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As Ted has already outlined, we tried out several varieties of the new Ridgeline “Sable Air Flow” “Buffalo” camo hunting clothing, and the “Warthog” shorts also in “Buffalo” camo. I already have several articles of Ridgeline camo myself and am very happy with it so my expectations naturally were reasonably high, and overall I came away quite impressed with the clothing supplied for testing. The 100% polyester “Sable” Airflow apparel is ideal for hotter climates and certainly suits me and the climate I live and do most of my hunting in. I sweat a fair bit and the slightest breeze through the air-flow holes in the Sable line cools me instantly. The “Warthog” shorts were a new item though for me and as with all Ridgeline items I either own or have tested so far the build quality appears very good. I am a believer in long sleeves when exposed to the sun all day so I chose the long sleeved air-flow collared zip-up shirt to wear along with the long air-flow trousers. In the hot, dry and windy conditions we experienced this was an ideal combination. The clothing is really light and protected me from the extreme conditions and kept me cool. The fit was loose without being too baggy and the trousers were comfortable yet when coupled with a belt retained a few loose items I kept in the pockets. The shirt is what I would and in fact do chose for warmer climate hunting. The trousers I would use also however the drawback this air-flow style of clothing has is that it picks up seeds. As we mentioned in the video footage Spear-grasses in particular will stick to this like Velcro so for country with long grass showing any seasonal seed I would choose the Warthog shorts coupled with the Sable Air-flow shirts. However in any open and lightly grassed hot country the Sable Air-Flow shorts and trousers will be in my hunting kit… no doubt. The “Warthog” shorts impressed me greatly. They are made from 100% cotton and I found them to be light, strong and well made and unlike the Air-Flow line spear-grass resistant. They will be from now on my first choice for camo in warmer climates. These shorts had good deep pockets and the construction appears very sound. The new “Buffalo” camo pattern used on all of the clothing we tested appeared to break up our outlines rather well despite the droughted area we hunted in being decidedly browner in appearance than the green shaded camo. My personal belief is that as long as the man-made shapes and outlines of clothing, rifles and human figures are disrupted then camouflage will do its job and slight mismatches of shade are less relevant. I may be wrong though (and not for the first time). |
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