I was reading and thinking about how deer see our camo. Here in NC we have to wear "hunter orange" when hunting most game with guns, or any time during deer season. An orange hat will work. In an attempt to see how a deer might view this I played with Photoshop some. Deer have dichromatic (two color) vision while humans have trichromatic (three color) vision. They see well in the blue and yellow ranges but not well in red. To simulate that I took a photo of my orange hunting hat and shifted the colors to minimize the red. I'm not sure that this is exactly how the deer see it but here's what I got:



Here is an article on the subject:

www.atsko.com/articles...-deer.html

I've also read to make sure you don't wash your hunting clothes in laundry detergent that uses brightner. It can make you stick out like a neon light.

Here in my state IA, we have to have 50% of orange.

Slim, I learned my lesson back in the 70's as to never wash your orange hunting clothes as my clothes reaked of detergent and shined like a beacon, I only use water. Now to convince the wife that after 3 or 4 years use out in the woods, I do not need a new set of hunting clothes just to look good for hunting.

If you rinse them really well it works fine too. check out your hunting getup on a old video camera or something that just shows in black n white my rifle sling was red and stood out like the proverbial viewed this way.

Interesting article Mike.

Here in Sask. Canada we used to have to wear a complete, I mean total, suit of white, yellow or red/hunter orange until last year and now we only need to wear a coat that is any of the three colors but our hat has to be yellow or red/hunter orange. We are finally getting with the new age. We can even hunt on Sundays now, and that's a first. The backwards provincial gv'mt ideas of the past, are finally getting tossed out. No one knows who they were trying to protect us from but they have finally seen the light.

I use a detergent called sport wash on my hunting clothes is has no UV brighteners and is orderless .. I don't no if it helps but it can't hurt

Joe

There was a thread on this some time ago Punkin. Can't remember exactly when, but I did keep a copy of the techo side of things.

What Do Deer See

Cheers, Vince

Thanks for the link Vince !!!

I never bought into the whole camo thing nor did I believe that deer could see hunter orange.
If the wind is right and you stay still they'll walk right up to you and not know your there.

Turkeys.........whole different ballgame !!!

At the risk of opening up an "old wound"...

Camo clothing etc is designed to simply break up your outline by putting artificial shadows and other things "in front" of the wearer. The only reason that it is coloured is because camo gear was originally designed for the military, and soldiers being homo sapiens see in colour. Soldiers paint their faces with camouflage creams etc for the same reason...break up an outline that is out of place in the bush.

Try it sometime...get a mate to put a normal cardboard box in the bush...and another the same only camouflaged with colours and shapes near it...you will then see exactly what camo is designed to do.

Sooo...when out hunting, it is not just your smell, although that is the first thing animals notice, that gives your presence away...your human outline is out of place and easily noticed...along with your movement. Doesn't matter what you wear, even a checked flannel shirt of jacket,so long as it isn't a plain "block" colour, then you are on the way to not being seen by your quarry.

Although it is interesting about the fluorescence in clothing that deer actually see...food for thought.

Cheers, Vince

Hmmmm... Might be time to play with the camera and Photoshop some more...

Yea, thanks for the link, Vince. There are some other good articles on that site.

American Hunter magazine has another article about deer vision in the December 2011 issue. it covers some of the same things already mentioned here as well as some other insights. One note that I found interesting was that it is thought that deer have 20/100 vision, meaning that detailed, "life-like" camo isn't necessary for them, they can't see it anyway. Now I wonder how well coyotes, etc. can see.

Well, it seems that dogs have 20/75 vision and similar color vision to deer. Haven't found much specifically about coyote vision though.

IMHO - coyote smell and hearing trump their vision. Like other critters if you can sit still with something to break up your outline they will not pick you out on sight before they smell you.

I do believe thay can hear a mouse take a leak at 200 yards though..

Dawgdad, yep. Seems that if you don't wear blue, break up your outline and sit still you're OK, vision wise. Beating their noses (any game animal) appears to be the trick. I read somewhere, maybe here, about coyote hunters making up a concoction of a bunch of different scents with the theory of sort of overloading the yote's nose.