Thread: Ever been shot at? Blaze vs Camo

Originally Posted by LMcNab

This article has some good pictures of blue vs orange blaze, have to say the orange stands out far better to my eye. He also has some interesting points on what a deer see's versus what it will actually react to.

https://goodblokes.nz/blaze-camouflage-safety-hunting/

Good read thanks. I've definitely had my cover blown by the Hunters Element blaze neck gaiter. Deer stopping at staring at me 15m away dead still in still air in a shaded blind. Everything else was sorted, backdrop. It shouldn't have seen me. This is how it looks under weak UV light.



Short story long, orange blaze is OK, but IMO not if it's reflecting so much UV light you might was well be a neon sign to deer. It probably looks very bright glowing yellow to them.

Originally Posted by Remote

Good read thanks. I've definitely had my cover blown by the Hunters Element blaze neck gaiter. Deer stopping at staring at me 15m away dead still in still air in a shaded blind. Everything else was sorted, backdrop. It shouldn't have seen me. This is how it looks under weak UV light.

Attachment 196227

Short story long, orange blaze is OK, but IMO not if it's reflecting so much UV light you might was well be a neon sign to deer. It probably looks very bright glowing yellow to them.

That's what I've seen too with blaze orange under UV light.

When blaze orange came out ,i wrote to hunting mags stating people will be getting shot with blaze orange gear .

I know of 4 different guys been shot ,most with families .
Sad but true .
I got shit from the NZ outdoors magazine in the late 90s for speaking out .

Originally Posted by LMcNab

This article has some good pictures of blue vs orange blaze, have to say the orange stands out far better to my eye. He also has some interesting points on what a deer see's versus what it will actually react to.

https://goodblokes.nz/blaze-camouflage-safety-hunting/

Yes, interesting article, seems like an in-depth study. And at the end they say - So that being the case, doesn't it make more sense to worry about not getting mistaken for something that other hunters can take a shot at. - And really, isn't that more important?

Reading through this thread I was hoping it would highlight the " go to " and " stay away from" clothing, as I have heard conflicting arguments for blaze vs camo. And had landed on the theory of cant be seen cant be shot. But had contantly questioned it.
Reading through the article above I was reminded of a time a mate and I could see the lower half of a sika stag slinking away through some thick undergrowth, as we tracked it my eye latched onto a pink spec In the distance. Long stories short it was a pink ribbon market. But boy it cought my eye. I am now thinking of tying pink ribbon to my clothes. Im sure I would stand out.. but that is the point.
Might also need to invest in a uv light torch, next time I'm looking to upgrade my gear.

Originally Posted by Close_quarterss

Reading through this thread I was hoping it would highlight the " go to " and " stay away from" clothing, as I have heard conflicting arguments for blaze vs camo. And had landed on the theory of cant be seen cant be shot. But had contantly questioned it.
Reading through the article above I was reminded of a time a mate and I could see the lower half of a sika stag slinking away through some thick undergrowth, as we tracked it my eye latched onto a pink spec In the distance. Long stories short it was a pink ribbon market. But boy it cought my eye. I am now thinking of tying pink ribbon to my clothes. Im sure I would stand out.. but that is the point.
Might also need to invest in a uv light torch, next time I'm looking to upgrade my gear.

Pink capo you can get it. Beats the blue and orange.

Originally Posted by kawekakid

When blaze orange came out ,i wrote to hunting mags stating people will be getting shot with blaze orange gear .

I know of 4 different guys been shot ,most with families .
Sad but true .
I got shit from the NZ outdoors magazine in the late 90s for speaking out .

studies in the USA show the same thing

Originally Posted by Close_quarterss

Reading through this thread I was hoping it would highlight the " go to " and " stay away from" clothing, as I have heard conflicting arguments for blaze vs camo. And had landed on the theory of cant be seen cant be shot. But had contantly questioned it.
Reading through the article above I was reminded of a time a mate and I could see the lower half of a sika stag slinking away through some thick undergrowth, as we tracked it my eye latched onto a pink spec In the distance. Long stories short it was a pink ribbon market. But boy it cought my eye. I am now thinking of tying pink ribbon to my clothes. Im sure I would stand out.. but that is the point.
Might also need to invest in a uv light torch, next time I'm looking to upgrade my gear.

It’s been a long-term debate for me too. Because most of my hunting is private land it’s not something I’m usually concerned about, until I go public, and then all of a sudden everything is different and I can’t make up my mind what’s best.

Last time out on a public block adjacent to the farms we usually hunt, we decided to go look at a specific red stag wallow, and sat in the scrub on a spur looking down onto the wallow from about 70m. I was wearing olive green trousers and a flecktarn German army shirt, black cap. The wife was wearing pretty much exactly the same (his and hers Bundeswehr).

We’ve been there about half an hour when one of the lads from the next door station walked straight past us with his pig dog GPS in his hand and .44 slung over his shoulder. Completely oblivious to us. Would’ve been only 5 or 6m away and already with his back to us and walking away when I called him. Ever since then I’ve not been able to decide whether this was a good or bad outcome.

The pink tape is definitely highly effective. Our possum trackers mark their trials in thick native region with the pink high viz tape, and you can’t miss it. They nail it to trees at eyeline height. Even in low light when I’m trying to find the trial out of the native that is what I look for and it never fails. Consequently we’ve decided next time we go on the public blocks I’m tying pink tape to my backpack and on my shoulder epaulettes. A quick experiment here at home with pink tape on my wife’s cap showed up like dogs balls as she walked through the pine block a good distance away. Couldn’t miss it as she walked between the trees, whereas in the shadows and no tape, she would have been quite difficult to spot if you didn’t know she was there.

Definitely something you can easily test for yourself. Tie some to the dog’s collar and send it off into the scrub. Same deal, the tape is the first thing you see.

Originally Posted by LMcNab

This article has some good pictures of blue vs orange blaze, have to say the orange stands out far better to my eye. He also has some interesting points on what a deer see's versus what it will actually react to.

https://goodblokes.nz/blaze-camouflage-safety-hunting/

I found the article deficient. It does not clearly differentiate between 'Blaze' and 'Flouro' Blaze is a bright or brilliant colour within the normal visible light spectrum, Flouro is totally different as it converts non visible light waves into the visible spectrum so that it emits / reflects more light than surrounding objects.
I will never wear 'Blaze Orange' but I will wear a Flouro vest or tie one on a deer and that is probably best a light green one

Posted before about old school mates dad and his dads uncle going shooting together back on the coast probably somewhere back in the 60s or maybe 70s
Probably a morning or evening stalk not too far from home.
Mates dad rocked up in a classic red chequered swanni type bush shirt. The uncle who was a little bit colour blind said that was a terrible colour as to him it was the exact same colour as a red deer.
Not justifying it but on those days and areas with bugger all people about it was one of his ways of identifying animals an don his own he could get away with it

Originally Posted by csmiffy

Posted before about old school mates dad and his dads uncle going shooting together back on the coast probably somewhere back in the 60s or maybe 70s
Probably a morning or evening stalk not too far from home.
Mates dad rocked up in a classic red chequered swanni type bush shirt. The uncle who was a little bit colour blind said that was a terrible colour as to him it was the exact same colour as a red deer.
Not justifying it but on those days and areas with bugger all people about it was one of his ways of identifying animals an don his own he could get away with it

Color blindness is something I haven't actually thought of. A lot of men in particular are color blind to an extent, so i think this is really important to consider.

Originally Posted by Flyblown

The pink tape is definitely highly effective. Our possum trackers mark their trials in thick native region with the pink high viz tape, and you can’t miss it. They nail it to trees at eyeline height. Even in low light when I’m trying to find the trial out of the native that is what I look for and it never fails. Consequently we’ve decided next time we go on the public blocks I’m tying pink tape to my backpack and on my shoulder epaulettes. A quick experiment here at home with pink tape on my wife’s cap showed up like dogs balls as she walked through the pine block a good distance away. Couldn’t miss it as she walked between the trees, whereas in the shadows and no tape, she would have been quite difficult to spot if you didn’t know she was there.

I recently switched from yellow tape to pink tape for various projects. Pink is so much easier to see in my opinion.

One of the blocks I hunt is littered with pink tape from a bait station poison program about 2 years ago. I was in there on Wednesday and it is still bright and visible.
A workmate and I were hunting in there a few years back and I pointed out some of the numerous tapes to him and he hadn't noticed it, if I recall correctly it was red tape and red and green both look grey to him.

Farout, some of you are certainly lucky to be alive! I started this thread hoping there would be a really convincing sway toward either blaze or camo. I usually hunt with a decent bit of blaze orange, but now I feel like blaze orange is a no-no and I cant decide wether to buy a ghillie suit, or buy a heap of blaze pink! Haha

Was range officer on the Leith range one Saturday morning, shooters were on the mound, prone shooting only, I was standing behind them, nek minit! a mag full of .223 went zipping past me on it's way down range..... young fella had got his gun license the previous day, walked into Millars on Saturday morning and bought a mini 14, got told where he could go to sight in - track in comes out of the bush and up to the back of the mound. I had a lot to say in a very short time! he very nearly cried, so I took a breath and began the educating required.

Was hunting in the Bluies, block permit to me only, was sneaking on hands and knees in to a creek when two rounds zipped past me knocking chunks off a tree just above me. Shooter was encouraged to vacate the area pronto.

Last year, was hunting my favorite block, was at the bottom of a small valley sitting in a wee depression with a brew on, watching two Fallow while waiting for my brew to boil, nek minit! am pinned down in my wee depression by five blokes that couldn't find any deer, so they thought a bit of random long range shooting at rocks was in order. Hard work sorting my brew lying on my side! Was clear to me that if I sat up and tried to flag them, my timing would be shit and I'd catch some lead....... Took them an hr to piss off somewhere else. My two deer pissed off in seconds. I did manage one later though.

What the fuck kind of hunting requires multiples anyhow? oddly, in this particular block I've seen it a bit.

I mostly hunt places that require work to get there for a reason.