Turkey Hunting Camo
 

Looking for the best camo for spring turkey season. My main concern is whether or not it's a good idea to wear a "leafy suit". Will the motion of these things do more harm than good? Curious to hear what you guys think. Thanks!

Guess I never thought about the strands of a Ghillie suit or one of the Leaf-O-Flage suits and the movement.

To me that would cause a problem and the reason I don't wear one is because I feel it would get hung up on all sorts of stuff.

Again - Movement is the key to being a good turkey hunter. When to move and when not to. And how much movement one can get away with....

Move at the wrong time - Game over!

So No - I favor just a good camoflage no leaf wear for any 3D effect. And No to a ghillie suit.....

JW

I guess it's worth trusting my gut-instinct... Thank you JW!

Pick camo that matchs the area that you will be hunting.
Like if its green, then green camo, brown then brown camo, etc, etc.

I have thought about RealTree Ap

What ever you get, Good Luck.

Natural Gear works great in any situation, green or brown. You won't stick out like a dark blob like you will in many patterns.

i wear a 3-d suit and i havent had any trouble with it... if the wind blow the leaves on the trees then it blow the leaves on the suit and you blend in a little more... as to it getting caught up on anything, i havent had any troubles with that either. my suit has worked just fine with me... i even had a hen come within 10 yards of me last season and she had no clue i was there... i would pick a camo pattern that matches your surroundings, but if you want a suit, they are not a bad investment... but thats just my opinion.

i have realtree AP HD camo that i use and i also have mossyoak break-up that i also use too. it depends on which area im going to be hunting on the property. but realtree AP HD works really well

Welcome to the forum Turkeylover

Realtree's APG is also a greatcolor blend for the green or later parts of the season...

camo
 

I have for many years just used the military bdus'. The land I hunt is about 50/50 of planted pines and the other is hardwood bottom (swamp), with a lot of palmettos, which creates a lot of green. I ordered 2 shirts from cabelas' in 3D conifer because of the green in it and am extremely pleased with it. I ordered some more shirts in the conifer color after using it a couple of years.

One thing I would like to suggest to all about your camo clothing. A few years back I was in a Walls' Outlet complaining about the camo jacket I had faded fast. There happened to be a factory rep. there and she heard my coments. She told me the worst thing you can do to your camo clothing was to wash them in detergent that had UV brigheners and she recommended arm & hammer. At that time I could find it, but can't anymore. She also said that drying your camo with hot air made them fade quicker.

What I started doing is just washing my camo in just plain water and puting the clothes dryer on air only no heat.

dog1

Hang them out on the line, but only at night or on overcast days will help save the color from fading. Yes, to the leafy suit. Literally turns you into shrubbery. My buddy almost petted a feeding hen last year.

No matter what game i'm hunting or where i'm hunting I always bank on ASAT. I have both the leafy suit and plain. I wear the leafy suit all the time for turkey hunting. I called in 3 toms two years ago and had to set up fast. The set-up was marginal. I was seated against a 4 inch beech tree and they never knew i was there. Just my personal preference but worth a look. asatcamo.com look at the test photos.

you can also mix camo patterns. sometimes i wear mossy-oak shirt and cabelas seclusion pants or realtree ap shirt and mossy-oak pants. it seems to work well also

I've never worn the leafy thing and doubt that I ever will.

I don't pay a lot of attention to camo patterns. The camo industry is mostly driven by hype and clever marketing in my opinion. I freely admit that I own a lot of camo hunting clothes but, frankly, I couldn't tell you the name of most of it. I buy my hunting clothes based on the quality of construction, fit, and features of the garmet, not the camo pattern. I try to wear stuff with more brown in it early then more green later in the season, that's about it. Honestly I don't give it much thought because the best conceiment is gained by being motionless anyway.

Cut some branches and stick them in the ground around you to break-up your outline. Make sure the tree you're sitting against is wider than your shoulders. Wear a good facemask and gloves. Make sure your gun isn't shiney. Now that is some good camo!

I am "only" 49, but when I started turkey hunging we didn't have all this hi-tech camo. We wore mostly army surplus clothes or whatever we could scratch up and learned to use "natural" things like branches, weeds, terrain and the sun to our advantage. And we called up and killed turkeys if you can believe that :-).

I remember when Jim Crumley's "Treebark" camo pattern came out. It was the bomb man. I got a full suit of it including facemask and hat and honestly thought that it would make me disappear like Harry Potter's invisibility cloak. It didn't take too long to learn, however, that if I moved while in a turkeys sight that pattern didn't hide me any better than the army bdu stuff.

JW hit it on the head. Just don't let them catch you moving! Being still is way more important than camo pattern. I use whatever camo I have found on clearance and never have had a problem.

Being still, is the most important thing. I've killed as many turkeys in blue jeans, and a brown t-shirt, with no gloves, hat, or head net, as I have in any cammoflage. But the cammoflage helps so much that it's well worth having. It actually hides many movements that would otherwise give you away. I have used a leafy suit, a cheap one from wolf creek or something like that for ten years. Same suit, still in good shape for $60. It makes you invisible almost. Wind is always blowing where I hunt, I can't think of any still mornings, but my suit is moving no more than anything else around me. I actually like a little breeze to hide my movement in the woods. If everything else is moving, you can move too, you just don't want to be the only thing moving. When everything is moving, you don't want to be the only thing still. You always hunt with the wind, even if scent isn't important. You move when the wind picks up and the grass moves. You stop when it stops. the wind hides movements and sounds you make. The leafy suits are great, but knowing what you're doing makes anything possible.

Any good camo will work as long as you sit still and make a effort to keep the sun at you back or stay in shaded areas. I am still using Real Tree Advantage and I don't get busted if I am sitting still.

As others have said, try to match your surroundings as much as possible. Let me give you a first had experience I recently had. During muzzleloader whitetail season here in Michigan, I decided one day to sit on the ground. We had a nice layer of about 5 inches of snow. I decided to wear my Saskatchewan whites (called that because when I sent hunting in Sask., I found out I needed pure white from shoulders to boots). Well, I didn't see any deer that evening, but an hour before dark I caught movement. It was turkeys and they were headed my way. I was sitting next to a fallen tree, but no other cover shielded me from their keen eye sight. They kept coming closer and closer. I kept my head tilted down and my eyes squinted so they couldn't see me looking at them. The entire flock of 17 walked up to me at 7 yards, went around the down tree, and right along side of me on the other side. They finally walked off from behind and had made a 270 degree curve right around me. They had no idea that I was there. I say all of this to remind you to attempt to blend into your surroundings..oh, and don't even twitch...lol.

Hey guys!

Thanks for the feedback - I've decided I'm going to stick with the leafy suit and see how that works this spring...

Dog1: I know I have used arm & hammer baking soda to wash my camo in the past (just pure baking soda) Not sure if you've tried this or not.

Screamin Steel: LOL at your buddy almost petting a feeding hen! There's only one word for that: EXHILARATION!!!


Thanks again! Always interesgted in more feedback if any body else has it!

As already stated try to match the area you are hunting, the most important thing is to be still. I have been in green camo in a brown field in the open with turkeys walking maybe 10 ft. from me they never saw me for two reasons 1 I never moved and 2 I was in camo any kind of camo. I often mix and match camo patterns.

Not moving is the best camo... Half the time my camo doesn't even match... I'll have dark pants and a green shirt or otherwise... It depends on what time of year it is... whats on the ground etc....

i use realtree apg as of recently but before that i used mossyoak obsession and a realtree pattern not sure what it is called

Take a look at Ultimate camo. Great if you have the big tree behind you.

I personally like natural gear camo, but ive also taken more game in wranglers and a denim work shirt than anything else kingjacks right bein still is far more important than camo patterns

best camo=no movement! i like the lighter greens. i hear 2 wear different patterns for your top and bottom

There are lots of good camo patterns out there for turkey hunting. Where i hunt early in the turkey season i preferr a pattern with lots of brown and later in the season there are greens out to. So for the last 6 years i have realide and used Realtree Hardwoods HD. I have rarley been seen in this pattern. But its very hard to find that pattern now and the APG has pretty much taken over for that pattern and it looks pretty good.