Stealth and hiding plays an important part of many airsoft missions. You may need to hide to wait for an ideal shot or to evade the enemy. You also may need to move quickly and quietly for the same reasons. However alot of people do not know how to do these things. I am here to teach you a little about how to do such things.

Clothing

First of all you need to pick clothing best suited for your environment. However there are various prints of each kind of camo. Look at the colors of the area you will be playing in and then pick your camo. However even with good camo most people have black vests which give them away. Hunting camo can be good if you plan to stay stationary for long periods of time but it wont look tactical.


Shadows

Playing at night or even during the day shadows are important. If you see a man shaped shadow you will probably shut at it. Therefore its important to distort the look of your shadow and make it appear as just some tree or rock. This can be done by moving your arms or others things. Or if you wanan get really hardcore keep some kind of blanket with you.

Movement

Different terrans require diffrent patterns of walking.

Grass-You can probably walk normallly through regular grass with out too much problem.

Rocks-Walk by first placing the ball of your foot down and then slowly bring the rest of your foot down.

Leaves-The same way as rocks.

Water-Cut throguh the surface with the toe of your show and slide it in like a knife. Water is the most difficult and time consuming to move quitely through.

Basic Hiding Tips

-A rock can look like a mountain from far away. Rember that.
-The tree is never as wide as it looks.
-Rember you may need to defend yourself from your hiding position so don't hide on a slim tree branch.
-If you cover a foxhole or other fortification in branches or something to hide it remember more is less.

Other

-Listen to the sounds of the natural world and use them to cover your own.
-Your gun makes noise, but so does everyone else's if you must shot, Wait for someone else to incase you miss.


Its late so I probably forgot quite alot.

"Water-Cut throguh the surface with the toe of your show and slide it in like a knife. Water is the most difficult and time consuming to move quitely through."


I was reading this hunting article a while back, and it was about this guy that performed covert operations in Vietnam and he wasnt allowed to tell anyone about it until everything was declassified, and hes pretty much the hardcore of hardcore. and he said the best way to sneak up onto a deer is by water, cause they drink there and they don't expect a human to stalk them that way cuz its so loud. but he said that that was also the best way to sneak up on the enemy because humans especially don't expect it becuz they think they would be able to hear it. so if you can master this technique, and be able to do it so stealth, that is one of the best ways to gather a good kill.

im also fully aware that this thread is from march

Sorry for the newbish question but whats the ball of your foot?

The heel? Toe?

the area that your toes connect to.

o000O
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Sorry....I just had to take the time to do that...

lol nice diagram

yeah that is an awsome diagram... also is an awsome artical. being it said "no, you can't be a ninja" I had to come in...

in tall grass the best way to move is slow and on your belly... seems obvious but I have seen so many people get up sprint for a little while and then dive (thinking that no one saw them) then they get up a little while later (with everyones guns at them) and get shot.

About crossing creeks, I am so darn big compared to most people, I can just jump, or even step over many creeks. Rivers are not problem cause the already make lots of noise. My friend lost a $400 airsoft gun in the Nooksack river in Washignton.

Im scared to death of water!

I wont even step into a puddle deeper then a foot...

I had the wonderful oppertunity to do some swimming past game. Water was past kneed deep in light of recent rain. Its difficult to move silently. You have to slowly glide your feet through the water. Moving aganist the flow is a royal pain. But its fun to go through the water. Given the choice between that and land I choose the water. So long as its not any deeper then waist.

if I can get a waterproof airsoft gun, all id do is water missions, lol. I love water, and im a Darn good swimmer too! im also very quite while swimming fast, id love to try it with my tactical gear... without looking like a complete idiot.... LMFAO.

I can imagine me and a few friends show up to the local swimming hole on a hot summer day, everyones in swimwear and sun tan, we are in tactical gear and camo facepaint, hahahhahaa. we rush to the waters edge with guns in every direction and all slowly seep into the water quietly... we all dissapear from sight only to slowly pop up again at the other side of the river, where we casually regroup and continue on over the rocks all without a single sound... hahahaha. or at the same swimming hole me and my friends are in tactical gear again and the 5 of us are on our freinds inflatable raft with guns in every direction, we slowly and quieltly slide by the group of people who are just staring in complete curiousity... a few people get close to the boat, only to get pelted by an airsoft gun... hahahaha. I need to make a video!

(oh, sorry, by tactical gear I mean the stuff im gonna get soon, but I mostly have my idea on how id look, lol)

O man that must suck, I'll be lookin out for that gun of his. And one more thing with the stealth, unless your close to an enemy, or your in the open, your enemy can't hear you breathing. Many times I can walk right by my friends very casually and they don't hear me. Also if you are in the woods and the ground is soft, the sound of moving through grass and bushes is muffles so much that you can't be heard from 20 ft away. I've made mad dashes through ferns that are 5 ft high and my targets never hear me. Theres my 2 cents.

PS: theres no such thing as a stealthy bonzai

One quick correction but one cannot become invisible, being undetectable is all that can be hoped for.

whitefeather99

very good post, my friend. Very good post.

sorry for the stupid question, but how can black vests give you away? its just that we usually play at night or close to so we wear black or camo or both. but I have a black vest and haven't worn it b/c of all the posts saying that it will give you away. so I wear camo pants and a black long sleeve shirt and a black beanie hat.
but during the day I wear full camo (pants and shirt.) but not my vest. so I guess im really just asking if its ok to wear a black vest over my shirt at night and during the day ? and how does it give you away?

thanks
sorry its so long for 2 questions....

good article but you need to work on your spelling

My bad.

I can become a ninja if I want to. I have actually studied the shadow arts. Its actually pretty basic stuff, but people think it to be hard and amazing due to the mystery and myths surrounding them. I suggest reading The Ninja And Their Secret Fighting Art. It sheds a lot of light on the falicies and shows their techniques.

Now where's the fun in staying out of really deep water? Now of course you don't want to have actually swim, you'll likely ruin your replica, but shoulder deep water, that's real fun! The story, well; I was in a medium sized game, and I had no gear with the exception of 4 mags and a CA M15, oh and a tactical vest. I needed to get a position where nobody would possibly think of there being a person, because an enemy squad was approaching. So I figured heck, why not in the water, all that can happen is me getting cold. So I scooted my butt over into a pond, to my surprise was shoulder deep! Luckily I placed my AEG on the shore before entering. Alright, now I was in the water, cold water; I moved (with my AEG on shoulder and half the magazine in the water) towards a bunch of grassy stuff and waited. Now here comes along the opposing team, I could see them clear as day and had a couple fabulous shots on them. They must have looked directly at me, and simply ignored the fact that I was there. I did not take any shots, because there were five of them, in about a 10 foot area; if I were to fire, they would have spotted me, and lit me up like a candle! Anyway, that is my greatest glory story involving water; what great fun. When I hear the term MilSim, I go all out crawling in the mud, sneaking through the water, and hiding under the snow drifts. Oorah.


Cheers, Graham.

Many people shy away from full black gear in a woodland enviroment due to it standing out against the foliage, When the eye is looking your looking for distintive patterns within the foilage. Black Gear will be a very specific shape and state when your eye registers it.

Easy way to break the pattern and shape. is take some brown and light brown and green spray paint, spray the black gear once or twice in long sweeps in random directions. This will break up the outline of the gear and reduce the chance of the eye reconginzing specific patterns.

Hope this helps

S/F
Lex

Thank you

Thanks for the tips. Just on the clothing
part, black vests blend in with dark brown surroundments
So I don't think its that Important to mention.

thank you for that but how do you walk on sand?

Loose or hard packed?

Cross sand normally. Last man in the unit should cover all tracks.

As for the black question...black is not found in natural foliage. That's why the black vest stands out. Likewise, black is not a color found in nature, what we perceive as black is upon close examination, an extremely dark blue. Even my black labrador when her coat is clean reflects light in a slightly bluish cast. A police uniform's dark blue is better at night than black BDUs. Black BDUs are for intimidation factor, not concealment.

Crunchies (leaves. loose gravel) are the toughest thing to cross or move through. No matter how hard you try, you make noise. The trick is moving as slowly as possible and using noise cover to mask your movement.

There are times when speed has to take precedence over stealth. At that point, the situation has broken down to the point where the noise no longer matters and you just need to get there.