hunting and it started to snow. Nothing ridiculous just a nice quiet snow fall.

We stood in a field about twenty yards from the tree edge. As we quietly talked about where we were going to post in the woods, a doe came out of the woods about thirty yards away.

I told my son not to make any sudden moves as there was a deer right behind him. He said “yeh, right”. We kept whispering and as the deer moved further out into the field feeding on alfalfa/grass, I finally said “ok, you can turn around and look now”. He was amazed how close it came by us.

i've had deer spot me from 50 yds or more off while in full camo up in tree, and had them walk so close i could touch them while dressed in a pumpkin suit. had an entire winter flock of turkeys (over 40 birds) walk within ten feet of me on a trail in blaze orange. who knows? not moving works for me.

Staying really still is (IMO) a real Skill to be learned…. And honestly, I’m not very good at it.

“I'm convinced that deer that are hunted much can spot a human from a LONG ways away just by the outline of our head and shoulders, especially if we're standing.”

I think it’s similar to how we can pick them out by finding a horizontal line in the woods. They are used to seeing a lot of vertical lines, but they don’t ordinarily move….

But I’ll tell ya… I was down on my knees with the binoculars one afternoon, and I spotted a doe coming through at about the same time that she saw me. She looked away for a second and I got prone. I could still see her, but she lost me… And I swear she came looking for me, she just seemed to want to know what the heck that was that she had seen that wasn’t there anymore.

And FWIW…. A lot of times, you can see further when looking through the brush a foot or two off the ground than you can while standing up. There’s a lot less foliage down at that level and you can look through a lot more brush.

"And FWIW…. A lot of times, you can see further when looking through the brush a foot or two off the ground than you can while standing up. There’s a lot less foliage down at that level and you can look through a lot more brush."

been saying that for years on here - sitting at a base of a tree/rootball on a fatboy cussion

see them comming a good ways off and roll to knee to shoot

Sunset has it. I've been a firm believer they can read your mind since I was 10 or so.

My uncle lives in the sticks by Eatonville,Wa and when he moved there in 92 deer,elk, grouse and quail were everywhere. Well my uncle doesn't hunt so they would hang out all over his 5 acres....until I would show up.

They all knew I was after them! They would leave the day I showed up and not come back till the day after I left. Two times I didn't bring my gun with me and had no intention of hitting the woods and those two times are the only times I have personally seen deer on his property. Even the grouse and quail would leave.

I still believe they knew my intentions before I even got out of the truck. He said it was the weirdest thing he'd seen them do. He could wander around and they would hang out while he worked around the property. But me, they were gone when I'd get there. I was just a kid then but they all knew what was up and what my plans for them were.

When I lived in Wyoming we'd hunt elk in Lodgepole pine areas that had been clearcut and we're now in the young phase of regrowth. If you were standing up you couldn't see ANYTHING except pone needles. But if you knelt down you could see ahead pretty well. The elk LOVED those dense thickets, and you could see their legs if you moved slow and glassed. Getting a shot was darn near impossible, but the HUNT part was great.

PINE needles! ;-)

Funny thing is about keeping still, at points you have to move for nature reasons. A few times I have had to take a leak. One really sticks in my mind. I looked all around me first, slowly stood up, looked all around again, leaned my rifle against a tree (rifle season in WI), looked around again and all of a sudden a buck steps out of thick pines. I looking at him, he looking at me. Wrong gun in hand, I watched as he ran off. LOL.

Just don't stand up when you whiz! That helps reduce the movement considerably. But...you STILL need more hands! ;-)

Back when we did a lot of duck hunting, if the ducks weren't moving we'd have a "pee break" where we had to get out of the blind. Then they'd usually show up. If it was REALLY slow, we'd have the break but we'd leves the guns in the blind. That ALWAYS worked!

Agreed, Shade Mountain

We are so used to movements in our normal lives…it takes me awhile to adjust to the slow deliberate movement needed in the woods.

X2 Shade. When I get in the woods to stillhunt, I sometimes just stand or sit there for a considerable about of time to "reprogram" myself. When you do get into "woods" mode, you know it/feel it. It's almost like another level of conciousness. Words really can't describe it, you have to BE it. And when you do, you'll know!

In a way, I pity those who've never been there.

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