Woodlife

I’ve been looking at this subject quite closely, especially since returning from the tracking course. In days gone by when the word ‘Bushcraft’ was virtually unknown; Ray was a mere (!) youngster; Goretex had not yet been integrated into almost all outdoor products and the mobile telephone was the size of a small country, Pablo was running about the woods in full camo.

Along came Michael Ryan and suddenly camo went rapidly out of fashion. So for that matter did anything to do with survivalism and big knives. Even though he carried out the killings dressed in black, all the papers showed him wearning camo clothing and described him as a survivalist. The stigma was set. This therefore contributed (but not solely responsible) for putting paid to Pablo’s outdoor adventures at that time.

My return to Bushcraft saw me scowl at my damp and mouldy camo equipment and clothes, and most of it went in the bin. I shunned anything to do with British army Disruptive Pattern Material (DPM) seeing it as an unnecessary return to the survivalist ‘uniform’, even though urban wear was bringing camo styles back “in”. For me, though, olive green or brown was the new camo. But why those colours?

Animals can on the whole, only see two colours, but on the tracking course I learnt that (surprisingly) birds and some insects can see colour. Not blending in may send out alarm calls tipping off the mammals like a ripple effect. A thread on BCUK has some well informed (and some not so well informed) statements and facts about exactly what colours wildlife can and can’t see. Okay, so I’ll stick to earth colours, but what about camo?

Khaki is Urdu for “dusty” and it was that colour that the British Military in India dyed their clothes in the 1850’s starting the move from bright tunics to the first form of camouflage. This was because of the sudden increase in casualties and change to more guerrilla style warfare. Other countries soon followed suit (if you pardon the pun).

I was quite surprised to see many of the tracking instructors in camo. Although I didn’t ask, I kind of gathered it was better for tracking, stalking and keeping concealed although I knew that camo pattern in modern clothing was really designed for keeping persons concealed from other persons (if you see what I mean).

So here’s the debate. To camo or not to camo….that is the question. Herewith, I issue my first bushcraft edict…and Pablo says (with apologies to Mungo):

For tracking purposes, earth type colours are better than bright colours (especially blue) as some insects and birds can see in colour and some animals can even see ‘end of spectrum colours’ (ultra-violet) thus possibly warning mammals of something present outside of the baseline.

There isn’t much in nature (if anything) that has a ‘block’ of colour even if it is an earth colour therefore a disruptive pattern can only be better for remaining undetected to wildlife.

Modern camo styles and material was really designed for concealing people from people, therefore it doesn’t really matter what ‘type’ or ‘style’ of camo you have (if you’re not hiding from people that is) as long as it’s disruptive and it roughly blends into the baseline. Extremes e.g. snow camo for woodland might not be suitable. (Flektarn.co.uk is a great site for comparing camo styles by the way.)

Additionally…

If you’re clattering about doing bushcrafty things, for example hammering, making stuff and cooking, there’s no real reason to wear earth colours because wildlife won’t come near you anyway (unless they take a fancy to your grub.)

Another consideration is that earth colours hide the dirt more effectively. More washing equals more detergent equals more ultra violet and more human made scent. (The pic shows what a deer would see on a freshly washed garment).

A lot of robust (and cheap) kit and clothing (with a few exceptions of course) will come from surplus military sources, so it will be camo, olive green or brown in any case.

For wildlife watching or tracking it’s worth bearing in mind that shiny clothes will attract attention (‘fuzz-up’ by rolling in the dust or mud), so will shape (add foliage or throw over a cam net to break up the outline), smell (de-scent over a fire) and of course movement (err…keep still!)

I dislike too much British army DPM, probably because I spent 12 years wearing the stuff but it wouldn’t stop me buying DPM if there was no other colour alternative.

Carry something bright to wear. You might come across the odd farmer with a gun, a rough shooter or even a poacher. It might look a bit stupid having an orange Thermarest stuff sack on your head, but it saves an @ full of lead shot!

In case you’re wondering, this post has given me reasoned arguments in order to justify the purchase of a new camo jacket!!

Pablo.