In the modern world of hunting gear, true innovation begins with understanding nature itself. The development of Sitka’s Optifade camouflage wasn’t about making new patterns — it was about redefining how concealment works, grounded in biology, physics, and decades of field research. By studying how deer actually perceive the world, Sitka and the team at Gore created a camouflage system designed not for human eyes, but for the eyes of the animals we pursue.
Understanding How Deer See: The Science Behind Optifade
Hunters spend all year preparing for one defining moment — waiting in stillness, often for hours, for the chance that a buck might finally step down the trail. In the end, success can come down to just a few seconds or a few inches — the difference between a perfect shot and a missed opportunity.
What makes that moment so challenging is that deer perceive the world entirely differently from us. Their visual system is designed first and foremost to detect potential predators and navigate dense, complex environments — sometimes at remarkable speed.
The next evolution of Optifade camouflage focused on meeting the specific needs of the eastern whitetail and turkey hunter — those operating in dark, heavily vegetated forests with thick canopies and shadowed forest floors. To achieve this, the team at Gore, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Georgia and Sitka’s internal product specialists, studied how animals actually see within these unique environments.
Two primary variables guide camouflage effectiveness: pattern shape and color selection. The goal was to disrupt the human form and break up the hunter’s outline — while also masking subtle movement that deer detect so easily.
As one of the lead researchers, a lifelong deer hunter and scientist who has studied whitetails for more than 45 years, explained: deer see the world through two types of photoreceptors, meaning they perceive color primarily in shades of blue and yellow-green. They see blue wavelengths around 20 times better than humans, which has major implications for camouflage. Many existing camo patterns actually reflect blue light — inadvertently making hunters more visible rather than less.
During field testing, researchers compared various camo patterns from tree stands. They measured the spectral radiance of each pattern and compared it to the surrounding environment — above, below, and to either side — with the goal of minimizing contrast. Across repeated trials, Optifade Elevated II consistently matched the natural environment most closely.
Another part of the study focused on how fast deer process visual information. Using a test called flicker fusion, researchers found that deer can perceive flickering light up to four times faster than humans. In practice, that means they’re far more sensitive to motion — even the slightest movement can give away a hunter’s position.
By matching the spectral signature of the camouflage pattern to that of the forest itself, and understanding how deer process light and movement, Sitka’s designers developed a system that truly conceals the human outline in the stand.
At Sitka, the goal is simple: to build products that allow hunters to be fully immersed in their environment — blending not just into the landscape, but into the way animals see the world.
Shop Sitka at The Sporting Lodge
Explore the latest Sitka Optifade range at The Sporting Lodge, including performance clothing and accessories built on decades of innovation, field testing, and scientific research. From base layers to outer shells, every piece is engineered to keep you invisible, comfortable, and connected to the wild.