Camouflaged turkey guns have evolved over the past three decades. What was once a factory-only option is easy to do yourself these days.
Over the last 30 years, firearms manufacturers have refined their shotguns to appeal to several different groups of shooters. Prior to the 1970s, major gun makers divided their shotgun lines between clay bird shooters, law enforcement and hunters.
The clays shooters were primarily focused on trap and skeet, while the law enforcement crowd required short-barreled, high-capacity weapons that were utterly reliable.
Hunters, as a group, primarily sought scatterguns that were versatile enough to bag upland and small game, waterfowl and the occasional whitetail. Hunting guns came from the factory with fixed chokes, blued metal and glossy finishes on their stocks.
Today, hunting shotguns have evolved to fit the specific needs of hunters pursuing specific game animals. Turkey hunting is one of the best examples. Gun makers listened when experienced turkey hunters asked for shorter barrels, tighter chokes and camo turkey gun finishes t0 blend with the colors found in the woods.
Prior to these relatively new advances in turkey guns, many turkey hunters hid the shiny finishes of their scatterguns from a gobbler’s keen eyesight with either drab, dull spray paint, or masked barrels and stocks with camouflage-patterned tape.
The paint or tape method still works as well today as it did years ago, but new products and advances in technology give a hunter more ways to hide his shotgun from a tom’s prying eyes.
One such product that was popular with with turkey and deer hunters 35 years ago were Gun Chaps, made by Kane Products. These cloth and vinyl covers came in different camouflage patterns, and were custom made to fit the dimensions of over 100 shotguns and rifles. These zippered Gun Chaps were made in either a one- or two-piece construction, and were made to fit your gun’s stock and action like Jane Fonda’s old “go-go” boots.
Kane also makes Barrel Chaps, a relatively new product in their line of gun covers. This device is made to fit either single- or double-barreled shotguns and rifles. It’s simply a sleeve that slides over the barrel. Gun Chaps were offered in woodland and Realtree camo patterns.
Gun Socks
Another product that’s been used successfully to camouflage a shotgun is a stretchy, gauze like material made by Expand-O-Flage. It was a one-size-fits-all tube of camo material that had to be cut to fit a particular weapon. Tape was used to hold it in place. Expand-O-Flage is no longer in business, but a close facsimile was created back in the day by using an NWTF Sack-Up gun sock and trimming and taping it to fit a particular gun.
Camo Tape
Camouflaged tapes have been used with a lot of success to mask a gun’s shiny surfaces. The first turkey hunter I ever met, a friend’s uncle in north Georgia, covered his trusty long-barreled pump 12 gauge with white cloth athletic tape and used green and black permanent felt-tipped markers to color the tape. A sizable collection of turkey beards hanging in his gun cabinet gave mute testimony that he was on the right track. In the years since, a host of companies have come out with camo tapes in every pattern you can imagine. Most tapes have an adhesive backing, while others are held in place by their stretchy, elastic nature.
What I’ve learned over time is that the camo tapes can leave a sticky residue behind that’s tough to remove. Add to that the tendency to leave rusty spots behind begs for an alternative.
Spray-On
Several companies have offered spray-on camo paints that were either permanent or semi permanent. The semi permanent paints could be peeled off, and were more of a skin than real paint. With either type paint, two or three colors are needed to complete the job.
After masking off surfaces that shouldn’t be painted, such as slides on pump shotguns, or critical action parts, a base coat of a dull dark green or brown is applied to the entire gun. Then a contrasting lighter color is used to break up the gun’s outline. Take several small leaves and lay them randomly on the gun, then spray on the lighter color to create the outline of the leaves on the stock and barrel. Bohning archery products sells both a water proof camo tape and permanent camo spray paints that I’ve used to camouflage bows, guns and other sporting equipment.
The newest craze in gun camo back in 1992, which is the first time I wrote about camouflaging turkey guns, was the factory-applied finish that replicates some of the major camouflage patterns on the market. This process is actually a film that the guns are dipped in that quickly dries to a tough, permanent finish. Colorworks was the first company supplying film to gun manufacturers.
The NWTF 1992 Gun of the Year, a Remington 11-87, was one of the earliest turkey guns adorned in Trebark using this process. Early NWTF youth guns made by New England Firearms also used this process to apply a Mossy Oak pattern. Several other rifles and shotguns were offered with this process in the aforementioned patterns, as well as Realtree, but a new gun was the only way to get your hands on one at that time.
Camo just got easier with CamoWraps. Choices abound between several camouflage patterns. Another great camo wrap is GunSkins. These are easy to apply as a DIY project, too, for your camo turkey gun.
Paint Job
If you’re brave and have an artistic flair, painting with spray paint is a fairly permanent choice. Suffice it to say, a layered camo job using cut-outs and patterns that won’t come off easily. And, enamel paints will keep a gun from rusting, too. A host of web tutorials exist that show you how to paint your own shotgun, so I won’t belabor the point here.
Depending on which direction you take, either a new factory-camouflaged model or dressing up your favorite turkey gun, making your fowling piece less conspicuous will up your chances for success.
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