A scientific approach based on animal vision

GORE™ Optifade™ Camo

The Science of Concealment

Optifade Patterns

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, camouflague science and advanced computer technology. in contrast with mimicry camoflague, which attempts to make the hunter match their environment, the premise of GORE™ OPTIFADE™ Concealment is to prevent the animal from recognizing the hunter as the predator.

Optifade Subalpine

Gore™ Optifade™ Concealment Subalpine is designed for stalking and ambushing ungulates in tree-covered and vegetated terrain. Subalpine is optimized for engagement ranges of 50 yards and less.

Optifade Open Country

Gore™ Optifade™ Concealment 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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Optifade 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 foilage 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 undectable at 15 feet up in a tree stand.

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Optifade 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.

Optifade 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.

Micro vs Macroo

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.

The science of nothing

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