Hey David,

Sorry for missing your question...

As far as the Predator patterns go, I really like the Fall Gray -- but, then again, I do 99.9% of my hunting from 20' up with the sky as my background as the deer look up.

I do realize it contains some large white blotches in it that may make some people uncomfortable wearing it to hunt from the ground, but to me that's more of a perceived worry than an actual one -- unless you're trying to hide from other human passersby, orlike Rob has pointed out, are worried about wearing something white in the woods during turkey season.

Aside from those two reasons, the Fall Gray actually looks darn good on the ground too... Here's a picture one of our members got after accidentally tripping his trail cam while walking by. He's wearing Fall Gray:



You can see how the large, contrasting "blocks" help to erase his outline, even on the ground. Remember too that I'm evaluating this stuff from all the evidence of how we think a whitetail sees in its world, based on the data we've collected so far.

Obviously, I think where Fall Gray REALLY comes into its own at is in the treetops; I'm just saying up above that it's not horrible even on the ground. As a matter of fact, I've relayed the story before, but I was able to stalk up to a family of four coyotes on the ground in similar-looking woods that are pictured up above, and got to within 20 yards before misjudging the shot. (I was on my hands and knees and not used to mentally ranging from that position; shaved the back hair off one of them.)

NOW, having said all that...

I do see why some people who aren't taking into account that our best guesses show whitetails seeing the world in a dichromatic view at best and in a black and white world at worst can be somewhat leery of the Fall Gray... For those people, I'd probably recommend Deception -- but only if you got to sort through the clothing items you were about to purchase by hand. I've seen some Deception that I thought was tremendous (Hardcorehunter's top, for instance), yet our local store has some brown Deception hanging in it that doesn't offer much contrast between the light and dark blotches; it's pretty much all dark brown.

A very good compromise is to contact Jeff Aulik at www.graywolfwoolens.com and order his Fall Gray in Wolfskin. If you get it unlined (you can always wear insulated underwear beneath it), it's not that unreasonable considering the qualities of the fabric (colorfast, near-waterproof, etc.). Jeff's Fall Gray is actually a good compromise between FG and the old Fall Brown. The base color is not as white, but more of a light tan -- but not as dark as ASAT's tan base.

Hope that helps David.