Anything out there to restore faded camo?Thought I read it here at one time.
Throw them in some RIT dye, or in the garbage. The dye will color the whole fabric, but not make camo patterns. What is already there should show thru fine.
ChuckC
unless your hunting birds it really does not matter
Too late now. But, when you wash your new stuff, turn them inside out, and use cold water.
X2 with Bobby. Some of the camo I use is VERY faded but it didn't seem to bother any animals I've shot. IMHO, this whole camo thing is mostly BS. Saw a video where a guy in a Santa suit shot a deer from his tree stand. Think that says it all.
The faded color may not be too much of an issue, but rather, does it still sufficiently break up your outline?
Faded can be better for hunting in the fall. Bold colors stand out. some of the stuff I saw at big box store was almost bright and shiney.
Dave..that wasn't Santa.....it was Stiffrod. :rolleyes:
Thanks for brightening up my day Joe. LingMAO. But who is Stiffrod? How's the smallmouth fishig going?
A friend of mine used a black permanent marker to outline some of the patterns in his faded camo and it made a big difference.
I like my old camo, faded or not. It sure is a lot quieter than new stuff.
I remember talking to Mickey Lotz about camo and ground hunting. He said he has killed deer at a few yards wearing blaze orange coveralls while hunting from the ground. His recommendation was to use the wind in your favor and sit still until you have a clear shot out of the deer's sight range.
I've always said that you could probably wear a white t shirt and kill an animal. Truth be told, if you look at the patterns from any kind of distance, it looks like a blob anyway. Movement and wind are the biggest factors in my opinion.
I never used this stuff but here what I found.
http://www.dixiedye.com/order.htm
I was walking through the woods once wearing one of those blaze orange vests with no camo and jeans. It was one that is solid orange, not camo orange. I had a solid blaze orange hat on too, and glasses. I saw a deer walking through the woods so I sat on a stump. There was NOTHING around me. Just the big orange blob on a stump. That deer wandered to within feet of me. I could almost touch it.
I have also been in full camo in a natural blind and was busted. Movement is the key.
To answer your question - I hunt in faded camo and have never noticed it being any different than the day I hung out in the blaze orange vest. If I was concerned I would try the RIT idea though.
I have killed most of my game animals, from stand or ground, in a wool plaid shirt and drab colored pants. They didn't seem to mind that i wasn't wearing the newest camo fashion.
Wind direction and movement are the two factors to keep in mind.
Good Hunting
Cheers,
Chuck
It's more of what a deer smells, not it sees. Scent is primary, vision & hearing secondary. IMHO.
Denny
put it on some brush and squint, if it break up the outline then it's faded just right.
There is a good article in this week's "Pennsylvania Outdoor News" on how deer see. In short they see blue really well. They also see grey as blue. It is a Georgia research. It also says that camo is made to be attractive to us.
Thanks for the input people,I decided to leave them be...............
Last season I had a spike walk up ten feet behind me. No cover between us at all. It took him about 10 seconds to realize I didnt belong. I was in head to toe blaze orange. Being still and scent free always seems to be the difference. I would have to say that faded is probably better than how bright and defined new camo is.
I found later that bucky had a bed that was right behind me that had been covered in fresh snow. I knew I was in a bucks bedding area....just not that close!
If your camo is cotton than your FIST washing add a cup of white vinegar to the load it will help make the color hold fast/ fade less, just as when dyeing Easter eggs of feathers
Camo works really well for human eyes-that's why the military wears camo. For animals it is about breaking up the outline and not reflecting light. Like was said earlier movement is what gives you away.
Must be a lot of blue trees in the woods. !
Dan, they see grey as blue and a lot of camo uses grey to help break-up the human outline.
From all my research and I've done a ton what I've gathered is:
1) almost all camo is made to sell to people rather than being truly designed for concealment from animals (go figure)
2) any pattern that breaks up your outline is better than any pattern that doesn't (mossy oak obsession in a snow storm is a BAD choice while it in dense hardwoods bottoms may be a good choice)
3) any pattern with essentially the same brightness and general color scheme as your surroundings will work equally well (including plaids and what not)
4) how and when you MOVE is what gets you spotted the most (think how many times you see that solid brown deer standing still vs when it moves)
5) what material it's made of may make a marginal difference. Natural materials like cotton and wool reflect less light than polyester, nylon, and fleece. However this is a small thing.