Gear Review

Reproduced from the June 2008 "Deer Sign"
with kind permission of the Editor, Graeme Cameron

Hi-Vis Hunting Jacket

SamHuntVic (SHV) is a specialist new outdoor clothing company run by
Grant Baker. SHV has produced an Blaze Orange ‘shell’ type short hunting jacket that has a number of innovative features.
Grant has advised he designed the striking and very effective SamCamtm breakup pattern himself, travelled to China and located manufacturers and fabric suppliers then worked with them to develop and fine tune the jacket. Most quality outdoors and hunting equipment suppliers such a Swazi, Stoney Creek and Ridgeline produce a range of tape sealed Gortex totally waterproof jackets, in conjunction with a range of windproof fleece jackets that allow maximum breathability in high exertion activities… like deer hunting in steep mountainous terrain! The SHV jacket has been designed as a light, windproof, water resistant, high visibility outer shell with special features. It is a short ‘bomber jacket’ style that must be worn with other thermal layers underneath in colder weather. The material used is a very soft peachfinish fabric (70% cotton and 30% nylon) lined with Airmeshtm and polyester. It is not tape sealed, and so cannot be classed as fully ‘waterproof’ in the Gortex rainjacket league… but the fabric is silicon- treated. In under-the-tap tests water balled up and ran off the jacket readily, so it should really be classed as ‘heavy shower-proof’. The level of detailing in this jacket is very high… for example it is fitted with two chest pockets (moved inboard to clear pack straps) designed to fit a GPS or small two way radio.. complete with lanyard points so they are retained securely!
One of the bellows side pockets is equipped with a cartridge loop sub pocket that will hold 9 .30-06/.270/9.3x62mm sized cartridges securely until required. Sizes include Medium, Large and XL. The wearing of 605 nanometer (nm) Blaze Orange by hunters has been legislated for years in the USA and now in some parts of Australia (it is a NSW Game Council requirement) but thankfully is still a personal choice for hunters in Victoria. While it does enable other hunters to see each other very clearly, and it has been proven that deer cannot see the 605nm spectrum… birds can see it distinctly!
Birds have all three-cone classes that humans possess for full colour vision. Their acuity exceeds ours, and, having no UV filter, they are also sensitive to all the UV and short Blue light that the deer see. They may also have some rods for night vision like ours but theirs are unhindered by a UV filter. Many possess a 4th cone with peak sensitivity in the UV region and sensitive to below 300nm.
Having personally experienced walking below several birds making loud alarm calls while I wore the required Blaze Orange during a recent NSW State Forest GC deer hunt, I must confess I am not a fan!
Time constraints meant field testing of the jacket was restricted to a quick walk in the bush rather than the more in-depth hunting trip I was hoping to undertake.
Arm articulation is very good, there is no way the sleeves will ride up when shooting offhand. When sitting and glassing a distant hill however, I found the jacket did ride up so that the small of my back was exposed to the elements. The short length also meant a damp seat-of-the-pants if on wet ground. Again due to the short bomber jacket style, the generous bellows side pockets were positioned too high under the arms and meant an awkward ‘chicken wing’ manoeuvre when trying to access the cartridge loops for example. Prospective purchasers of Blaze Orange hunting gear need to weigh-up whether they need a full length or shorter style hunting jacket. It is obvious that these jackets are very high quality and have a number of nice features that some of the bigger names do not list. It could be worthwhile for SHV to also produce a full length (+150mm), tape sealed, non-Blaze version of this jacket to capture additionalsegments of the hunting/ outdoors market.