Gary and Mark's write up of their Buffalo & Lion hunt resurrected an issue which has been on my mind for some years. Damage to knees and elbows whilst closing on game.

When I was a young bloke there was virtually no hunting specific clothing available. As a consequence I bought an old Italian camo jacket and pants set from a disposals store. Camo was a bit of a novelty in those days and attracted a fair bit of derisive comments. But what I found very practical was that the gear had 1/8” thick rubber pads integrated into the elbows and knees. It made crawling over stoney ground or firing from prone position much more comfortable.

These days we are blessed with some great fabrics (silent finish, odour control etc) for hunting clothes. However the only gear I’ve seen which incorporates protection has been some of the “Tactical” gear which often features less desirable fabrics for hunting and is frequently in military patterns which may not be permitted for hunting in some parts of Africa.

Interested in your thoughts and experiences on this issue.

I didn't really count on that much crawling around and I was done by the end of the buffalo hunt but I do like wearing shorts when hunting over there. We were seeing 50+ degree temp swings from daylight to Noon and that's really hard to dress for. A jump suit for early morning when still on the truck and then get out of that and go to shorts and a fleece shirt when you get off the truck works great. They had a very light winter there this year and there were still a lot of leaves on the mopani trees and other bushes which made things a bit more difficult. I may look into some sort of knee protection if I ever get to go again.