Natural dye Capote.

Daryl Crawford said:

https://www.nhcf.org/what-were-up-t...short,of Quality Deer Management Association.
I'm not sure I'd use blue. Keep that blanket for camp and maybe find another to dye to make the capote.

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Thank you for the article link Daryl.
I had been told this by a professional guide regarding moose and it seemed that it should relate to both deer and elk as well.
The article confirmed my conclusion.
Long wave spectrum colors are fine, short wave spectrum colors easily seen.
Simple enough.
Thanks again.

Hamilton Dry Goods should have heavy weight wool..
It was around $18 a yard & I was told it takes around 5 yards for a Great coat in my fat boy size…



I bought a grey Confederate wool coat and changed the buttons on it..

It’s not as heavy as the heavy , weight wool sold by Hamiltons.. but it’ll do.

I wouldn't dye a HB blanket either. However if I remember right orange and blue make brown. A burnt orange dye might make the blue muddy enough.

If you can find an original, or one of the reproductions of the Italian army blanket you can make a deer colored capote. A Pendleton Yakima blanket would also work well.

Heavy wool can be had from Linda Mcfee. Search for the site.

Many wool blankets on ebay. I got a queen size one in solid white for $15. I will dye it.

I used to hunt with a guy who is red /green colorblind . He could not see red or fluro orange so I wore a black/blue woolen jacket when I was hunting with him , I figured getting shot was worse than alerting a deer . The first camo clothes were for the military , then duck hunters cottoned on to the idea , then deer stalkers and an industry was born . Now days for deer stalking I wear different camo on my pants , top and a broad brimmed hat of yet another camo . I believe getting rid of the human head shape is important when deer hunting . Fluro is not required in this country , I tie a few day glow streamers on my day pack and have a large piece of fluro cloth I throw over a nearby bush when I am sitting glassing the country , and tie it over any deer I am carrying out on my back .
Back on subject I have a lovely Whitney 5 point HB blanket which I would never cut up or dye , I shudder at the thought .
Wool blankets are no longer fashionable and can be found on the net at reasonable prices .
If you find a blanket you want to cut up ,First wash it in water as close to boiling you can get, this shrinks the fibers and makes the blanket more wind and water proof . also never wash hunting clothing in wash powder which has brighteners in it , this makes the clothes glow brightly in a deer or bird's vision .

Breaking up the silhouette is the thing. When in Korea in 1968 I took a patrol out from the guard post in the DMZ to look at some Koean War fighting positions. One of my men had a new camo cover on his helmet. As we passed through a honey locust stand I turned around to look and make sure everyone was following. To my amazement my seargent seemed to be missing the top of his head. The camo perfectly matched the locust foliage.

We wore white in snow. It broke up our silhouettes nicely. By the way, in patchy snow wear white covers over your pants and regular camo up top.

As DuneNZ said above wash your blanket in the hottest water and dry on high heat. I did it twice on my two capotes. The wool becomes more felt like to the good. You can then machine wash your capote when dirty.