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Optifade Concealment

A Pattern for your Pursuits

Optifade Patterns

The Science of Concealment

GORE™ OPTIFADE™ Concealment is the first hunter concealment approach to consider animal vision as the ultimate effectiveness test. This concealment pattern applies revolutionary new findings in animal vision science, camouflage science and advanced computer technology. In contrast with mimicry camouflage, which attempts to make the hunter match his environment, the premise of GORE™ OPTIFADE™ Concealment is to prevent the animal from recognizing the hunter as a predator.

Elevated II

GORE™ OPTIFADE™ Concealment Elevated II is designed for whitetail hunters in an elevated position. Its macro and micro pattern configurations echo the higher contrast of bright sky against the shaded underside of foliage while allowing hunters to extend their season as the leaves change. It’s designed for engagement ranges of 80 yards or less and keeps the hunter undetectable at 15 feet up in a tree stand.

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Open Country

GORE™ OPTIFADE™ Concealment Open Country is scientifically optimized for engagement ranges of 50 yards and beyond at ground level in rocky terrain above the timber line. The Open Country pattern uses the larger neutral areas of the pattern (macro pattern) that are more critical to concealment at greater engagement ranges.

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Subalpine

GORE™ OPTIFADE™ Concealment Subalpine is designed for stalking and ambushing ungulates from ground level in tree-covered and vegetated terrain. Subalpine is optimized for engagement ranges of 50 yards and less.

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Waterfowl Marsh

GORE™ OPTIFADE™ Concealment Waterfowl Marsh is designed for layout and blind hunting in the marsh, standing crops, and cut stubble fields. While most patterns are designed as though the bird is on the ground looking at the hunter, the Marsh pattern utilizes a swirling effect to exploit the vision of birds in constant motion above the hunter. The optimal engagement distance is between 35 yards at 45-degree and steeper angles.

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Waterfowl Timber

GORE™ OPTIFADE™ Concealment Waterfowl Timber is optimized for engagement distances of 10 to 40 yards in the darker environments of flooded timber. Because water reflects both the brightness of the sky and the dark underside of the canopy, the pattern displays areas of high contrast. As a bird descends closer to the hunter, its environment darkens, which is represented in the pattern’s overall darker appearance.

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The Science of Nothing

The traditional approach to hunting has been to smell, sound or appear as something familiar to prey - through cover scents, calls and camouflage patterns of sticks and leaves. GORE™ OPTIFADE™ Concealment is the first concealment system designed around animal vision and not human eyesight. Unlike mimicry camouflage, GORE™ OPTIFADE™ Concealment prevents your prey from recognizing you as a predator – even if detected – making you NOTHING in their eyes.

Macro vs. Micro

Stalking predators, like tigers, have a macro pattern of stripes that break up their body symmetry as they chase prey. Ambush predators, like spotted leopards, utilize micro patterns that enable them to blend into the background while poised to attack. GORE™ OPTIFADE™ Concealment incorporates the micro and macro patterns of the animal kingdom to help make hunters unrecognizable as predators, even when detected.

The Open Country pattern uses the larger neutral areas of the pattern-the macro-pattern-more critical to concealment at greater engagement ranges. The Elevated II pattern uses “Vertical Effect Compensation,” making the micro-pattern more critical. Why? The vertical effect of trees makes it easier for ungulate prey to detect a hunter. With the new Elevated II pattern, Gore has optimized the contrast through shading and colorization to account for how ungulates see when they look up in a wooded environment. In layman’s terms, it’s why a wine stain shows up more readily on a striped shirt than on a paisley one (See Figure 1). And it’s why the Elevated II pattern vanishes into the forest canopy.

How Ungulate Vision Works

The world of the backcountry hunter is defined by stark contrasts - bright sky, dark leaves and branches - and by the vertical lines of trees. These lines make it easier for whitetail deer and other ungulate prey to detect the hunter’s presence.

Ungulate eye placement is designed for an extremely wide field of view and a quick scan of the horizon for potential threats. The trade-off is diminished visual acuity. While we see 20/20, an ungulate sees around 20/40, making deer vision slightly blurrier than ours. While humans have a full range of color vision, ungulates lack the receptors for red tones, viewing the world in shades of yellow, blue, and grey.

Bottom line: Ungulates suffer from red-green colorblindness. The human's field of view is 120°. The ungulate's field of view is 280° and a simple turn of the head expands its view to 360°. Bottom line: Ungulates have a wider field of vision.

How Waterfowl Vision Works

Waterfowl hunting is done in a high contrast environment. Skylight from the horizon or light reflected from the water surface will shine through gaps in rushes, creating concentrated light spots. Waterfowl have a large, almost panoramic, field of vision.

Their visual acuity is very good for an animal, though not superior to human acuity. However, they have low contrast sensitivity – an inability to see “edges” very clearly – and relatively poor depth perception. Waterfowl have a fourth photo-receptor that allows them to see some colors that humans cannot see.

Because birds are overhead and in motion, and not viewing the hunter horizontally, the macro pattern in GORE OPTIFADE Waterfowl is more vertical than it is in patterns designed for ground prey.