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T.R.
Michels Camouflage Designs
Innovative Camouflage Since
1989
Original Konifer Camouflage, Konifer
II, Total Camouflage, Total II
T.R.
Michels in Total Camouflage TM Innovation is what I do! I’m
just a run for the mill, everyday hunter, with a passion for coming up with
new ideas and products, that will allow me to be just a little bit better
hunter. I have designed game calls, hunting blinds, hunting clothing, had the
idea for the first commercial elk and mule deer scent with Wildlife Research
Centers, had the idea for the first wind-activated full bodied goose decoy;
the first collapsible elk calf, mule deer, and antelope decoys, and the first
fawn and a collapsible strutting tom turkey decoy. I instigated the study to
find out whether deer see in colors instead of black and white, with Dr. Karl
miller and Dr. Jay Neitz. And I’m the
first person to prove that peak breeding of white-tailed deer is not
correlated with the full moon, or any other moon phase. Here
are my camouflage accomplishments: 1.
The first non – bark, branch or tree trunk pattern on the market. 2.
The first evergreen pattern on the market. 3.
The first corn camouflage pattern designed for clothing on the market. 4.
The largest pattern design ever on the Market. (30”) 5.
The largest open area background on the market. (5”) 6.
The first non-repeating 60” width camouflage on the market. 7.
The first diagonal pattern on the market. 8.
The first 60” high pattern ever devised. 9.
The first multi-variation design on the market. 10
The first color adaptive 4-season design on the market. (7 variations) |
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LINKS Trinity Mountain Outdoors Home Page Trinity Mountain Outdoor Products Catalog T.R. Michels' Guide Service / Hunting Trips Whitetail / Turkey / Elk / Waterfowl Hunting & Guide School T.R.'s Hunting Tips & Articles "T.R.'s Tips" Talk Forum / Message Board T.R. Michels' Seminar Schedule TRMichels.com Webring / Hunting Site Directory Advertising & Public Relations Whitetail Information Whitetail Communication / Calls Peak Turkey Gobbling Dates Chart Elk Information Waterfowl Information Other Information State / Provincial Wildlife Offices & Information NOAA's National Weather Service |
As a hunter, I’ve always thought camouflage was important, because I was fairly sure most animals could see colors, because they had color on them. What would be the reason for them having colors, if they all looked alike. General Norman Schwartzkopf, in Konifer
Camouflage, in Newsweek magazine. To this day, this is the largest pattern
ever developed, and the most open pattern on the market. Some of the spruce
branches are 36” across the open areas are up to 15 inches across. I was pretty sure that female turkey and ducks and geese could distinguish
slight differences in the colors of the males, which would allow them to
distinguish which males were healthy, and which were not. So, when I read the
articles on game animal vision, in the ATSKO / Sno Seal booklet, it intrigued
me – to the point that I actually called Dr, Jay Neitz, at the Retired MN Viking
coach, and Football Hall of Famer, Bud Grant in Konifer Camouflage, on a
turkey hunt with T.R. Michels Guide Service in The results of their research, in which they found that deer see only in back and white, but that they are red- green color blind, convinced me that camouflages used by humans to keep deer and other animals from detecting them, needed to be as close to the natural colors of their surroundings as possible.
T.R. Michels bugling for elk, and wearing Trebark
Camouflage while guiding in the At about that same time I was guiding some elk hunters I had booked with
Dick Ray of the famous Lobo Outfitters, in Aspen TM
Camouflage Aspen Camouflage with a white background can be worn in
the snow; with a light gray background it can be worn in Aspen or Cottonwood
trees; with a Blaze Orange background it can be use during gun season where
needed. Once I had that done, I started thinking about a pine or spruce pattern. Because I had a spruce tree in the backyard, I chose to spruce pattern. I t looked like you were looking at the end of a spruce branch, toward the tree trunk. As I designed my second camouflage pattern, Konifer, I made sure it was as realistic in appearance as I could make it, and as close to the color of the spruce tree as I could. Because game animals could see UV light, I made sure none of the dyes used to print Konifer - had UV brighteners in them, because if they did, they would glow like a light blue light at duck and dawn. Original Konifer Camouflage on the grassy Nebraska
Prairie and Nebraska Cedar Ridges. Not too bad! I also knew that in order to breakup the human outline, you had to have a large open pattern, with lots of space between the limbs of the spruce boughs, otherwise it would “blob up” and look like one solid color at a few yards, which would defeat the purpose of the camouflage. I’d also noticed that on large areas of camouflage patterns you could see the repeat of the pattern at about every 30 inches, both up and down.The result ot this ws that at about 15 yards, most camouflages looked like a patchwork of identical squares. I did not want that. When I designed Konifer I used a piece of freezer paper as my canvas, and cut it to the exact dimension of the screens used to print camouflage material. 60” by 24”. In order to make the pattern print continuously I had to make the lines at the top of the pattern meet the lines of the bottom of the pattern. This was easily accomplished by folding the paper in halves, and taping it along the inside, so that I had a cylinder, just like the screens used to print camouflage material, or wallpaper or any other repeating pattern. There are two ways to disguise the human
form, use colors and pattern that mimic the surrounding habitat. Or use a
large open pattern the breaks up the human outline; ideally you can use both
techniques. Up until that time, camouflage patterns had also repeated side to side, at a 30 inch or 36 inch width, which is what gave the fabric the appearance of a bunch of squares lined up side to side and top to bottom. Because I did not want that, but, I might want it to match side to side going around a hunting blind, I taped the sides together after I had drawn most of the width of the pattern. Then I finished the pattern right across the side seam, so that the repeat was at 60 inches instead of 30 or 36 inches, I now had the first non-repeating camouflage across a 60 inch width; the very first in history. I also had the first non–leaf, bark or branch pattern on the market. I don’t design camouflage
that looks good to you - I design camouflage that fools the eyes - of the
animals that you hunt. To make the pattern more open, so it would not blob up, and because I had 60 inches to draw the pattern on - instead of 30 or 36 inches, I could have large openings in the pattern, from 5-15 inches across, which would give the pattern more of a 3-dimensional appearance. It would look like you were looking at branches in the foreground, and right through the branches, to the sky in the background. For the background I choose a light gray, resembling the sky, and a light tan resembling dead leaves or pine needles. I now also had the most open camouflage pattern on the market; and the largest pattern ever on the market, because some of the spruce boughs were 30 inches across. Original Konifer
TM Camouflage
T.R.
Michels with 316“ archery bull elk, in original Konifer As you can see, Konifer ended up in the Cabela’s catalog, with Chuck Adam’s endorsing it. The hunter in the photo with the huge bull elk below, contacted me to tell me his bull scored 361 non-typical Pope & Young inches, making it #5 in the world, and #2 in the Montana Record book at that time.
That was back in 1990, and other camouflage designers, including the two biggest ones on the market, are just now realizing that you have to use this technique, if you really want to breakup the outline of a human being at further than 5-10 yards. Even now, I do not see large spaces between the branches of most camouflages, although they talk about ways to breakup a human outline, by using more open patterns But, they are not doing it. Konfier is to this day, the largest non-repeating and open camouflage pattern ever on the hunting market. Field Stalker TM
Camouflage Next, I added a diagonal component to my patterns, which I could do and
most other designers could not do, because they did not have the needed 60
inch width, which would allow them to have a continuous diagonal branch
running from the top to the bottom, and from side to side. I first added this
to a pattern when I designed Field Stalker for the Herter’s catalog in the
early 90’s. . The white version of
Field Stalker, which was called Snow Field Stalker. For hunting waterfowl in
the snow.
Dallas Michels in
Snow Field Stalker, hunting geese in the snow. Field Stalker TM
Camouflage
Field Stalker
Camouflage with a dirt gray background, for field hunting waterfowl. Note the
diagonal stalks – the first ever “diagonal’ used in a pattern for clothing.
T.R. Michels in
Field Stalker Camouflage in the corn. Basically invisible. This is a case of
camouflage matching the surroundings. Changing the background colors on Field Stalker, taught me that I could change backgrounds to match either the habitat, or the seasons. So- when I was asked to produce do an updat4d version of Konifer, to be named Konifer II, I had it printed on white for hunting in the snow, light gray for hunting in a tree stand, orange for gun hunting, and with the tan and medium gray background for hunting in trees or on the ground. The white version called “Snow Konifer II” was an immediate hit with the women- it was beautiful. Konifer II TM
Konifer II is a more open version of original
Konifer, with variations in white, blaze orange, light gray or medium gray
backgrounds. The two photos on the right are of Konifer II on white and gray backgrounds, to see how well they blended in with a spruce tree in my backyard. Not bad. Next, I was asked top design a leaf and branches camouflage for Alan Jenkins of Lynch Game Calls, maker of find turkey calls, and Simmons Optical, the well know binocular and scope manufacturer. So, I spent the next 3 months working on my most intricate, realistic camouflage to date. Although my first tow camouflages had been non-traditional, in that they did not utilize leaves, branches, bark or tree trunks, I knew that to appeal to the largest possible market, those were the components that it had to have – if it was going to sell. I incorporated white oak, red oak and hickory leaves, knowing that a
majority of hunters in Total Camouflage TM
Total Camouflage, uses a large, open, non-repeating
pattern, with a diagonal aspect to achieve realism and a true 3 D effect. Step back, sway from your computer, and
imagine this with light tan or light gray background, and imagine how well it
would work. Total Camouflage, with trees in the foreground, separated by large open
areas, with trees appearing as if they are 20-30 yards in the background - a
true3D effect, using depth and shadows to achieve a 3 dimensional effect. This would be my preference for hunting
wooded areas over anything currently on the market. It is large, open and
would really breakup the outline of a hunter.
Total Camouflage, and T.R. Michels with 168.5” whitetail ne Now, let’s compare Total with Real Tree and Mossy Oak, to see if they appear to “blob up” at distances greater than 5 yards. Realized that the farther you are away from the animal, the more your camouflage clothing will start to blob up - and the more it blobs up – the more you will stand out to the animals, the more visible will be. The test of a camouflage’s
effectiveness,, is how much it look like the surroundings, or how well it
breaks up the outline of a hunter, at different distances. If the purpose of a camouflage is to make you less visible to the animals, it is obvious, the more wide open your camouflage pattern should be, because it will blob up less at distance, such as 15 yards away in a tree stand. The problem with most of today’s
realistic camouflage patterns - is that the designers have sacrificed the
camouflage’s ability to breakup the human outline, by making it appear as
though it had a lot of realistic components to it – in too short a distance,
or too small an area - so that it looks good to you on the store shelves. But
- does it work- in the woods- to fool the game? Do want camouflage that looks good – or
works good? Comparison of Real Tree, Mossy Oak
and Total camouflages – at different distances.
5 yards. Even at this distance the Mossy Oak (middle) starts to blob up.
10 yards. At this distance Mossy ok is basically a dark brown suit.
20 yards. At this distance Total (on the left) still retains some breakup, while Realtree (right) becomes basically a tan color. This clearly shows how important colors are in a camouflage pattern. . You can take this even farther, by stepping away from your computer.
T.R. Michels in Total Camouflage TM. There is no way you can fake or alter this test, the photos are all the same, all I have done is shoot them at longer distances. Seeing this, and knowing what I know now, I would choose an open pattern with a light gray background for any clothing I intended to wear on the ground, or in a tree stand, because it would blend in with the surroundings, while still breaking up my outline. We Have Several
Patterns & Colors to Choose From
Above is a photo of our booth at one of the hunting shows, displaying some of my camouflage designs. Upper left, from left to right - Orange Konifer II, Show Konifer II, Gray Konifer II, and the original Konifer. Upper right - Snow Total, gray Field Stalker, Snow Field Stalker. Bottom – from the left. Tan background Total with Green Leaves, gray background Total with Green Leaves, gray background Total with both Green and Brown Leaves, light gray background Total with Brown Leaves, Snow Total with brown leaves, Orange Total with Brown Leaves and No Branches. Once I had all the color combinations printed, I could take them out into the woods and fields, to see how well they blended in with the background - while still breaking up the outline of a human being.
Snow Total in a
treetand. What do deer see when they look up into your tree stand, a dark
gray blob, or dark branches and light gray background? This shows that dark
camouflages do not work in a tree stand. There are two ways to
camouflage the human form, either look exactly like the habitat you are in,
or breakup the human outline. Ideally you can do both. Imagined the following patterns on
a dirt gray and light tan background. New Patterns No one
camouflage pattern will work in all situations, therefore you need different
patterns for different habitats.
Reed/Grass Pattern This
pattern is designed for hunting in CRP, grass
Cattail Pattern This pattern is designed for hunting in cattails and rushes.
Cattail/Corn/Reeds/Grass Pattern This pattern will work in cattail, corn, grass, sawgrass
and rushes.
Tree & Leaves
Patten To be used on
Hunting Blinds This pattern is designed to be 60” high, and matches side to side, so that it can be wrapped around a hunting blind with no apparent repeat from top to bottom or from side to side. I have not seen any other manufacturer design a camouflage pattern this way; sideways on the screens, but upright when turned on its side. Another First for T.R. Michels Camouflage Designs Spring Big Woods
TM
Big Woods green is
designed to be worn in heavily wooded areas in the spring. With a light tan
background, and brown leaves, it could be use in the fall, with an all white
background and a few brown leaves it could be used in the winter. What’s New? On Saturdary, I’m unwilling to exhibit
this new camouflage concept, because other camouflage designers might put on
the market before I do. If you are seriously interested in it - sign a
non-disclosure statement with me, and I’ll explain it to you. If you are interested, in a new,
inovative camouflage pattern, that actually works – e-mail me at TRMichels@yahoo.com |
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T.R. Michels / All
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T.R. Michels, E-mail: TRMichels@yahoo.com Website: www.TRMichels.com
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