colour of clothing for after dark

[islandgun]

Was just reading an old fowling book and the author recommended wearing light'ish coloured clothing for dusk and into nightfall, stating that dark/black clothing stand out more,  does he have a point,

 

[matone]

yep,nothing stands out more than black in the countryside !

[Westley]

Yep, I used to find a long beige raincoat worked for me     !     

[TIGHTCHOKE]

25 minutes ago, Westley said:

Yep, I used to find a long beige raincoat worked for me     !     

Did you have the cut-off trouser legs too?

[islandgun]

26 minutes ago, Westley said:

Yep, I used to find a long beige raincoat worked for me     !     

It was for wildfowling not a walk round your local park..

[TIGHTCHOKE]

[Pigeon Shredder.]

25 minutes ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

You been looking through my window while l practice??

[Westley]

32 minutes ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

Works better than any gas gun, shifts those 'doggy walkers' too  !    

[marsh man]

1 hour ago, islandgun said:

Was just reading an old fowling book and the author recommended wearing light'ish coloured clothing for dusk and into nightfall, stating that dark/black clothing stand out more,  does he have a point,

 

Maybe , but while waiting for darkness  I have never given  the colour of my clothing a thought , if you are wearing a drab coloured coat like a camo or a dark green one  like the old Le Chameau coat I wear now for fowling ( a bit up market I know , but it is over ten years old and would look out of place on a posh game shoot  ) I wouldn't have thought it would make any difference as you cant change your coat from failing light to darkness unless some of you well off guys have got one of these modern reversible ones .

No , I think movement is a bigger problem than the colour of your clothing , I very often sit beside a splash of water without any cover as darkness is coming on , ideally I like the wind behind me while looking into the last bit of light and with my back facing the darkness , then as long as you keep still duck will often come in well in range , I say often , as it wont be 100% but if you are prepared  to put up a mobile hide  you would stand less chance of being seen and your dark clothing would be fine .

[flippermaj]

I have a black cocker and a golden sandy colour one.  Come night time I can see the black one easy enough but can never see the golden sandy one until he is right in front of me.

[islandgun]

Cheers gents, maybe a bit to much information from one or two  

flippermaj thats an interesting observation, and it backs up the authors,  I have just got a new'ish jacket from ebay which is lighter than I would normally wear so i will see if theres any effect

24 minutes ago, flippermaj said:

I have a black cocker and a golden sandy colour one.  Come night time I can see the black one easy enough but can never see the golden sandy one until he is right in front of me.

 

 

MM cheers, I also just stand out in open ground at dusk and like you say keeping still is key, its also easier to take your shot from the standing position than sat down

 

1 hour ago, marsh man said:

Maybe , but while waiting for darkness  I have never given  the colour of my clothing a thought , if you are wearing a drab coloured coat like a camo or a dark green one  like the old Le Chameau coat I wear now for fowling ( a bit up market I know , but it is over ten years old and would look out of place on a posh game shoot  ) I wouldn't have thought it would make any difference as you cant change your coat from failing light to darkness unless some of you well off guys have got one of these modern reversible ones .

No , I think movement is a bigger problem than the colour of your clothing , I very often sit beside a splash of water without any cover as darkness is coming on , ideally I like the wind behind me while looking into the last bit of light and with my back facing the darkness , then as long as you keep still duck will often come in well in range , I say often , as it wont be 100% but if you are prepared  to put up a mobile hide  you would stand less chance of being seen and your dark clothing would be fine .

 

Edited December 3, 2017 by islandgun

[marsh man]

11 minutes ago, islandgun said:

 

 

 

MM cheers, I also just stand out in open ground at dusk and like you say keeping still is key, its also easier to take your shot from the standing position than sat down

 

 

Sorry islandgun you might have mis understood what I was saying , I take a little fold up stool or leave a beer crate down there on the marsh to save me lugging a seat about , some years I have four or five fields together with water on them all so I leave something to sit on maybe the middle one and depending on the wind direction I haven't got far to take it on whatever field I decide to go on .

I do 99% of my shooting sitting down , all the pigeon shooting I do is done while sitting down so when I am duck shooting I am more mobile sitting down than when I am standing up , also by sitting down you are less noticeable than if you were standing up .

[islandgun]

4 minutes ago, marsh man said:

Sorry islandgun you might have mis understood what I was saying , I take a little fold up stool or leave a beer crate down there on the marsh to save me lugging a seat about , some years I have four or five fields together with water on them all so I leave something to sit on maybe the middle one and depending on the wind direction I haven't got far to take it on whatever field I decide to go on .

I do 99% of my shooting sitting down , all the pigeon shooting I do is done while sitting down so when I am duck shooting I am more mobile sitting down than when I am standing up , also by sitting down you are less noticeable than if you were standing up .

got yer, i usually sit till darkness then move out, usually near one of the fence lines that dot my land

[marsh man]

4 minutes ago, islandgun said:

got yer, i usually sit till darkness then move out, usually near one of the fence lines that dot my land

The last few years we have had some big tufts of spear grass that the cattle wont touch and by the time they are taken off in mid November the grazing grass is eaten off but the spear grass is dotted about all over the marsh and at times it can be in the water and the odd tufts scattered around the edge , sitting in , or behind make you nearly invisible and I have seen duck drop in around me without them realising I am sitting there .

This year , because the conditions were tinder dry the land owner took his swipe down there and flattened them off , that didn't really make that much difference and now after the snow we had during the week the first of this this seasons splashes are now shootable, and the first Widgeon off them are now hanging up in my garage  

[islandgun]

9 minutes ago, marsh man said:

The last few years we have had some big tufts of spear grass that the cattle wont touch and by the time they are taken off in mid November the grazing grass is eaten off but the spear grass is dotted about all over the marsh and at times it can be in the water and the odd tufts scattered around the edge , sitting in , or behind make you nearly invisible and I have seen duck drop in around me without them realising I am sitting there .

This year , because the conditions were tinder dry the land owner took his swipe down there and flattened them off , that didn't really make that much difference and now after the snow we had during the week the first of this this seasons splashes are now shootable, and the first Widgeon off them are now hanging up in my garage  

Thats dinner sorted then.. I hope he doesn't  spray off your cover or you'll be having to buy a light coloured coat..

Edited December 3, 2017 by islandgun

[panoma1]

If you try to match your clothing exactly to every situation encountered on the marsh you will need to pull a trailer full of gear out behind you! As someone else said keeping still is vital, also, as best you can, using natural features to break up your outline will pay dividends! The exact camo pattern/colour is way down the list!

Assuming you have the nouse to get yourself into a position that gets you on terms with your quarry that is? Lol!

[mudpatten]

The best colour for concealment in low light conditions is the same shade of grey as a gunning punt. Punt gunners have known this for 150 years and it works as well on land as it does in the water.

You`ll have noticed that Special Forces have now moved away from the old SAS black overall to the same shade of gun punt grey rendering them much harder to see in low light conditions.

[figgy]

I wear the same as I do for during the day. Greens or some form of camo. I find the lighter camo like shadow grass can be a bit of beacon under moonlight. 

[Big Mat]

1 hour ago, figgy said:

I wear the same as I do for during the day. Greens or some form of camo. I find the lighter camo like shadow grass can be a bit of beacon under moonlight. 

Whatever camo they put on the new BPS 10ga shines really bright under the moon! 

I usually just wear the same very muddy camo jacket and waders for all wildfowling situations. I shall be going out in jeans and a light green hoody for a look later under the moon!

[Dougy]

Red is one of the colours difficult to see in the dark. There is some scientific explanation but I'm off out in a bit. It's got something to do with scotopic vision (seeing in the dark) and rods and cones. 

 

So there you have it, another bit of useful info from me. 

 

[islandgun]

hmm, grey makes a lot of sense especially if your in the mud, I sometimes wonder why anglers dont wear grey when wading, look at a Heron,  Red has possibilities, does anyone have info about the eye sight of  birds do they see the same as colours as us..?

[Old farrier]

Very interesting 

of course we all think that they see the same as us with the same spectrum of coulers 

best plan keep still and keep as concealed as you can and cover your face and hands 

all the best 

mod 

[marsh man]

1 hour ago, islandgun said:

hmm, grey makes a lot of sense especially if your in the mud, I sometimes wonder why anglers dont wear grey when wading, look at a Heron,  Red has possibilities, does anyone have info about the eye sight of  birds do they see the same as colours as us..?

When I used to mess about in the mud whatever coloured coat I had on ended up being exactly the same colour of the mud I had been wallowing in .

What coloured coat would you have needed in last nights super moon ? ,  as for birds eye sight , I think without knowing, the best you can do is wear something that blend in the majority of back ground you are going to encounter , as you are never going to get it right for everything .

[anser2]

I have a nice fleece jacket with a background of grey with an open green\brown tree patten on it. It seems to blend with almost any sort of fowling background. Alass its about 15 years ago when I bought it and after a lot of use its getting well past its sell by date with the collar and other seams opening up so its no longer waterproof. Never manged to find another with the same camo patten . It cost less than £40.00 but with no makers tag I doubt if I will ever find the same make today.

[islandgun]

Perhaps we should look at nature, both the prey and predators, they have evolved their colours to preserve their life, most are various shades of brown. rabbits/rats. fox/stoat, buzzard/eagle.

 

 

 

Barn owl/ seagull/ raven...