Camo Facts!

The word camouflage is actually derived from the French word camoufler, meaning “to blind or veil.” Essentially, it means to disguise something (or someone) to hide in plain sight and blend in with the natural surroundings of the environment. Since the dawn of time, camouflage has been critical element in the survival of natural species, and primitive man surely learned the basics of camouflage early on as he hunted daily for his survival.

The art of camouflage has reached new heights over the past two hundred years. In the 1800s American artist Abbott Thayer noticed that the graduation of color from light to dark was a fundamental feature of the protective coloration of many types of animals. This gradation creates the illusion of breaking up an object and causing it to lose its three-dimensional qualities. When this occurs, the object appears to “flatten” and blend in with its surroundings.

The military camouflage that we are so familiar with today was developed by the French during the course of World War I. They called upon artists and illustrators to devise creative methods of disguising troops and armaments. During the same conflict, the U.S. Army benefited from the skills of artist Norman Rockwell in creating effective means of camouflage for our own troops. By the Second World War, camouflage was an important element in the camouflaging of tanks, guns, ground transportation, planes and even ships at sea. A technique called “Razzle Dazzle” was used by the Americans to create lines and patterns on ships that served more to break up the lines and angles of the carriers and battleships than to actually mimic the surrounding ocean.

As you can see from the photographs included here (courtesy of Mossy Oak®), innovative thinking and manufacturing techniques have raised the art of camouflage to new heights. There is virtually no piece of outdoor equipment that cannot be effectively camouflaged, and the number of available patterns and sophisticated imagery grow from year to year. There are literally dozens of different camo patterns available from a variety of manufacturers, suitable to all types of foliage, terrain, and seasonal conditions.

Photos courtesy of Mossy Oak