Natural camouflage is determined by your surroundings. If you end up unprepared with proper gear, reading these tips will help you understand how to naturally camouflage yourself.
What is Natural Camouflage?
This type of camouflage involves using clothing, gear, and environmental awareness to blend into your surroundings and remain unseen. This can be achieved by using natural concealments, like bushes or rocks, to hide. Avoiding unnecessary movement is crucial. Mastering the art of natural camouflage not only enhances personal safety and survival skills but also creates a deeper connection with nature by allowing you to observe wildlife discreetly without disturbance.
Natural Camouflage: Using the Environment
It may not work as well as other traditional camouflage, but every little bit helps.
• Use Makeshift Face/Hair Paint: Use mud, dirt, charcoal, clay, or a combination of these to help create patterns on your skin and put in your hair to dull the shine. This will help hide any naturally shiny skin or hair, as well as break up the outline of your body.
• Camouflage Your Gear: Conceal your gear by using sticks, leaves, and dirt. The last thing you want is your gear giving you away, so attach leaves, and sticks, and coat it in dirt to help it to blend into the area as well. Moss is a great resource as well – if you are in an area with heavy moss, you can use it to cover a larger area.
• Use Grass: Don’t forget to use grass. It can help make a pattern in your mud covering, and can also be used to cover some of your gear (like your shoes) to help you blend in.
• Debris Is Your Friend: Cover yourself in debris that is on the ground around where you want to be concealed. Just get down and roll in it, that’s one of the best ways to ensure it will stick to you. Then sprinkle it on top of you where you are laying down and try to really get under it. With all the other camouflage and this, you are sure to remain unseen.
• Stay Still: Humans and animals are drawn to movement, so if you don’t move, you are more likely to remain unseen than if you are having to constantly readjust yourself or trying to move through the forest. Now, in some cases, you do need to move through the area, and the best way to do that is to silently stalk through the woods, moving as slowly as possible. Creeping through will be much slower, so it’ll take you more time to get the distance covered, but you will be less likely to be noticed this way.
Camouflage Like a Pro with TD
If you know you need to stay hidden before heading into a scenario, it’s important to come prepared with the right gear. We recommend choosing clothing that matches the colors and patterns of your surroundings; earthy tones like forest greens, mud browns, and rock greys are always a safe bet. Our Multicam systems have plenty of options that are great for a wide range of environments.
And when it comes to camo, layers are your secret weapon. Wearing different textures and patterns adds depth and breaks up your silhouette. The more layers you have, the harder it is for anyone (or anything) to spot you. Our MTHD: Mountain | Tundra | H20 | Desert collection features some high-quality layering pieces that are specifically designed for different climates. Plus, many of these pieces come in earth tones, so they’re extra beneficial.
Prepare for Next Time with These Extra Tips
Regardless of how you got into the situation, even if you don’t have traditional camouflage pieces on-hand, there are ways to naturally camouflage yourself. A basic understanding of natural camouflage and different techniques you can use to remain hidden will come in handy the next time.
So, there you have it - your ultimate guide to naturally camouflaging yourself like a pro. Knowing how to naturally camouflage is something that you won’t need regularly, but may be entirely necessary in a worst-case scenario or bad situation. We have a wide range of helpful articles on a variety of topics, like proper layering of outerwear for your next hunt. Any time you can plan ahead, get your multicam camo and other tactical apparel from TD.