dull your brass for hunting
 

i have been using camo tape on my brass to keep shine off during hunting for whitetail bucks.what do you use to take shine off during hunting.

RE: dull your brass for hunting
 

Take you'r first cleaning patch (the realy black one) and rub it over the brassit will tarnish it leaving it dull and non-reflective.

RE: dull your brass for hunting
 

In all the years I've hunted with my Hawkins.. I never found the shine off the brass as a problem. In fact I keep the brass on my rifles shined to a high gloss. I'm not even sure if the animals I hunt have ever noticed. I've shot a lot of deer with Hawkins. Although my Renegades have no brass parts and they are my favorite rifle.

RE: dull your brass for hunting
 

sproulman

Easy - I use a Renegade... well actually I did, but I do often usea hawken the brass is darken just from age but other than that nothing special. Just plain movement is a bigger problem for me than the brass patch box ornose piece. We do not use tree stands here, mostly we are moving on the ground ourselves, trying to stalk the animals or post up at a crossing.

RE: dull your brass for hunting
 

they will notice, for sure.deer are hunted harder than ever now.1 mistake here in pa. in BIG WOODS ,its all over.privateland thats different here but publicland, no shiny brass.

RE: dull your brass for hunting
 

Old wives tale...I keep my TC Hawken's brassso polished up I can see my teeth in them...never caused me any problems deer hunting...deer notice movement, not colors...there are normally occasional reflections from things in the woods, sun off a glistening wet leaf or iced tree trunk, or puddle of water, pond, wet icy rock, etc...just stay still, quiet, and downwind

(plus,clean shiny muzzleloaders look better in the deer photos :D)

RE: dull your brass for hunting
 

whatever.

RE: dull your brass for hunting
 

Whatever ????

RE: dull your brass for hunting
 

What ever? That's about what I hunt with. Shiney or dull.

RE: dull your brass for hunting
 

I figure that if the deer can see your brass you're not hidden well enough in the first place . ;)

RE: dull your brass for hunting
 

I agree shining won't cause the deer to skip out. I'm sure it doesn't help but I doubt it hurts all the much.

Tom

RE: dull your brass for hunting
 

Since the invent of smokeless powder men have hunted with shiny blued rifle barrels not to mention the shiny gun stocks (Remingtons were famous for with the 700.).
I never dull any of my hunting guns or other tools.

I have found that blaze orange in a dark cedar swamp causes more spooked deer tan any thing. I throw my stocking cap in the first mud hole I find and dry it to cut down on the brightness most wash detergents have now days.

:) Al

RE: dull your brass for hunting
 

15 years ago I was parked in agravel "turnout" high on a hillllooking down a couplemiles of high voltage powerline, waiting for the rest of the guys to form up after the morning hunt.

Beganseeing cyclicintense flashes of light that would remind you of a light saber in Star Wars...put the binoculars on it and saw it was a hunter walking across that 100yd wide powerline, two & 1/2 big towers away (500yds) with his rifle slung over his shoulder, and with every other step, the sun was creating an intense two foot long reflectionoff that blued barrel...never forgot it.

Movement is everything

RE: dull your brass for hunting
 

statjunk


For me it still comes down movement - movement causes more problems than anything. If i could become a statue made out of brightest metal in the world it would not bother the game but if the statue moves - it becomes a problem.

RE: dull your brass for hunting
 

sproulman - I won't say one way or another about shiny things spooking game. But I too the finish off one of my T/C Hawkens down to the bare wood. I then refinished it with clear satin finish polyurethane. For the brass, I got some Birchwood Casey's Brass Black and treated the brass (you have to remove any oxidation off it first with very fine emery cloth and steel wool). The tint you get varies with the number of applications of the brass black. I did mine until it has a soft grey appearance and it looks really nice.

RE: dull your brass for hunting
 

I have a thermos with a shiny chrome (maybe stainless) cup on top and a shiny bandaround the bottom. I covered them with masking tape and marked them with a black marker like camo. I don't know if the deer appreciated it, but my wife got a good laugh!

IM jaybe :)

RE: dull your brass for hunting
 

we were raised deer and turkey hunters.we always dulled whatever we hunted with.i use camo tape you use on our recurve bows to take shine off.it last a season. we did a lot of stalking deer and driving deer.now, everyone sits in a tree.you want to see a turkey disappear, have shiny gun.i will continue to cover anything that is shiny on my guns.there is no way i can sit without moving all day and if that shine spooks a deer/turkey,i want to avoid 1 more thing while hunting.i know they can see it ,been at this for 45 years in the BIG WOODS hunting WILD DEER/TURKEYS.take care.

RE: dull your brass for hunting
 

i brass blacked mine pretty much as soon as i got it......painstaking work but it looked good...i just dont like how it wore off on some parts...the screws were tough to do....but i liked the look of it......

RE: dull your brass for hunting
 

man this thread got off track it went from a simple request for information on how to solve a problem, to a shiny-dulland a hunting meathod debate as I said before I use the first cleaning patch to wipe any brass I want dulled it will take the shine off over night and leave a nice tarnished look also regular cold bluing works on brass but can get plenty dark if left on to long both meathods can be polished off if you ever change you'r mind.

RE: dull your brass for hunting
 

You know, your right...speaking for myself, I simply responded from years of experience that it wasn'tnecessary at all, so the poster might save himself a lot of unnecessary work.

So my answer to the poster is:Keep using the tape you're using.

RE: dull your brass for hunting
 

I personally do not see an issue at all or a disagreement. Just a personal choice of hunting techniques. If a person feels dulling the shine of the brass on their rifle an advantage then by all means, do it. Like wise, if a person feels it makes no difference and leaves the brass a high gloss shine, then that too is a personal preference.

What I do like to see is the exchange of opinion and information between each other. It's what makes forums like this of such value.

RE: dull your brass for hunting
 

sproulman

You did not say Turkey in the orgial post - Turkey is a whole 'nother subject - those buzzards have an incredible eyesight and you have to get them in the nest with you before you can shoot one. If you spook one and they take off running - hitting that running target is really difficult. A deer you can freeze a 75 yards and still get a great shot - no so with a Turkey - dull the whole gun - face, hands, body, and boots...

RE: dull your brass for hunting
 

bronko22000,
I have no experience using Birchwood Casey's Brass Black. I didn't even know there was such a product on the market. I was wondering how even is the finish? Do you have access to a digital camera to take a few photos for us?

RE: dull your brass for hunting
 

Encoreman - I can try but everytime I try to post a pic in here I get a message that the photo is too big. If you like I can send you an email pic of my rifle.

RE: dull your brass for hunting
 

I hunted with full orange clothes and deer was stand 5 yards away. I don't think Brass, Orange or any colors will makes any different. The only two things that will alert deer are odor and movement.

RE: dull your brass for hunting
 

I dont think it is the color that is in question here, its the potential for a flash from the polished brass that may spook deer that is the main thread of the question... Polished or Dulled.

I personally dont think polished brass is the problem, even if the sun does catch it and there is a momentary flash. I have seen the same thing in a thousand places on a dewy morning with leaves, spiderwebs and such catching sunlight, or if there is snow, etc.

The movement that causes the flash is what gets the attention of the deer, they may not see in color, but they sure do see movement especially when all other things in the woods are still.

If at all possible I try to move when there is a bit of a breeze, if a few leaves are flickering it is much safer for a hunter to make an adjustment and not get noticed.

Also I have noted that deer dont usually spook on one sense, it usually takes two or more. They smell something and notice movement, or they see and hear something at the same time.

The reason I say this is I have turned to see deer standing looking dead at mewhen I didnt know they were there. They saw me turn my head in their direction, but had not scented me nor heard anything that would alarm them.

One case in particular, therewas a doe moving around in front of my stand one afternoon. She had been there about 15 minutes when I lost sight of her, my attention had been directed at some movemnt in a tree line and I was hoping for a visit from Mr Rack-o-rama.

I looked over the edge of my stand and there she was directly under my standlooking dead at me from below. She had to have seen me, but I hadnt made a single sound and am always very careful to be as scent free as I can be. Twice she lowered her head and then quickly looked back up, but I stayed where I was even though I have always been led to believe you should never look an animal in the eye. She ended up staying in the area another half an hour before she slowly browsed her way to where I could no longer see her again, unfortunately no visit as I had hoped.

Sorry for the long winded explanation, but this does at least give a littletwist as to what spooks deer.

RE: dull your brass for hunting
 

I completely agreed with you. I should be reading carefully before response to this question! Don’t be sorry for a long comment. I think your observation answered all of the questions! Thanks for clearing up.