Max4 camo v Mossy Oak Blades camo

[marchwood]

I'm thinking of getting a new camo coat for next season. I'm fairly new to wildfowling, and Realtree Max4 seems to have been around for a while as a wetlands/general purpose camouflage. It seems a bit light coloured to me, and I wonder whether I'm better off going for a more general purpose pattern like Realtree AP?

 

And how does the (newer) Mossy Oak Blades camo compare?

 

 

[Fal]

I have realtree max 4 on mine, the camo type makes no difference though I don't think. If your gun is visible, you're not hiding away well enough!

 

I would just get whichever takes your fancy, or the cheapest!

[kent]

Those Max 4 patterns light up like a bedside lamp under the moon! DPM or a mossy oak dirty sort of pattern is what you want, cheap, washable, waterproof, warm. You don't have to colour co-ordinate your kit the mud will do that for you, it needs to be tough and serviceable

[mudpatten]

You really need to take a long hard look at the colour of the environment that you`re going to use it in.

 

One of the problems with some of the terrain specific camo patterns is that they work well where intended, but poorly where they aren`t.

 

A plain brown,green or other drab colour will work better in a wider variety of habitats.

 

Some years ago there was a rush to purchase the then new "Wetlands" patterned clothing. Everybody was wearing it, despite the fact that it was designed for an American inland freshwater marsh and contained a lot of bright yellow. Perfectly accurate for the intended environment, but not for the green and brown coastal saltmarsh where lots of it turned up rendering `fowlers highly visible from a great distance resembling giant canaries in their bright yellow jackets.

 

Lots of people were sucked in by the novelty,massive publicity and hype given to these products. Me included.

 

Things have now moved on quite a bit. i`m not knocking camo, I wear an APG patterned jacket for some environments and a brown one for others.

 

Just make sure that the pattern you select is appropriate for the specific intended environment and don`t fall into the trap of thinking "It`s wildfowling, so it must be Max 4."

[Big Mat]

I've got a mossy oak duck blind coat, i only bought that pattern as it was cheaper at the time. Get enough mud on the coat and it wont matter anyway!

[anser2]

I can only echo Mudpatten and pick the coat for the environment you expect to shoot in next season. However do not forget that the marsh will change colour as the season advances. I would sugest getting one good quality storm proof warm jacket and a couple of light weight jackets for the changing marsh. I own 6 or 7 jackets that I have collected over the years. A " duck Blind " patten which is great when shooting from the boat hidden in the reeds from November onwards , but a cheap light weight fleece for September and October when the saltmarsh and reeds are still green. My army desert camo is great when shooting in sand dunes and I have a nameless light grey jacket that works well once the light starts to fade when standing in water with no cover.

 

When I started wildfowling almost everyone wore dark green waxproofs and we still managed to bag a few fowl. Its keeping still that realy matters in fooling the birds , but good camo will give you a little edge .

 

Be aware though the most expensive jacket is not neccessary going to be the best. I bought a Red Head jacket for a few hundred quid that leaked like a sieve after the first season and started to fall to bits , but five years ago I got a greenish camo fleece for £40 that is still water proof despite a couple of hundred flights and its my favoured jacket.

Edited April 16, 2014 by anser2

[Penelope]

I have a Max4 pattern coat, a MOD DPM gortex, german army snow (white/white with green splodges - reversible), a L.L. Bean 'Old School' (what the yanks now term the pattern as -light back ground with beige and brown splodges) and a Barbour Longshoreman wax cotton, and an APG fleece.

 

Of all the coats the Longshoreman is the most versatile colour wise.

 

I also have a Barbour Northumbria wax cotton, a Barbour breathable and a breathable Swedish coat all in various greens but these are only used for game shooting.

 

As anser2 says, keeping still is the most important part.

[marchwood]

Really helpful advice, thank you! I have several old jackets, including a DPM smock, and last season, I went out in an old tweed shooting coat in a sort of muddy khaki colour, which I think blended in well, but I wouldn't want it to get covered in mud as it would be a nightmare to clean.

 

If I go for camo, I think it would be something like Realtree AP. I think the welands patterns are too pale and yellow for the sort of backgrounds I'd be in.

[happy.plinker]

A fisherman pal of mine went out a few seasons ago wearing a bright red survival suit and got a lot of ducks geese etc, he said the same about keeping still as birds see a lot of colour on they're daily flyabout, around here in the winter theres colour everywhere from buckets, feed bags stuck on fences and general litter, a red thing in a ditch being still didn't bother them,but saying all that he now wears a camo coat and gets more in the bag. I prefer dark green , one reason being people don't see me and come a nosing!

[joknob]

kit box and plastic bag and you,ll not go far wrong,pref Tesco or asda.craig

[spartina2]

http://www.hydedefinition.com/index.htm

 

Greenzone when it's green [!!] various imported patterns to match when it's not, usually a darker shade than when they started out.

 

Learning how to use natural cover should be a prerequisite however..

 

rgds

 

sp2

Edited May 15, 2014 by spartina2

[panoma1]

Drab colours, fieldcraft and keeping still........the pattern of cammo is pretty much irrelevant

[nic]

when i joined the army, we were taught that the art of camouflage and concealment relied on

Shape, Shine, Shadow, Silhouette, Spacing and Movement

 

didn't mention being in the latest fashion of marsh grass with a hint of autumn blaze over the corn crop colour of jacket :-)

 

as previously stated its your fieldcraft thats far more important

 

 

 

 

now wheres my dayglo pink waterproof for todays shooting:-)