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Hunters: is camo just cosplay?
(sh.itjust.works)
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this post was submitted on 13 May 2026
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For deer camo is irrelevant because most cases you have to wear hunter orange (or pink) because you don’t want to die by being shot by another hunter. Also the deer don’t really notice the orange so it works out. If you strictly hunt deer you should focus on staying warm and wear hunter orange, camo doesn’t matter.
For waterfowl and Turkey especially though camo is necessary. Birds are really good at seeing danger so if you don’t blend in you have almost no chance of getting one.
The reason a deer hunter would likely be wearing camo is they also hunt turkey/waterfowl and gear isn’t free so they use a lot of the same gear for both seasons.
At least this is why I wear camo while hunting, I do both, but I’m fully aware it doesn’t matter for the deer. The gear is just good for long duration outdoor activity in all weather.
so like when hunting fowl you just take the danger of getting shot?
Not OP, but yeah, basically. Lots of incidents of hunters getting shot while turkey hunting.
ok. so I guess its just that the wounds are less severe since its buckshot or whatever but deershot will like be bad enough you want the orange?
Birdshot. Buckshot is for deer, never heard it called deer shot.
Buckshot is about 10 lead balls, each one roughly the size of a 9mm bullet. It'll absolutely fuck you up.
Slugs are more common, though. That's just a single 1+ oz projectile. Will also ruin your day.
Birdshot is hundreds of pellets, ranging from .05" - .18" diameter. They lose energy quick, so if you're 50+ yards away, they might not even break skin.
There's dove hunts where hunters completely surround a field and send their dogs in to scare up the birds. They're constantly getting hit by other hunters' shots from the other side of the field but nobody gets hurt.
One thing I've never understood is after you shoot a bird with a spray of fine pellets, what the hell is left?
Seems like you'd just have a wet pile of meat that is torn the fuck up. I'm guessing you can't eat it because it's full of those little lead shot; not that you coudll't pick 'em all out, but what a pain in the ass. You can't mount it because it's now just a shredded mess, you may as well just buy a picture of whatever you shot and hang that up.
So what's the point? Just to delete birds?
Only if you hit it from 3 feet away. The point is that the pellets spread out and a couple hit the bird. Hopefully you hit something vital enough to kill it or you injure it enough that it can’t fly and the dog retrieves it.
Birshot shot needs a fair bit more distance than that to not break the skin in my experience, even for 20 gauge.
I wish I had not witnessed these things to know for sure...
yeah my use of terms is generally pretty random with only a hint of possible relation to the real ones. in my head I thought buckshot was the weak one so my brain made up deershot.
Yeah, buck is another word for male deer, hence the name. So it is "deershot" but not that word.
this is a mind blown instance for me. completely aware a buck is a male deer and never made the connection to buckshot. Well. That will certainly make it easier to remember.
With deer you’re typically using ammo such as a .308 or .243 Winchester. These are long range high velocity rounds that have very high lethality.
The long range part is important, a hunter 200 yards away wearing camo is probably mostly invisible and a hunter taking a shot at a deer at 200 or even 300 yards isn’t uncommon with this type of ammunition.
Shotgun shells have lots of small balls, they will often be concentrated more by a choke when people hunt birds, but their effective range and velocity combined with not being a solid mass make them way less dangerous the farther from the shooter they get.
This also means nobody is taking shots over long distances so the chances of noticing a hunter in camo is higher overall.
That said people do definitely get hit while wearing camo as was said above, it’s a risk, but if you know where you are and know your fellow hunters aren’t doing unsafe things those risks can be mitigated.
Buckshot is intended to hunt deer. Turkey shot consists of much smaller pellets, which can still do significant damage to a human, but the effective range is lesser due to the way the shot spreads out. Turkeys also see colors differently from deer, so while you can wear blaze orange and not spook the deer, you will absolutely be spotted by a turkey.
Only when you’re hunting with Dick Cheney.
When deer hunting you're firing a big ass heavy bullet that can travel and be lethal for a long ways.
Birds are hunted with small pellets that dissipate energy a lot more quickly.
I have family who hunt deer. They almost all wear camo I think (with hunter orange), but none hunt anything else I don't think. I think there's two other reasons for it. One is because everyone else is doing it, so they think they need to.
The other is that hunting gear is likely to be made in camo anyway, because it's versitile. Sure, none of the clothing needs to be marketed as "hunter clothing" (besides the orange), but a lot of people will shop and not question if they should buy a non-hunter alternative instead. They just follow the marketing.
You can get hunting gear that’s not camo but yes there is a lot that is.
If someone doesn’t think about it the camo will serve them better in the long run if they do decide to hunt other things so it works out.
Yeah, if you want hunting gear, pretty sure camo is your only color choice. Kind like HenryFord with his any color as long as it’s black. I am not a hunter so what do I know.
but the other day I was looking for a long sleeve summer shirt to wear on walks/jogging this summer (I hate sunscreen), and ended up with a shirt for fishing. Every lightweight loose fitting long sleeve synthetic shirt was advertised as fishing gear. I guess I am a wannabe fisherman now.
I assumed the job of the camp was to break up the silhouette more than make the person invisible. Humans know an orange hat and strap comes from the store; deer do not. Is that really not the case?
As a colourblind person, they look the same to me!
Are you sure you're not just a deer or boar?
I'm sure @queerdo@feddit.online is totally a dear and not at all a bore.
Also, green isn't a colour found in fur. So there really isn't a way there can be a green mammal. Only two types of melanin exist in mammals, so we're stuck with shares of white, brown and light-brown-but-we-call-it-orange.
Birds get to cheat with crafty structural colours, but that doesn't work for fur. So alas, no green, blue, red or iridescence in mammals.
It may not work with fur, but it can work with skin. I submit: mandrills and velvet monkeys!
Well camo doesn’t make people invisible obviously, but it’s good enough to fool birds or people at a distance if there isn’t much movement.
There’s lots of photo examples of this online where entire hunter tents and hunters are very hard to discern from the forest itself which is effectively invisible if you’re deciding to take a shot or not.