10 things hunters should never camouflage

Wallet

So you're tromping through the woods on your way from or to your truck. You reach for your wallet. Why? Who knows? Maybe your keys are in your wallet. Maybe you need a stick of gum from your wallet. It doesn't matter. What matters is that you are taking out your camouflage wallet in the woods. Oops! There you go dropping your wallet. You've lost it! And everything else that was in your wallet. Bet you're wishing now it wasn't camouflaged, right?

Gun

Yes, we all know camouflage shotguns and rifles are hip. If they're not, then why does everybody and their brother seem to have one or want one? But imagine you are up in your deer stand and you set your longarm down or lean it against the tree while you're putting in a chew of tobacco. Agh! There goes your gun slipping off the edge of the deer stand! Now you climb down to retrieve your weapon and, guess what? You can't find it. Why? Because it blends in so well with the surroundings.

Chewing tobacco

Some brands of chewing tobacco come in a camouflage bag, or sometimes the chewer will have a special bag that's camouflage. Now what's worse than being miles away from a vehicle, out in the middle of nowhere, and losing your tobacco? Not much. Maybe getting shot in the leg. Keep your chew in a regular old bag. Probably the packaging it came in is best so you don't have to worry about losing your own personal special bag.

Hat

You don't want a camouflaged hat for one very important reason. You might get your head blown off by another hunter! Hunter orange, blaze orange, safety orange ... whatever you want to call it ... is what you should be wearing on your head if you want to keep it. Remember, safety first when it comes to hunting. Heck, safety first when it comes to any and all firearms use.

Vehicle

You've been out in the woods since four in the morning. You didn't even get a dang buck. Now it's late in the day and you're tired and want to go home. Where did you leave your truck? You thought it was over there, right? But now you can't find it. Why? Because you were an idiot and had your truck painted camouflage. Youwould be able to see it if you'd kept it a normal color, but now you get to have extra fun walking up and down the road looking for your vehicle.

Cell phone

You might need your cell phone in case of an emergency, so the last thing you should do is have it camouflaged. What if you are out in the woods and become injured? Or worse, wounded? Boy, that cell phone would come in handy. But you just dropped it and it's camouflaged, so you can't see it now. Good luck limping back to the truck and waving down another driver.

Shoes

You should be able to look down and see your feet clearly while in the woods. Why? Safety. You should be able to see where you are walking at all times. Yes, you can look ahead to where you are about to step, but camouflaged footware doesn't help. It hinders. Just watching out for you. Don't come crying to me when you break your ankle.

Canteen

If you get lost, or if you become injured, and are in the forest for a long period of time, water can become the difference between life and death. If you drop or lose your camouflaged canteen or water bottle, you might have trouble finding it again. You don't want that to happen if you are desperately in need of water.

Flashlight

Why make it harder to find an item you might really, really need? Sure, a camouflage flashlight in the middle of the night doesn't make much of a difference. But if you lost or misplaced your flashlight during the day, you want to be able to find it. Why? Uh, because when the night rolls around, you're going to need it.

Knife

A knife is one of the most important tools to have. Even a basic knife can cut, be used as a screwdriver and perform all kinds of other tasks ... many you won't even realize until they come up. So don't camouflage your knife. If you drop it, it'll be tough to find. And you never know when a good knife, even just a pocket knife, might come in important.

Related links
10 unusual firearms
10 unusual revolvers
10 bear safety tips

10 Tips for Hiking

1. Pack the essentials: We're talking the real essentials here, first aid kit, water, rain gear, a multi-tool or pocket knife, etc. A little food is also important, at least a couple of power bars. Even if you're not expected to be gone for long, you need to be prepared. One never knows what can happen in the woods. Even experienced hikers sometimes get lost for days.
2. But don't pack too much: Remember, I said to pack the essentials. Anything else is just extra weight you don't need. You shouldn't need extra clothes unless you're going to be gone a really long time, and camping gear shouldn't be necessary either unless you're going camping. I'm talking about hiking, a few hours or a day at the most.
3. Let someone know where you're going: And approximately when you expect to be back. This is very important. It could save your life. It could save the life of others with you. It's probably a smarter thing to tell more than one person where you plan to go hiking and how long you expect to be there.
4. Remember to rest: If you're getting tired and you're sweating, remember to take a break while out on the trails. Also, if you plan to stop for longer than just a few minutes, loosen the shoestrings on your hiking boots and kick those feet up; this helps to keep down any swelling.
5. Bring a map and compass: Even if you're familiar with the stretch of woods where you're heading, it never hurts to bring along a map and compass. Remember, experienced hikers sometimes get turned around and lost, even in familiar territory. These tools will help you to know where you are at all times. If you're a techie person, you can get a GPS.
6. Start small: If you're heading out for your first ever hike, or you haven't hiked in a while, don't overdo it. Start with a short hike. Maybe just a mile or two. You'll have plenty of time in future trips to gradually work yourself up to longer and longer trips.
7. Have a fire source: Wood matches should do, but there are also small flint and steel kits, and there's always a good lighter. Hopefully you won't need a fire source, but it's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. This is mainly a safety precaution in case you get lost overnight. But remember to practice safety. Even if you're in an emergency situation, you don't want to set the whole forest ablaze!
8. Learn first aid: It wouldn't hurt to take a class on the basics of first aid. This could come in handy, or could even be necessary, if you or a loved one are injured while hiking. Check online or with your local Red Cross about first aid classes. And don't forget to pack at least a basic first aid kit.
9. Know where to get help: In cases of emergencies, you need to know where the local rangers' stations are located, and how far away they are. It's also good to know how far you are from camping sites, roads, parking spaces, etc. Again, this could save someone's life.
10. Don't wear cotton: Cotton holds moisture next to your skin and takes a long time to dry. This is not only uncomfortable, but could become dangerous if you are drenched, lost and stuck in the cold, dark woods all night.

To add, there are plenty of other tips to offer (such as wear a hat, wear sunglasses and sunscreen), so don't just depend on these 10 tips to protect your life. Use common sense, watch where you're walking and have fun out there.

11 Tips for Paintball Beginners

1. Masks: Do not take off your mask. Ever. Seriously, paintballs moved at approximately one-third the speed of an actual bullet, at that is powerful enough to do serious damage to an eye or any other part of your face. You could lose an eye. You could have a busted lip. You could get a busted ear drum. The only time to remove your facial protection is in a designated area once you are out of the game or once the game is over. If you're not sure of where a designated area is, ask a game official or possibly a veteran player.
2. Footware: You're going to be running around a lot, probably in the woods. There are going to be ditches to jump, fallen trees to climb around, who knows what else. You are going to want to wear something appropriate to offer protection to your feet and ankles. No need for a twisted ankle or broken foot. Hiking shoes or boots are excellent choices. Running shoes and tennis shoes are okay, but they often don't rise high enough to offer protection for the ankles; still, such shoes would be appropriate for an indoors paintball session. Military boots are a solid choice. Work boots can be good, too, though some people find them too heavy, especially the steel-toe variety of boots.
3. Move: When in the game, try to keep moving as much as possible. Don't stay behind one great big tree the whole game because it seems like a good hiding spot or a great place to shoot from. It's not. It might protect you for a few minutes, at most, but eventually you could wind up on your own and surrounded. You will lose. Eventually you'll run out of ammo. Your best bet is to keep moving. Moving targets are much more difficult to hit than stationary ones.
4. Honesty: If you are hit with a paintball, be honest about it. Don't try to lie by saying you weren't hit. Don't try to cheat by wiping away the paint. Other players will catch on to what you are doing. Then those other players won't want to play with you anymore. That could be the end to your paintball fun.
5. Communicate: Talk to your teammates. You don't have to scream, because you don't want to give away your location, but you need to be in pretty constant contact with the others on your side, especially those right around you. If you're in constant communication, you can help to formulate plans with the others. This helps to build a strong offense and defense. If you're out of paintballs and/or CO2, make sure your teammates know; maybe someone will have some spares they can give you. But again, don't yell out. You don't want the opposing team to know you're out of ammo. Even without paintballs, you could still prove effective to your time by working as a diversion or something else; the enemy won't necessarily know you're out of paintballs unless you tell them. And don't forget to ask questions of your team captain and other mates; better to look unexperienced that to lose out early.
6. Learn to crawl and hide: The fastest way to get targeted in paintball is to be standing up in the open. Stay on the move, but try to do so behind trees and brush and the like. And remember to crawl. Even if you are out in the open on flat ground with nothing to hide behind, you make a much more difficult target if you are flat on the ground.
7. Don't get tunnel vision: Stressful situations tend to give people tunnel vision, where they focus on only one direction or one object. You don't want this. You need to be aware of your surroundings at all times. That guy you think you've got pinned down behind a tree might have a buddy flanking around to get you in the back.
8. Learn your equipment: Make sure you are familiar with your gun before you get out on the field. You need to be able to reload swiftly, and you need to know the limitations of your paintball marker? What's its maximum range? If you're walking into a game with a gun unknown to you, you're in for a lot of trouble. At the very, very least, try out the marker a few times before getting onto a field.
9. Wear appropriate clothing: Paintballs can sting when they hit. Maybe not immediately, but they could raise up a welt the next day. And you're likely to be running around in a wooded area where branches and thorns could be brushing at your pretty often. So you won't want to wear that short-sleeve T-shirt to a paintball game. Long sleeves are better. And definitely don't wear shorts. You might end up having to crawl or climb, and long paints will work better. Color is important, too. White will make you stand out on the field. Darker colors will make you a more difficult target to find and it. Camouflage isn't absolutely necessary, but it's not a band choice at all. If you wear jeans, just make sure they're not too snug. You need to be able to move and move quickly, after all.
10. Follow orders: Often times a team captain is chosen by the team. Sometimes, in more informal matches, the team captains are veteran players who sort of naturally take control of the situation. Regardless, you need to follow orders. If orders aren't being followed, chaos will ensue and your team is going to lose. And don't questions orders in the middle of a paintball fight. Maybe if it's the very beginning of a match and the teams are far, far away from one another, but never once the game really gets under way.
11. Have fun: That's right. Enjoy yourself. Paintball came seem stressful at times, but keep in mind, it's only a game. It's there for your amusement, not to stress you out.

Related link: Lessons I've Learned from Paintball

Lessons I've Learned From Paintball

Combat happens fast, really fast
Or, at least, ranged combat does. Not that I would ever make a strong comparison between real combat and a game of paintball. I'm sure combat brings a whole load of stresses and concerns and terrors unimaginable to one who has never experienced it. But paintball (at least the way I've always played it, in the woods with U.S. Marines) as basically a war game has some basic similarities to combat; at the least, were talking there are a bunch of people with gun-like instruments targeting one another. Even the military plays war games for training.

But back to my point. Combat happens really, really fast. Paintballs come from out of nowhere and hit you before you even know it with speeds one-third or less than an average speed of a bullet. And these just paintballs. They sting a little. Bullets will hurt a whole hell of a lot, or kill. I could easily see how a soldier could be shot and dead without even realizing it. One second you're standing, the next second you're out cold. I could see it happening that fast.

U.S. Marines know their stuff
I first began playing paintball about a dozen years ago. And every game I've played since has involved at least one U.S. Marine, usually more like three or four Marines. I'm not in the military, nor have I ever been, but for some reason I've made a good number of military buddies over the years; I guess we share some ideologies or something.

Anyway, playing paintball has shown me the huge differences between untrained civilians and U.S. Marines. I'm just talking paintball, of course, but I've seen one Marine take out 20 other guys in a single afternoon. All by slinking around on the ground and shooting from cover. It didn't matter that the 20 guys were mostly smart enough to take cover themselves, they still weren't experienced nor trained well enough to set up a proper defense.

Little kids make for tough combatants
I've also played paintball against children, the youngest being about 10. They are tough little suckers. They never seem to tire, and they're so small they can hide behind anything, making them difficult targets to hit. And despite their age, in my experience most kids seem to follow orders well and can follow through.

The bigger the tree, the better the cover
Do I really need to explain this one? Big tree, better cover. Small tree, you get shot.

Know your weapon
This one can save you a lot. Imagine you're running along, already tired and out of breath, paintballs flying at you from all over the place, and suddenly your paintball marker is out of paintballs and/or CO2. You've got to reload. It helps a heck of a lot if you can do this on the run without having to look at what your hands need to be doing. Otherwise ... yep, you get shot.

Footware makes a lot of difference
Did I just mention running? Imagine having to do it over rough terrain with holes all over the place and downed trees to jump and swampy spots to evade or wade through. Your shoes, or boots, can save your life. Or, at least, an ankle. Good footware can keep you from spraining an ankle and possibly from falling down, which could lead to all kinds of other injuries.

Higher ground is better
I'm not enough of a strategist to know why this makes a difference, but it does. Not always, but more often than not, victory will go to the team with the higher ground. Of course there are a hundred other factors to take into consideration, but most of the time I'd bet my money on the team at the top of the hill. Maybe it's got something to do with human vision or ease of targeting or something. I don't know.

Charging blindly won't win the day
Outnumbered. Outgunned. Nearly out of ammo. All of your teammates are down. You're on your own. You lose it and charge right at the enemy. You're going to get lit up by tons and tons of paintballs. I've seen it done dozens of times. Heck, I've even done it once, though it wasn't because I lost my cool; I just did it for the fun of doing it. Got shot in the lip for my bravado. Bruised up and stung for weeks. So, unless you're doing for fun as I did, it's best to keep your cool. You'll survive. Or, at least, you'll survive longer.

Teamwork really works
Lone gunmen won't last very long, especially against a team. Unless maybe that lone gunman is a Marine, like I mentioned above. No, teamwork is generally best in paintball. Know-it-alls and prima donnas won't last because the other members of their team will gladly offer them up as targets, if not just shoot the idiot themselves. In my experience, a few old hands at the game will naturally sort of take command, and the rest will follow.

Paintball can change people, at least temporarily
I've seen it with my own eyes. That quiet buddy who never says a word, just goes along with the flow most of the time. But get him on a paintball field ... suddenly he's a lion roaring at the top of his lungs. He's taking point, he's taking leadership roles, he's kicking ass and taking names. And I've seen big, he-man kind of guys turn into a silent little mouse, though that doesn't mean they're not dangerous.