For the novice hunter, your hunting experience may have resulted in you bringing home only your long gun with that modified upper intending to make precise long-shots and unspent ammunition.
Yes, there may have been a few moments when you had an eight-point buck in your sights, then suddenly the deer spooks and darts back into the underbrush.
As frustrating as these moments are, you’ll probably spend the time driving home checking all the things you did right.
In your mind, you think about how you maintained a stand where your scent was carried away by a crosswind, and that you took exceptional care to remain still because you know your prey has excellent senses of smell, motion, and hearing.
As you check off the boxes, you begin to question what you did wrong. After a lot of scrutiny and conversations with other more experienced hunters, you’ll probably discover the only things you do wrong is the type of clothing you wear each time you hit the field.
Over time, most veteran hunters have discovered the appropriate and most effective hunting gear to wear when out in the field.
Here are a few tips on what to wear that will more than likely increase your chances of bagging your share of the prey.
Blaze Orange Requirements
Before you make a trip to your local sporting goods store looking for the best camouflage hunting outfits, you need to think orange.
While wearing blaze orange is a legal requirement in many states in the U.S., once you understand why you need to equip your hunting clothes with at least the minimum standards of orange vests, jackets, and headgear can be a lifesaver.
Deer may not discern orange, but the human eye handles many more colors on the spectrum, which helps to reveal a camouflaged hunter to other hunters.
Not only does wearing orange help protect you, but it’s also a law. For example, in Texas, any hunter who frequents public hunting lands such as state, natural forests, and grasslands during the day must wear at least four hundred square inches of blaze orange material and headgear.
At a minimum, each hunter must wear one hundred and forty-four square inches on your front and back.
A Spectrum of Colors
Most animals can’t discern colors in the red and yellow spectrum well, and a camouflaged hunter wearing sufficient blaze orange clothing resembles nothing but a large mass of grey.
However, the deer quickly spot items in the blue color spectrum, so if you plan on bringing home some venison, you probably need to leave your favorite pair of blue jeans on a hanger in your closet.
So, you’ve got the blaze orange requirements down and have stocked up on the necessary gear before the hunt, and you understand that a pair of regular blue jeans may prevent you from bagging your target and leaving them in the closet.
By now, you may be wondering what your options are.
Hunting Wear for the Season
As any seasoned hunter will tell you, geographic locations and days of the year will typically dictate what you should wear on your hunting trips.
Weather in southern Florida may be considerably different than a trip to your favored hunting spot in Georgia or Alabama. It follows that you’ll probably end up with multiple assortments of hunting wear for each season and weather conditions.
When hunting upland birds, depending on your location, and the weather begins to cool but not grow cold, you’ll want to consider mid-weight to lightweight clothing in multiple layers.
Although you may want to go full camouflage, consider earth tone layers along with your blaze orange gear.
If there’s a Bass Pro, Dick’s Sporting Gear, or Cabela’s in the vicinity, stop in and check out both the men’s and women’s selections of hunting shirts, vests, pants, and even boots that are all focused on providing you the best and most durable hunting wear on the market.
Also, many of the more prominent local firearm dealers stock up great selections of hunting wear and concealed carry wear at competitive prices, so make sure you check them out.
Fall Into Your Gear
Even in the southern states, Autumn usually brings cooler temperatures and often crisp mornings that will require sufficient layers of hunting wear to keep you protected and comfortable.
In some demographics, a selection of lightweight hunting gear may be enough, but the last thing you need is to be in the field when a cold front suddenly blows through.
These same stores that offer you choices of lightweight hunting gear provide you with multiple options of heavier insulated jackets, hoodies, and insulated boots, depending on the seasonal changes.
Winter Cold and Snow
It seemed like only yesterday you were hunting in lightweight gear and breaking a heavy sweat as you tromp through the underbrush during a summer hunting foray, but in a flash, winter visits for a few months, and the snow and ice starts to fall.
That’s when you’ll need to either break out the heavy winter hunting gear or sit in front of a roaring fire at home and dream about the big game you could be bringing home. When the weather turns bitterly cold, your primary concern for a successful hunt is staying comfortable and remaining mobile.
Be prepared by investing in multiple layers of lightweight hunting wear beneath well-insulated heavier jackets, gloves, and caps.
Staying Dry
If you plan on spending any length of time in a duck blind near the water in a natural blind or when placing decoys in the water, it’s a safe bet something is going to get wet. The trick here is to make sure it won’t be you.
While camouflage will help you remain hidden from fowls coming in for a water landing, and you’re camping out in a marshy blind with improper hunting wear won’t guarantee a comfortable and, more importantly, dry hunting experience.
Most seasoned duck hunters will tell you that a pair of insulated, camouflaged waterproof waders, waterproof jackets, and boots are as essential as a five-shot pump semi-automatic shotgun with a modified choke tube.
Final Thoughts
The Right Gear Makes the Hunt. Just as you would make sure you have the correct type of gun and ammunition for the hunt, the hunting clothing you wear can make or break your hunting experience.
Just as you have a closet full of clothes to wear during varying seasons, you’ll want to do the same for your hunting clothing.
After a thorough inspection of what the market has to offer, you’ll be able to choose selections that will keep you safe, dry, warm, and comfortable regardless of the hunting season.