Camo vs. Concealment: Through the Eyes of Prey

It's one of the oldest tricks in nature: blend into your surroundings to hide from predators or to stalk and strike prey.

The animal kingdom developed diverse and clever means of camouflage, but without the benefit of chameleon skin or striped fur, human hunters had to adapt other means to get close to our prey. We devised camo clothing that mimicked the textures and colors of the environments we hunted. These printed and textured fabrics are now synonymous with hunting, and today there’s no shortage of elaborate camo patterns available to hunters.

While any pattern that breaks up your body shape will help to hide you from prey, modern camouflage still has a critical flaw: it’s based on what looks good to the human eye instead of how our prey see the world.

This is why we developed GORE™ OPTIFADE™ Concealment, and we approached the problem with a simple question: If you could wear a pattern that went beyond traditional camo — concealment that fundamentally confused the vision of your prey — why wouldn’t you?

Key takeaways:

• Camouflage and concealment are not the same. Traditional camouflage focuses on blending into the environment, while concealment aims to prevent animals from recognizing the hunter in the first place.

• Many hoofed game animals have different color vision than humans. Animals such as deer, elk, moose, sheep, and pigs are dichromats, meaning they primarily perceive blues and yellows and have limited sensitivity to reds.

• Effective hunting concealment should be designed around the visual perception of the target animal—not around what looks like natural camouflage to humans. SITKA presents its OPTIFADE™ technology as a science-based alternative to conventional camouflage, emphasizing research in animal vision, visual perception, and digital pattern design.

Developing Concealment Camo: Stealth Through Science

In 2009, SITKA Gear and W.L. Gore & Associates set out to revolutionize hunting camouflage by developing a concealment pattern scientifically based on animal vision. We didn’t know what the end result would be, but we were driven by a passion to create something that went beyond the status quo to truly enhance the hunter’s experience and success.

We enlisted three critical players in this quest: 

• Animal vision expert Jay Neitz, Ph.D.; the “Father of Digital Camouflage” 

• Lieutenant Colonel Tim O’Neill, Ph.D. (U.S. Army, Retired)

• Camo guru and Hyperstealth Biotechnology Corporation President & CEO Guy Cramer

How Prey See the World: Animal Vision & Camouflage

We began our work with Dr. Jay Neitz, an animal vision expert at the University of Washington Medical School. Dr. Neitz and his team developed a gene therapy that cured colorblindness in a pair of squirrel monkeys, turning them from dichromats – animals whose eyes contain only two types of color receptors – into trichromats – animals with three color receptor types, like most humans. In other words, he was more than up to the task of helping us to understand ruminant vision.

“Deer vision is very different from human vision,” Neitz explained to us. “And it’s not just deer we’re talking about.”

Ungulates — hoofed animals like deer, elk, moose, goats, sheep, and pigs — all evolved with very similar eyesight.

“They’re all dichromats with cones that perceive yellow and blue, meaning they’re colorblind to the red spectrum,” Neitz added.

We took Dr. Neitz’s findings to Lt. Col. Tim O’Neill, Ph.D. to help translate this knowledge into a pattern.

Camouflage & Concealment: What It Means for Hunters

Lieutenant Colonel O’Neill was the first to use pixilation to create macro and micro camouflage patterns and was instrumental in the design of camo for the Canadian Department of Defense, U.S. Marines, and U.S. Army. To boot, Lt. Col. O’Neill is an expert in visual biophysics and human visual performance. He enlightened us on what he called the basics of visual systems.

"It all has to do with how the eye and the brain work together," O’Neill said. "So when humans detect a target, we are simply spotting something that doesn't belong. It may be a valid target, known as a true detection, or it may not be anything of interest—a false alarm."

The ambient system is an ancient way of seeing and evolved long before the focal system. All the images that feed from this pathway are registered by the brain in the unconscious. If the brain picks up something of interest from the ambient system, it will move the eye so that the object sits squarely in the receptors used by the focal system. This second neurological pathway then brings the image into the brain's consciousness so we can start gathering information about it.

Despite the differences in human and animal vision, Dr. Neitz confirmed that similar systems are at work in animals.

“These dual processes take place in evolutionarily old parts of the brain, and are common to all vertebrates.”

Understanding ungulate visual processes means camouflage must work in two ways: First, it must avoid stimulating the ambient system. Essentially, that means breaking up the hunter's three-dimensional shape, not just the silhouette, which must be achieved with an effective macro pattern. Second, if the hunter is detected, the camouflage must prevent or delay recognition by making the hunter appear to have a completely different texture, which is where the micro pattern comes into play.

The next step was to take our knowledge of animal vision and turn it into an effective pattern.

Enter Guy Cramer.

Building a New Concealment Camo Pattern

Cramer revolutionized military camouflage by developing patterns based on mathematical fractals (feedback loops) and has developed over 1,000 proprietary digital camo patterns.

“To do this well requires a deep understanding of optical systems, organic shapes, and some rather complex mathematics,” he said, explaining that he'd coded much of that knowledge into a set of progressive computer algorithms.

The process begins with an initial layout of light and dark areas designed to disrupt the three-dimensional human shape. Several algorithms then position those areas to conceal the repeating structure of the arms and legs that stimulates the ambient system. 

Macro Camouflage Patterns

He then applies a Movement Concealment Algorithm, refining the macro pattern to obscure the pivot points of the limbs and torso, which, even with slight movement, can reveal our shape and make hunters easier to identify. Next is a Fractal Algorithm, which generates smaller geometric shapes that tend to repeat at larger or smaller scales within the same object. Nature is full of them; for example, a twig is a small version of a branch, which is a small version of a parent branch, which is a small version of a tree trunk.

Micro Camouflage Patterns

Then comes the micro pattern, the small digital pixels that add background noise and texture to confuse the eye's focal system. The idea is that if you're detected, you should be difficult to identify so that your target’s delayed reaction may provide enough additional time for an ethical shot.

Finally, Cramer runs two algorithms to maximize disruption between similar hues and arrange the light and dark areas to simulate depth. These two processes fool animal vision into seeing textures instead of a body and ultimately disregarding these “textures” as unthreatening.

Lastly, he applies a process to emulate the colors, shadows, and reflections of a given environment.

The Result: OPTIFADE™ Concealment Camo

The result was our first GORE™ OPTIFADE™ Concealment pattern, Open Country. It wasn’t a flashy design intended to make hunters look cool, and it clearly didn’t mimic any particular environment. It was unlike anything the hunting world had seen, which is why we didn’t call it camo. Most importantly, the pattern worked. Really well. By targeting and disrupting animal vision at the source, OPTIFADE™ allowed hunters to get closer to prey and offered greater versatility, often allowing hunters to hide in plain sight.

FAQS: Camouflage & Concealment For Hunters 

What’s the difference between concealment and camouflage?

Concealment is designed to hide the wearer from visual recognition, while camouflage is a pattern that mimics the surroundings. Concealment is about avoiding detection by specific animals, while camo leans into a more passive effort to blend in with surroundings. 

What are the benefits of concealing camouflage?

Concealment camo patterns are developed to minimize specific target species’ ability to process and recognize visual information. Unlike traditional camouflage, which relies on passively blending with background visuals, concealing camo has features which use animal science to block or delay their ability to perceive a hunter’s movement or silhouette. 

Does camo actually work when hunting?

Camo’s effectiveness relies on many factors, from its ability to match the surrounding environment to the technology used to design the pattern itself. Simple environmental prints may allow a perfectly still subject to “blend in” with the background, but even subtle movement is easily detected by many animals. This is why high-tech, game-specific camouflage is more effective when hunting. 

Why don't hunters use military camo?

Military camo is typically designed for a combination of purposes — to hide from enemy eyes and technology while also providing the identifying factors required in international rules of engagement. Human eyeballs and military optical technology operate differently from animals’ eyes, which means that what works for hiding from night vision goggles is not the same as what works for hiding from crepuscular ungulates. 

What’s the difference between traditional camo vs OPTIFADE™?

Traditional camo is designed as a near-photographic print that mimics common surroundings. Some classic camouflage patterns are impressionistic prints that are inspired by popular hunting landscapes. OPTIFADE™ camo blends traditional photorealistic camo patterns with high-tech digital camo that is specifically engineered to disrupt how animals process visual information.