Is camo really necessary to harvest animals? This is a question I have had running through my mind over the last couple of years. Recently I have noticed that more and more hunters, including myself, wear solid earth tones and camo apparel. I have hunted in full camo, full solid earth tones, a mix of camo and solid colors through various types of hunts and environments. Throughout this article we will look at historical data, personal stories and the science behind camouflage.
As the long, cold days of winter come to an end, the need to scratch the “Cabin Fever Itch” is stronger than ever. My favorite outdoor activity during from February to June is looking for antlers that deer and elk have shed.
As a shed hunter, I catch myself as my efforts are mostly focused on where I am going to hike, which hillsides the animals wintered on, and dreaming of how many sheds I am going to find. And rightly so! These factors are crucial in increasing the success of a shed hunt.
Growing up in a deer hunting family was a blessing. For many years it was always in my eyes about killing the biggest buck in the woods. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy pursuing and chasing mature bucks, but today there is so much more beyond that. Let me give you a few examples.
Deer hunting to me is more than going out one weekend a year and shooting a deer. In my eyes there is something you can be doing 365 days a year to be preparing yourself for a better opportunity of being successful. Spring time is a great time to shed hunt, scout new and old areas, and to learn how deer move and use a specific piece of land. There is so much you can learn from simple observations and just being in the woods.
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I love being a hunter these days because there are so many great advancements in technology that make life in the backcountry more efficient and more comfortable. Packs are no different. It seems like right when I get settled into a pack that works great, someone comes up with a cool new concept to make them function better.
When it comes to fitting a pack, I think it’s important to first determine your intended use of the pack. Are you the type of hunter that carries camp around on your back for 5-7 days? Or do you usually hunt from a truck or spike camp where a lot less gear to haul on your back is required? Fortunately, there is more than a few packs out there that are dual purpose packs. Meaning they can be used as a day pack as well as an extended backcountry hunt.
Recently, there was a viral video of a Utah man being escorted out of a canyon by a mama-mountain lion. While watching the video I could not help but think, “where is this guy’s gun?”. Whether that would have been the right decision or not is up for debate, but regardless of views, my .38 Special would have been at my side. Or my front. Or my back. How? The Alaska Guide Creations Holster.
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One of my favorite things to do each fall is chase bugling bulls with my bow. From the moment the last light fades on my last hunt, I start tinkering with my bow and arrow setup to see how it can be improved. Over the years I have done a lot of research on what I think makes the best Elk hunting arrow. I have also looked at a lot of “Game Film” in the offseason from the hunts of others’ trying to determine what set-ups seem to work best.
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The first word that comes to my mind when I hear the word “wool” is a memory from my first rifle deer hunt. Slipping my dad’s big, itchy, bright red sweater that had “RUGER” stitched in black across the front. Sure, it was warm, and I knew I wasn’t going to get shot, but man, I couldn’t wait to take that thing off. When I first considered buying Merino wool, I had flashbacks to that particular sweater. Little did I know at the time, Merino wool was the fabric that would soon take up the majority of space in my hunting closet.
What comes to mind when you think layers? Maybe, onions? Maybe, perhaps a 7-layer dip on game day (mmm………7-layer dip)? Or maybe layers of clothing? For the sake of this article, I am going to discuss clothing layers. More specifically, the XKG layer system from King’s Camo. My intention for this article is to dive into the system I have put together and discuss what XKG is, why I chose what I have, and the conditions I have experienced with it.
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Out of all of the places that I hiked in 2020, the weather, terrain, and distances hiked varied EXTREMELY. In January, I started in the desert in Arizona. I then shed hunted a handful of locations in Utah, Idaho, and Nevada. During the summer months, I looked for velvet mule deer at the top of mountain peaks, and hiked all over those same peaks in September and October. I wrapped up the late season in November and December chasing elk and mule deer with a bow in Northern Utah.
My takeaway from hiking in all of these locations was this: Dress accordingly, boots included.
My interest in hunting began at the young age of seven years old when I would tag along my father during the Iowa whitetail gun season. It wasn’t long after that and I was eventually able to carry a gun. I remember counting down the days and laying out all of my gear weeks in advance. Once I got into high school I had decided to give bowhunting a try. I was mostly interested in it because I knew it would give me more than just one weekend a year of whitetail hunting.