July 14, 2012

Army Switches Camouflage Pattern, Hunting Market to Follow

The Army is dropping its current digital camouflage (Universal Camouflage Pattern) in favor of "Multicam", which means that all that grayish-green stuff will get shuffled down to some other collaborator, the way that the Iraqi army ended up dressed in our 1980s "chocolate chip" desert camo.

There was talk of adopting the Marine Corps' Marpat pattern, but the Corps did not want to share.

Here is an illustrated article on the evolution of military (and therefore hunting) camouflage.

See also "Portraits, Cubists, and Camouflage," on how the avant-garde artists of the early 20th century helped design vehicular and ship camouflage.

Expect this change to carry over into hunting gear fairly soon. Meanwhile, I have not worn out my old Woodland pattern stuff yet. And "chocolate chip," while it was rejected after Desert Storm (unless you were an Iraqi), isn't bad for arid-country waterfowling.

But as I said before, I think that nature's digital hunting camouflage pattern is Rattlesnake Pattern. Someone is missing a marketing opportunity.

2 comments:

Holly Heyser said...

Ha - I love multi-cam! Perfect colors for California hunting.

Camo iPhone 4 Case said...

I don't see how the army switching their pattern would cause the hunting market to switch theirs. The current hunting gear on the market already blends perfectly with the woods I hunt in. I do like the Multicam colors though, no doubt.