Interesting to talk to the folks involved in the Optifade patterns that Sitka uses. Earlier this month while in Delaware, we got the run down on what went into developing the original Open Country Optifade pattern and last year, the Forest Optifade pattern.
First and foremost was the emphasis that the patterns were NOT designed to have human eye appeal or fashion. The Open Country Optifade, the first Optifade pattern, was designed based on their research into what/how animals see. It was also designed for the notion of trying to blend in while hunting open spaces at ground level. It was not designed with the backgrounds for treestand hunting when the deer is looking up. The new Optifade Forest pattern was designed from the perspective of a deer looking up, with a sky background.
I know most hunters buy camo based on what looks good to them. Understandable. I never gave that much consideration to the research that had been done on how deer see and what they see when they look at objects. Was surely an interesting session to listen to that science.
What animals see and how they see it is way different than what we see. Therefore, camo patterns that are made with that in mind, probably have a completely different performance than those made without that perspective. Some patterns probably sell a lot better, as from a marketing perspective they are designed to appeal to the human eye. Not sure if the "human eye appeal' patterns perform that well on animals.
The designers at Gore explained that what animals see are outlines of images, more than the image itself. They designed the pattern to not only blend into the background found in most western hunting, but to blur the outline of the image we represent as hunters. If the outline of the hunters is a sharp contrast to the background, it is very easy for the animal to make out the hunter as a blob. The intent of the digital pattern you see in Optifade is to blur the image by having no solid colors, no repitition, no geometry, or anything else that provides a sharp outline, especially on the edges where the outline of the clothing contrasts/blends with the background.
It was interesting to see how many clothing designs they had rejected, such as pockets, zippers, etc. that created symmetry to the pattern. Symmerty is not a natural occurance in the outdoor world, so they try to avoid symmetry in their clothing designs. They continue to balance the clothing functionality designs against the camo pattern functionality designs.
They also spent a lot of time analyzing what the animal sees of a hunter at eye level, not elevated as in a treestand. I had really given no thought about the differences of what animals see with an earth background versus a sky background. That resulted in different pattern schemes, color mixes, and color variations than most patterns you see that are trying to make you look like an oak tree or a sage bush.
Using their research on animal vision learned from the Open Country Optifade pattern, they then came out with the Optifade Forest pattern for treestand hunters. Same principle of blurring the outline of the hunter against the background the animal will be seeing, in that case the sky background with a tree behind them.
No matter what pattern you use, the scientist at Gore were very adamant that lack of movement is critical. Optifade Camo is designed for the purpose of blending your image and the edges of that image with the backgrounds you are hunting in. If you are moving the intended purposes of blending your outline with that of your background will be mitigated.
And, we all know that playing the wind properly lets us get by with a lot of stuff no matter what pattern. And, if we play it wrong, no pattern will matter.
