Real World Thoughts - Leafy Camo (aka Ghillie suits)

[bamagtrdude]

Recently, I picked up a new head mask - one of the Turkey Thugs full masks with the mesh & leafy camo (aka ghillie) deal going on.

Was just curious what everyone's thoughts are on the full body camo in this leafy get-up (aka ghillie camo suits)?  What have you been able to do in it - turkey hunting - that you couldn't do with regular, non-leafy camo?  What advantages & disadvantages have you seen?

Let me know - or if this has been bashed to death, point me to the discussion thread on OG.

Thx!
BGD

[Gooserbat]

I wear the top half of a Kill suit from All Predator Calls.  Great concealment is all I've got to say. 

[bamagtrdude]

I wear the top half of a Kill suit from All Predator Calls.  Great concealment is all I've got to say. 

Yep, those were my thoughts - the top would really be all you need.  Thx for the quick reply!

[northms]

I wear the leafy pants and jacket.  I think it lets me get away with a little more movement once the greenery start growing in the spring and I really like them.

[Frank G]

I like the leafy type best, have tried the ghillie (shaggy thread). We have a lot of briers around our area, tend to hang up on every one.  A bit of a pain when using a bow, need to be very cautious with shaggy thread in the bow string. With a shot gun OK. Top is all you need if you are in a blind, If not go with the pants as well. You can slither around a bit more. 

[bamagtrdude]

10-4 guys - y'all are confirming a lot of my "thoughts" about it.

Keep on sharin'!

[Skeeterbait]

It definitely conceals you better, allows you to get away with more movement, you will see critters come closer to you without spotting you.  Is it absolutely necessary, absolutely not.  But it is a tool that can raise your confidence and allow you to set up in a better location but with less cover than you might otherwise.  If you have the opportunity to hunt say on the way to or from work, you can just put it on over street clothes and your good to go.  In hot weather, the mesh type suits can be worn over shorts and t-shirt if you want to stay cooler.

I was wearing the full suite of Whitewater Creek real leaf, pants jacket gloves mask and boonie hat as I walked toward a green field.  I was standing in the sandy road totally exposed when a group of hens exited the field headed up the road.  I froze standing in the road about 30 yards from the field.  They walked up the road toward me and I thought they were going to walk right up to me, but they veered off the side at about 15 yards and passed thru the woods to my right.  As I stood there listening to them crunching in the leaves as they passed, a gobbler followed them out of the field in strut.  He dropped it and started walking after them.  I had been holding my gun at the half ready the whole time and My arms were getting tired.  I raised the gun the remainder of the way prepared for him to run but he didn't pay any attention.  I shot and killed him at 20 yards standing totally exposed in a sand bed road.  I don't think I would have gotten away with this without the suit but who knows.  Here is the suite.

[bamagtrdude]

Good stuff, SkeeterBait; thanks for posting your thoughts & real world example!!

[eddie234]

I to just wear the leafy jacket. I got mine at bass pro, top and bottoms are 40.00 each. I just feel it helps break up my outline better.

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[jblackburn]

I wear the top half of a Kill suit from All Predator Calls.  Great concealment is all I've got to say.

I will say that Sam's suit works well, we hunted in CO and KS together and it worked in both.  The only thing I don't like is when it gets hot, he is half naked under it and well, sometimes its weird . . . 

[Gooserbat]

I wear the top half of a Kill suit from All Predator Calls.  Great concealment is all I've got to say.

I will say that Sam's suit works well, we hunted in CO and KS together and it worked in both.  The only thing I don't like is when it gets hot, he is half naked under it and well, sometimes its weird . . . 

Wierd is better than kinky.

[Rio Fan]

Later in the spring I'll wear a leafy jacket and baseball hat. I tried wearing a leafy face  mask, but it messed with my hearing and I couldn't tell what direction gobbles we're coming from.  I don't wear leafy pants.

[Turkey Trot]

Real world thoughts from a contrarian:

According to most opinions on turkey vision, turkeys do not have good depth perception.  They have large eyes on the side of their head that give them excellent peripheral vision and the ability to see and react to motion from an appreciable distance.  Turkeys do not have binocular vision and have to move their head side to side to see an object through both (but not at the same time).

Wear camo, set yourself up against a bigger tree or foliage to break up your outline, be still, learn to use a mouth call for close work, and kill them like people always have (and reject all the mindless consumerism in turkey hunting [and all other hunting]). 

You can file this under the thread going now about overthinking things (and surrendering to market hypes by companies that only survive by creating "new" and "improved" crap to sell).  Turkey hunting is not like scout sniper work against other humans that see just like we do.   

[Turkey Trot]

Bamagtrdude:

I would add this to my response above.

Do your own reading and learn, to the best of the knowledge of those that purport to know, "what turkeys see."  They can't tell us, so it's not a precise science, but they've dissected the little brains and their eyeballs, and they know the load capacity for sensory perception, and what the rods, cones, cornea, lens, etc. in the eye are like.

If you do that research, you may come away with thoughts about the matter that dictate against going with the hype of rank commercialism and mindless consumerism that exists in turkey hunting, deer hunting, fishing, etc. 

Does the world really need another banjo minnow?  Do you?

Turkey hunting (and all other hunting) is cheaper and more fun if one will focus on calling, scouting, set up, shooting, and general woodsmanship and less on the marketing hype that is taking over the sport. 

[THattaway]

I have an old basspro mossy oak breakup model that was given to me in the early/mid 90s. It has an open mesh base and nylon leaves. It's quiet and cool. I wear it mostly as a cover suit for after work hunts and keep it locked in the truck box in a mesh clothing bag. I've killed many a turkey and deer with it. I can wear a white t-shirt and blue jeans under that thing. Works very well for me, could care less what other's think of them.