Jack Pyke Wildlands camo

Jack Pyke has been extremely successful with their camo designs - first with the autumnal English Oak then the summer-biased English Woodland pattern. However, I think it’d be fair to say they didn’t have the same success with the now discontinued Wildtrees Grasslands - a pattern that was designed for areas of dying dry grass, stubble fields and marshland. In my opinion it had its uses but was so terrain-specific, most hunters didn’t take to it except for those who shoot pigeon over stubble and dedicated wildfowlers.

GOT TO HAVE FAITH!

Even so, they must have faith in the base concept as they’ve now developed ‘Wildlands’ from it.

Initially it doesn’t appear to be much different, but on closer inspection and while wearing it amongst the terrain it’s designed for it does seemingly show itself to have been slightly modified for the better.

It still leans heavily towards largely using a colour blend of ochre, fawn, off- whites and overall the colouration is certainly lighter. It can also be termed ‘semi-photo-realistic’ as it uses a liberal amount of lengthy ‘shards’ of what are obviously late season coloured broad ‘reed-like’ grass stems and dry rye grass, including a sparse amount of leaf patterning integrated within - their colouration is medium to very light brown.

I’d also describe the camo as being less ‘cluttered’ than the original and it certainly can’t be described as trying to give a ‘wall-paper’ effect most photo-realistic camo designs purposely strive to achieve. It came out for test on their popular Hunters Jacket and Trousers, a top & bottom combination I’ve always liked due to the build and features.

STEALTHY DOES IT

To briefly recap - both are manufactured from Stealth Fabric which is breathable, waterproof and silent. The outershell is 100% Polyester brushed tricot with a laminated membrane. The lining is made up of 100% Polyester with brushed mesh and taffeta.

The 3⁄4 length jacket has a full double zip opening with press stud storm flap. There’s a generous hood concealed in the high storm collar, two lower front bellows pockets with cartridge holders, two hand warmer pockets, 1 internal chest pocket and a zip open ‘poachers pocket’ cum full fold down seat flap at the rear. The cuffs have elasticated weather shrouds inside the jacket itself positioned under the outer strong Velcro adjustable fastening straps.

The Trousers are a pull-over design and have a broad reinforced elasticated waist band with inner draw cord including ABS toggle adjuster. There are two upper pockets with weather flaps, two side cargo-style pockets with flaps and press stud fastening. At the bottom there are 14” zips that allow you to easily slip them on without removing boots. Velcro adjuster straps are ideally positioned for you to cinch them tight around footwear. A sensible feature is the press stud fastener on the ‘zips’ overflap adding strength and protection midway along its length. They’re also reinforced at the seat and knee. So, with little doubt in the quality of the garments but what about the camo? Wildlands is a terrain-specific pattern, I’d say it’s certainly one of the better choices for the areas it’s designed for.

CONTACT: Jack Pyke of England Ltd 01234 740327 www.jackpyke.co.uk

FOR: Practical and well made Wildlands camo works well in the right terrain
AGAINST: Not a lot
VERDICT: An improvement on the pattern it was ‘developed’ from Good hunting clothing