Proof camo pattern isn't critical

[Jstocks]

All depends on what "type" of Turkeys you are hunting

Can you elaborate?

I think we are of the same thought process, but not enough information in your post to verify.

How I see it, there's some folks who won't understand because you have to live it to know it. If you have grown up in any part of the country outside the extreme SE, you have no idea how hard turkeys can be to hunt. If you haven't lived it, you think we are just blow hardship talking it up.

Proof is in the pudding though. Take a fella who grew up killing turkeys in South Ms, or Southern Alabama, Louisiana, north Florida......and some other comparable places, and he can kill one anywhere in the country and do it with relative ease.

The turkeys have small home ranges and know every stick out of place. You better hide and blend well to be successful.

Of course you can hide around a curve in the road wearing a bright yellow school bus shirt if you want to and you can have a split second to shoot the bird as he walks around the curve before he flies off or reacts. Did your camo matter at that point? The answer is "No".

Does it matter when you are working a turkey to gun and he's got 3 or 4 hens with him, and you are sitting in a swamp or a ridge where they can see your set up? Yes it does. They'll swing wife of you for 60 yard shots at best, so if you think that is calling one up then it don't matter.

If you hide behind strutting decoys and crawl out in fields, clear cuts, and food plots to shoot one, then it don't matter either.

If you sit in blinds, it don't matter.

If you hunt turkeys and set up on them in the woods where they live, especially in the South, it matters.
I'll concede there are plenty of effective patterns out there. Pick one and use it or prefer it over another.
You still have to hide and be still.

[trkehunr93]

I still have original trebark and it works just fine when I wear it.  Sitting still is key.

[lacire]

Nobody doubts that camouflage is beneficial to turkey hunting. Most all of us like getting camo'd up for the hunt, with some going to great lengths and costs to have guns dipped, wear a specific pattern, and ensure all possible items on their being are camo.  But I'll guess most experienced turkey hunters will honestly admit that anything that breaks up your outline, combined with being absolutely still, can be enough to beat an incoming turkey's eyes.

This is my buddy's first bird that I called in for him. He was sitting against the grey tree on the right of the photo and is standing where it was killed. And he's a 6'-3" ginger. This photo makes me giggle every time I see it.

Anybody else have kill photos of a hunter with non-traditional camo outfits to prove that camo pattern isn't THAT critical?

Too funny, I Gould hunted with a friend of mine in Mexico last spring, he wore the exact same camo. 
I was glad he was in a blind....... nothing wrong with the camo it just reminds me of duck hunting vs. turkey. I showed up a number of years ago with a set of BDU's and was asked if we were going to a reggae concert. They had me change into some extra Kuiu they had, that was such nice fitting and feeling camo and that's when I started wearing clothing that's made specifically for hunting. I don't think a camo pattern matters much and as others said it's movement, but I do stay more comfortable, dryer and warmer with the hunting specific clothing I wear now. And yes I still like Kuiu and Sitka is really nice and well made in my opinion.

[aclawrence]

I'd say that camo your buddy is wearing is probably the best camo in the market for breaking up your outline. Bottomland turns into a dark blob at any distance but it's what I like to wear. Asat is extremely effective but I just can't get past how ugly it looks.


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[tazmaniac]

Agreed... ASAT is one of the best camo patterns ever made for hunting.

This leafy top in ASAT is 30 years old.  I've had tweety birds land on me bowhunting wearing it.

Daughters bird from 2d ago

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[High plains drifter]

It matters.Where good quality camo. Don't spend much money, there is no need.Where a face mask and gloves.

[High plains drifter]

You guys who are hunting your neighborhood turkeys in the yard next door, don't worry about camo.

[RiverBuck]

Some collect turkey calls.... I collect camo.

[Brs2427]

I think it matters to the point that I wouldn't go out without a face mask or gloves.

[Tom007]

I think leafy wear is more important than a camo pattern. I have a Shannon's Bug Tamer suit from the 80's that is mossy oak leafy wear. It helps breaks up your outline, which to me is more important in the early Northeast big woods. The human outline disappears when you use leafy water type gear. The present day North Mountain Leafy gear works great too....

[WV Flopper]

 I say hunt with what makes you happy. I do not like faded camo and will not wear it. At least not hunting that is.

If you want to wear glow in the dark camo, or orange, IDK. Won't laugh either, at least not in your face.

I am not going to bash a guy for wearing nice clean, crisp, camo either, even if he is driving a new truck. Good for him, most likely he worked for it.

I agree, it matters to what turkey you are hunting and when your hunting him. I can assure you I do not have a turkey bugger and wonder why he did so. I have, but I no longer do.

[grayfox]

The pattern itself is not that critical but If your camo don't match the gobbler will recognize it immediately & you will get busted. You might get by with say your gloves or maybe just your cap being slightly different but that's it. These southern birds down here in Alabama are sharp.

[Paulmyr]

Just remember, no white after labor day!

[Sixes]

I have a full set of First Lite bibs and coat, pullover and puffy jacket and it's all ASAT.  I hated to see them quit using the pattern.

I agree with the leafy suit comment, breaking up the outline makes a difference, or at least to me it does, I feel like I can get away with more movement

[Zobo]