Deer vision question.

[farmerboy1381]

My question has to do with UV light. Several years ago my brother and I were walking along a field edge to swap the card in one of his game cams. It was after we climbed down and was pretty dark. I forget the brand of camera but it was one of those invisible flash ones. He was wearing the latest and greatest goretex camo while I was in my old broken in and comfortable fleece. When we got back and checked the card the camera had caught a picture of us retrieving it. The difference was remarkable! He stood out like a glowing beacon while only a portion of my face could be made out.
My question is: was the flash on this camera similar to the way deer see UV light? How do you combat this? Do you use UV treatment on your clothes? Personally other than rainwear which I typically use untreated I hunt in wool or fleece and don’t have much trouble with being seen. How do you test your clothes for reaction to UV light?

 

[WIbiggame]

My question has to do with UV light. Several years ago my brother and I were walking along a field edge to swap the card in one of his game cams. It was after we climbed down and was pretty dark. I forget the brand of camera but it was one of those invisible flash ones. He was wearing the latest and greatest goretex camo while I was in my old broken in and comfortable fleece. When we got back and checked the card the camera had caught a picture of us retrieving it. The difference was remarkable! He stood out like a glowing beacon while only a portion of my face could be made out.
My question is: was the flash on this camera similar to the way deer see UV light? How do you combat this? Do you use UV treatment on your clothes? Personally other than rainwear which I typically use untreated I hunt in wool or fleece and don’t have much trouble with being seen. How do you test your clothes for reaction to UV light?

Without seeing the picture this is just a guess but I would assume your brother was in front of you or the first one to trip the camera and the flash caught him and not you.

Uv light is on everything in nature, we dont want it on our clothes because if we move the deer arent use to trees and stumps etc moving the way we do. Alot of the hunting washes are UV free and have UV inhibitors in them.

 

[WyoDoug]

To put it simple, all the fancy gadgets and clothing sold on the market don't help if you fail to understand deer eyesight. Primarily what they detect is odor, sound, movement and things that don't belong in nature, such as a squirrel squealing and running up a tree and sitting on a branch and scolding you for being in his territory. Or your body odor that always spells danger to deer and elk.

Deer sense colors toward the violet end of the spectrum, so they can see blues and probably even ultraviolet (UV) light. Deer show a slight sensitivity to yellow, but tests indicate that green, orange, and red appear to them as shades of gray. Exactly how well deer see UV light is debatable.

Human eyes contain more cones, so we distinguish color well. Because we have relatively few rods, however, our night vision is limited. Deer eyes are heavy on rods and light on cones, so whitetails and muleys move easily in the dark. Recent research also shows that deer see some colors fairly well as I indicated above, and one of those colors is blue, one of the common colors hunters that don't understand deer eyesight wear.

A deer's primary defensive means are it's sense of smell and then second is it's hearing ability. After that, they do detect movement fairly well if they can see you at all. Any sounds that don't belong in nature spell danger to a deer.

 

[Hunting Wife]

I’m guessing the camera was equipped with infrared, in which case you were seeing the difference in heat between you two. Literally at the opposite end of the spectrum from UV.

 

[antelopedundee]

Optical brighteners in detergents can make one stand out as if one was in one of those dance places with the UV lights. This supposedly is noticeable to deer. They probably don't see UV light but more likely the effects of it. There are special detergents that one can buy that don't have the additives and that should be used to launder hunting clothing. One can check the clothing in a darkened room with one of those hand held black lights.

 

[WyoDoug]

To answer your question precisely, the camera does not equate to what deer can see. Not at all, because deer are basically color blind and see mostly in shades of grays and brown. The only color that deer can see clearly is blue which stands out like a sore thumb if you wear blue jeans hunting. Reds, oranges and pinks are generally seen in shades of brown for deer. A deer's eyes have lots of cones which allow it to see at night and also the reason their eyes seem to glow. A deer can see only half of the colors in the UV specrum. The two colors they do see well is blues and purples. Colors that are not natural to the area might also alert a deer to danger. Research I seen on UV brighteners that some detergents have suggest that it does make some colors stand out more to deer so statements on that do have some merit. Just as you should wash hunting clothing without any scented or fragrance, you should also avoid brighteners.

 

[beagle001]

I know exactly what you are referring to in the trail cam pics. I have some clothes that do it, and some that don’t. I find that it has more to do with the out material... shells seem to do it more than fleeces and light cottons etc. As to why, I don’t know. I can speculate that it has something to do with light refraction and shutter speed, but I’m not sure.

 

[Deleted member 16014]

People often make a point that deer see blue, so avoid blue at all costs. As one astute member of another forum once pointed out, they must be scared s***less when they look at the sky.

 

[WyoDoug]

People often make a point that deer see blue, so avoid blue at all costs. As one astute member of another forum once pointed out, they must be scared s***less when they look at the sky.

Not the correct analogy though. The sky is part of nature but blue jeans are not. So when they see blue jeans where they do not belong like in the quakies and that, they sense it as danger. Some deer though are used to being around people and lose fear of that such as those you find on farms or those deer you find in the city.

 

[Deleted member 16014]

...The sky is part of nature but blue jeans are not...

You got me there.

 

[ImBillT]

I think this is more a question of camera technology than deer vision. The IR flash of a trail cam doesn’t seem to show heat the way an infrared camera does. I don’t think it’s showing you what deer see either though. They certainly don’t spook at the flash, and frankly IR is the opposite end of the spectrum from what they see better than us. It may show you something important. It may be completely irrelevant. I think a camera expert could help.

 

[scubohuntr]

Some trail cameras flash in IR, some in UV. Laundry brighteners (and many synthetic fabrics) are designed to make colors fluoresce in UV light, and since there is a UV component to fluorescent lighting and sunlight, they look brighter to human vision. Since deer are weighted toward the blue end of the spectrum, vision-wise, it makes sense that they MAY be able to pick up a difference in brightness against a natural background. Or possibly it just allows Scent Shield to sell more stuff.

 

[WyoDoug]

Blue jeans are definitely a part of my nature. I hunt in blue jeans until the snow gets a few inches deep and then switch to green wool, in 45 years of this I have never noticed critters seeing me better in one than the other. Talking 50 yards and further. I hunt a lot in the timber and shots are usually 50 to 150 yards. The one thing that I think scares the hell out of them is snow camo. Oh, and my scent. People can see the blue jeans better for sure.

I am not saying that they can't see blue, just that I can't see a difference in their reaction.

You are correct there. It's what they view as a threat in the area you are hunting and it is up to you to know your quarry as best as you can while you are hunting or your success will be very low. Deer that have been around farms, cities, and even ranches will be able to see the blue jean material but may or may not react to it. Once that first rifle shot is heard though, that changes quickly. But knowing your quarry is importaint. When you watch Randy's or Corey's videos, you will notice that they eventually know their quarry almost as well as they know their wives. Well think they know their wives LOL. I have a big buck antelope on FE Warren I have been eyeballing and noticed it migrates to the north end (where I can shoot it) after rains start falling and things green up.

 

[antlerradar]

If blue jeans are bad I am in real trouble. No wonder I just can't seem to connect of a good buck. Good thing shed antlers can't see or run away.

 

[WyoDoug]

If blue jeans are bad I am in real trouble. No wonder I just can't seem to connect of a good buck. Good thing shed antlers can't see or run away.

Bucks don't get big by chance LOL. They do that by being smart. I got a couple big bucks over the years. Not a lot, but a couple. Biggest reason people lose big bucks is scent and noise. Big bucks are spookier than any antelope ever was.

 

[dirtclod Az.]

I've seen examples of how and what Deer see.And blue really
does stand out.But what gets me is how years ago the old
timers had coveralls and blue jeans and they hunted with old
hand me down 30/30s and killed plenty much deer...

 

[antlerradar]

The downfall of most hunters is how they are moving and not what they are wearing. Not using the wind, sky lining yourself and quick movements will get you busted time and time again. Avoid these mistakes and you can wear just about anything as long as the distance is better than 50 yards.

 

[Greyman]

I think now a days deer are more afraid of modern camo. I know I avoid it. I figure if a deer sees my Blue jeans, he will stand there looking for a second or two thinking....WTF is that?

I think you may be on to something. My grandfather never hunted deer on his farm, he was more into running bunnies with his beagles. The deer on his farm were not scared of him at all. They would just stand out in the field while he did his chores. He always wore denim bib overalls and a white t-shirt. Come hunting season though, I would go to his place to hunt and they did not like me at all. The second they saw me or winded me, it was blow and run. I should have dressed just like him.

 

[Gut Shot]

The camera has an infrared flash and also has a filter to allow it to "see" the infrared flash better than your eyes do. What you see as a dull red flash (or maybe no flash depending on the wavelength of the IR light) the camera picks up as a bright camera flash. This isn't infrared heat, you are still dealing with things in the spectrum of light energy, not thermal energy.

Some materials reflect IR light and some don't. Your friend's cloths reflected the light from the flash and yours absorbed it. The military has had issues with some materials that reflect and stand out in IR light used in night vision equipment. Most common IR lights are in the 8-900nm length.

 

[WyoDoug]

My own experience is yeah I saw bucks while wearing blue but saw way more and got closer wearing camo and orange. Now as far as deer spooking seeing that? I have hunted deer since I was 16 and all that experience tells me they most likely smelled you, heard you or detected movement.