The Science Behind SITKA’s New OPTIFADE Cover Camo

Dr. Karl Miller Shares Intel About Designing Camo Deer Can't See

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Listen up, hunters! SITKA has just launched a research-driven camo pattern designed for deer vision—NOT HUMAN VISION! Gound-breaking discoveries have reshaped the meaning of a good camo pattern.

Meet SITKA OPTIFADE Cover

A big ol’ buck steps out. You don’t move a millimeter. You don’t make a sound. The wind direction is perfect. You lick your chops because you can already taste the venison … already see that rack on the wall. The deer is all but in the back of the truck.

Suddenly, he throws his head up, looks straight at you, waves the white flag, and heads for safer acres. Game over. And it’s all because of that second-rate camo you decided to wear.

With modern technology, biologists and camo makers are learning more about how deer see. In an age where most camouflage is made to satisfy the eyes of humans, that isn’t true for all. Enter SITKA (sitkagear.com).

“OPTIFADE Cover was created to address the lack of scientifically backed concealment for greener seasons, and the environments and landscapes across the eastern US,” said a SITKA representative. “Partnering with scientists at the University of Georgia, SITKA researched deer vision in those environments to engineer superior stealth for the woods. Understanding a deer’s ability to detect movement is much faster than humans with 300 degrees of peripheral vision, their heightened processing speed and superior peripheral vision formed the basis of SITKA OPTIFADE’s proven design principles. OPTIFADE’s pattern design disrupts the outline of a hunter’s silhouette using micro- and macro-breakup elements essential for preventing game from tracking human outlines.”

Dr. Karl Miller On How Deer See

Dr. Karl Miller, an emeritus professor of deer management with the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources at the University of Georgia, is by any definition a whitetail expert. Part of his expertise is in whitetail sensory perception, including deer vision. And that’s why SITKA asked him to team up for a camo pattern design effort.

“Deer see the world very differently than we see the world,” Miller said. “The more we find out about these differences, the more we realize how big that difference is. A deer is designed to be a deer and its senses are adapted accordingly. Humans are designed to be humans, and our senses are adapted accordingly.

“A deer has to avoid predation, or it isn’t going to make another deer,” Miller continued. “Their vision is critical for predator avoidance. Their eyesight also must be geared toward navigating their environment. They live in a very structurally complex environment, and they might have to run through that at break-neck speed. We can’t do that, but they have a very different visual system.”

Miller, along with associates and former students, have been conducting research on deer vision for nearly 30 years. Today, because of such research, we know deer are dichromatic, meaning they see in shades of blue and yellow. Humans, on the other hand, are trichromatic. But the difference between deer vision and human vision goes far beyond that.

“I’ve had some tremendous graduate students who did many of these studies,” Miller said. “I must give them credit for doing the work. It was a team effort.”

Why Camo Matters To Deer 

When it comes to camo, you’re trying to accomplish two things. First, you want to avoid detection. Secondly, if you are detected, you want to avoid being identified.

Of course, one way deer detect predators is by seeing motion. That’s a very difficult thing to camouflage. It’s very difficult to mitigate that with a hunting garment.

Another element of avoiding detection is light. Is there something in that hunting garment reflecting another part of the light spectrum that’s different from the background? If so, you’re going to stand out.

“Standing out there in a solid color suit is going to be very different than the rest of the background,” Miller said. “Deer will detect the outline of that predator (human).  But even a camo pattern can stand out against the background if it reflects colors that are different than the background reflectance.”

Reflecting colors that are at the peak of a deer’s spectral sensitivity (particularly blues) is a big mistake. Deer can see blues up to 20 times better than humans. So, people wearing blue jeans to the treestand is crazy. That’s going to reflect very differently from everything else in the background. 

Why Hunters Should Avoid Blue

According to Miller, minimizing blue signals from camouflage is very important.

“Many camo patterns have a lot of white in them,” Miller said. “Or, they have brighteners in them. Well, in the evening, there are a lot of ambient blues. If you’re wearing something with a lot of whites, or with brighteners in it, that’s actually reflecting the blue part of the spectrum differently than the background. So you might stand out to a deer very vividly. Whereas we wouldn’t see a difference, they’d see something very bright up in the tree.

“So, think about this,” Miller continued. “If you are wearing something that reflects a lot of blue, which is very visible to deer, it’s not difficult for them to notice that there is something different there.  That draws their attention.  The blues then can then help identify the hunter's outline, making identification easier.  So, wouldn’t it make sense to have a camo pattern that had the same spectral reflectance as the background, particularly in the wavelengths that are at the peak spectral sensitivity of their photopigments?”

What Makes SITKA OPTIFADE Cover Better?

So, instead of developing a camo pattern based on human vision, Miller, along with experts from SITKA and Gore, collaborated to create a camo pattern that would focus on the visual system of the deer. Decades of whitetail vision research, and two years of research and development, led to SITKA OPTIFADE Cover.

“We designed camo that had a spectral reflectance that would mimic the background,” Miller said. “We wanted to minimize the difference between the camo pattern and the background itself, particularly at those wavelengths that are at peak spectral sensitivity of the deer’s vision.”

The development team started by studying existing Sitka camo patterns in the lab, using a spectroradiometer (Spectra Scan). With that, they focused on the wavelengths of light at the peak spectral sensitivity of the two photopigments in the deer’s eye, which include blues and yellows.

Real-World Proving Grounds

Based on these results, the team created 30 different test patterns. About a dozen of those were selected and taken to the field and tested in a field environment. They used a telescoping spectroradiometer to evaluate these patterns in comparison to the background reflectance in simulated tree stand hunting situations in Georgia, such as hardwood forests and field edges.  Based on the results of this second phase, they narrowed the patterns down to the four best-performing and subjected these to further, more intense, testing in forested areas in Louisiana. These top four test materials were tested during the pre-dawn hours, after dawn, late afternoon, and after sunset in bottomland forests, upland forests, and field edges.

Through all of the testing, one testing candidate consistently performed best. “The match between the spectral reflectance of the test pattern and the spectral reflectance of the background vegetation was quite good,” Miller remarked.

Enter OPTIFADE Cover, which was crafted for greener destinations and seasons. It’s also perfect for densely vegetated areas. It tested well in numerous settings, including field edges and bottomland forests.

As for how different this pattern is from other SITKA patterns, two things stand out. First, the exact colors are significantly different. And, second, the positioning of pixelations is, too.

"Our goal at SITKA has always been to push the limits of what's possible in hunting gear, and with SITKA OPTIFADE Cover, we have taken concealment to the next level,” said Todd Barker, Marketing Director at SITKA Gear. “Cover is not just about blending in, it's about helping the hunter become undetectable in the eyes of the game."

Editor’s note: Stay tuned at hookandbarrel.com for a future “After Hunting Action” Report that’s currently underway.