| COYOTE
HUNTING: FACE CAMOUFLAGE I have found over the years that face camouflage is something of a personal thing. Even a personal statement in ways. Afterall, it's something that is "in your face". Not to mention what others are going to see you with, in or out of the field. For me at least, I never cared very much for face paint. And the 3/4 face masks made out of mesh never hid enough skin for predator calling, in my opinion. I have always preferred a full, pull-over mask which covers all of my face. I use the same type face mask for calling coyotes as well as when I'm hunting turkey in the spring. The type of face camo that I prefer though has been almost impossible to find the last couple of years. (Good thing I bought a couple of them when I was able to locate them a few years back.) Since then, I've worn the seams completely out of one, and have nearly done so with the other.
Along these same lines of "color
coordination," dark green also seems But try to find the right camo face covering, in the right style, at any given time of year. Alas, another problem that we face (sic) all to often. So with some sweet talk to my best-friend and spouse sometime back, I convinced her that her sewing talents were desperately needed to help me rectify these problems. Being the sweetheart that she is, Kathy Lou got busy and, overcoming her own new set of problems in finding just the "right" bulk fabrics in the colors and patterns I was wanting. She made the sewing patterns and we experimented until we had things just right. And ever since, I've carried a number of these camo face coverings with me. So that no matter what conditions I happen to run into in the field, I'm (usually) always prepared. Luckily too, I have collected a number of various, similarly colored camo ballcaps to wear along with them, over the years. Not always a perfect match, but close enough. Another nice thing about this type of headgear is, when the weather conditions are cold and the breeze drops the windchill another 10 degrees or so, a suitable camo pattern in a heavy weight material sure keeps your ears and face from freezing. I don't know about you, but the older I get, just a little bit of added warmth on the stand makes it so much nicer. Whether I'm out calling coyotes, or on the annual turkey hunt in the spring (with snow flurries a common occurance in April in the Rocky Mountains), putting the advantage back into my favor is what I believe is a factor in successful hunts.
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Coyote Hunting What's New
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Another pet-peeve has always been: only one color of face
mask has to serve a whole many situations. Some of these situations of trying to
blend in has been nearly impossible. For example, my all-around camo green face
gear has to cover me up in surroundings of full snow covered terrain. Which --I
think-- makes me somewhat of a visible oddity to any incoming coyote, fox, or other
would-be customer. Even in the best of
situations, where I can make my stand beneath a juniper tree, I have noticed that no
matter how motionless I am, the prey always seem to pick me out easily from the landscape.
to be out of place in a desert landscape where there's not much to hide
behind but light brown to yellow grasses, fence posts, and the pastel-soft greens of
certain types of fauna found there. And heaven forbid there is patchy snow on the
landscape with no evergreen type shrubbery to sit under or up against. Again, at
times like this I believe that my camo isn't as effective as it could be.
Face Camo«