Bowhunt America

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HECS Concealment Apparel

Hunting Clothes

By Bill Krenz

If there’s anything cagier than an old cow elk, it’s two old cow elk.

And that’s exactly what I was facing as I attempted to stalk my way up the canyon toward the bugling bull. The two cows fed on my side of the herd. To say they were alert would be an understatement. Every few seconds one or the other would snap her head up and look around. Most of the herd seemed quite preoccupied. These two would be a problem.

Bowhunting involves getting close. Really close. Easy-arrow-shot close. In thick brush, 20 yards is about right. In more open terrain, 40 yards is a fine goal. For decades, bowhunters have scrambled for means to get that close. For the most part we’ve focused on disguising our movements with elaborate camouflage and/or elevated hiding positions, and covering or eliminating our odor by watching the wind, piling on cover scents or utilizing a boatload of scent-elimination products. What most bowhunters discovered was that nothing proved 100-percent effective, but all those efforts helped to some degree. Used in careful combination, camouflage clothing, treestands and scent awareness helped to get us closer.

Still, we got busted. Deer snorted. Bulls whirled and charged away. Bears turned and just melted into the brush. And surprisgly often, for no apparent reason at all, the game we sought also seemed to somehow simply sense our presence. Even when we didn’t move a muscle, even when the wind was just right, a big buck would occasionally put a tree between us and then walk slowly and deliberately straight away and right out of our lives. That was always especially frustrating.

All that and more whipped through my head as I closed the distance on the elk. Small pines screened some of my movements, and I was camouflaged from head to toe. The wind was also pretty much in my favor. In addition to all that, I was wearing HECS.

“HECS” stands for Human Energy Concealment Systems. In a nutshell HECS is a thin layer of high-tech clothing that serves to dampen the electromagnetic emissions that all living bodies produce. Science has long known that living entities emit an electromagnetic field (EMF). That field can be measured, even photographed to some degree. It’s real, and it’s theorized that many animals can readily detect that field and will shy away from the danger those electromagnetic emissions indicate.

I know, this is starting to sound like aluminum-foil hats to keep aliens away. But there’s plenty of real-world research to suggest that animals use their natural abilities to detect electromagnetic fields to guide their migrations, to align to magnetic north-south grids and to detect the presence of other living organisms.

So, if we work so hard to camouflage our movements and our scent, why not at least experiment with means to also camouflage or dampen our body’s electromagnetic emissions?

Mike Slinkard of HECS (and also of Winner’s Choice Custom Bowstrings) has taken up that challenge.

“What we discovered was the medical field had already developed the notion that conductive fibers woven into a special grid pattern would be able to block or dampen electromagnetic emissions,” says Slinkard.” We also uncovered that various military agencies were actively working on such EMF-cloaking applications. From that research, we developed HECS Energy Cloak Fabric for hunters. HECS fabric contains a specialized conductive carbon-fiber grid pattern that tests show can block up to 90 percent of the electromagnetic energy emitted by the human body.”

What Mike and his HECS team eventually developed was a complete garment system consisting of a lightweight camouflage shirt, pant and headnet. Those HECS items can be worn either as a baselayer or as outer garments. I’ve typically worn mine as a comfortable baselayer. The advanced material is light and breathable.

A variety of scientific research has been conducted with EMF-cloaking materials and garments. That research appears to show that such garments do block or reduce EMF emissions to the extent that they lower the potential of detection by animals. Tests were specifically conducted with cattle, horses and mule deer. In the studies with mule deer, the deer remained more relaxed and appeared to have a much more difficult time detecting the presence of test subjects wearing the EMF-cloaking garments. Without the cloaking garments, the average detection distance with the mule deer was 143 yards (boy, does that sound familiar). With the cloaking garments, the average detection distance shrank to just 65 yards, with some cloaked subjects closing to within 32 yards before detection.

I moved to my right and wove my way through a small stand of quaking aspen trees in an attempt to skirt around the two sentinel cows. Those two old ladies were now less than 50 yards away. I moved when their heads were down. I froze when they jerked to attention. The wind was right, my camouflage broke up my outline and, I think, my HECS inner clothing layer was helping as well. Everything combined had kept me undetected.

Finally past those outrigger cows, I began closing in on the still-bugling bull. A few more cows and calves partially blocked my approach, but eventually I could see the top of a small pine whipping back and forth and hear the scrape of heavy antlers on bark. Then I glimpsed white antler tips.

The truck ground to a stop on the lip of the canyon far above me. A door slammed. Voices discussing coffee and the vibrant colors of the aspen leaves ricocheted down the canyon walls. The elk packed up and left. I sat down and stewed.

Like so many bowhunters, I look for an edge. I wear camouflage, I watch the wind, I mind my scent, I move like molasses or occasionally climb up into a treestand. And now, I’m also excited to be experimenting with HECS. It’s all part of the fight to get closer.

For more information on HECS, log onto hecsllc.com or call Human Energy Concealment Systems at (541) 575-4327.

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