Animals only see colour in black and white

[great white whaler]

How do we no this ? i wear orange i see no game ,i wear camo i see lots of life.

[muzzleloader16]

Black and white come in shades. It's about breaking up the optical pattern and therefore blending in with the environment.

[great white whaler]

on a black and white tv ya see no orange,,but on a colour tv ya do.

[HunterDave]

The deer & moose only see a shade of grey for the colour orange. The thing is they will see a solid shade of grey in amongst the trees and bush. If you could break up that solid pattern then it wouldn't be as noticeable.

[muzzleloader16]

Exactly! Break up the optical pattern.

[great white whaler]

ya''' but have you ever talked to the deer ,doze it see orange ?

[HunterDave]

They have no colour receptors in their irises..........not to be confused with their arses.

[just_dave]

Animals can see in color. Some can see more while others see less of the color spectrum. Also, different sensitivities to different wavelengths allow some to see in darker conditions while others can see nothing. Which is why some need HIDs and others are fine with halogen. ahhhhh.. jk.

[great white whaler]

so the guy with the orange hat on ant going to get a peek ,he might end up gettin shot by some guy with no scope 'ya think.

[medicmoose]

It all has to do with anatomy and physiology of the eye. Eyes have millions of tiny receptors (photoreceptors) loacted on the retina. these photoreceptors are either rods cells or cone cells. There concentration and location of concentration is key. Cone cells are reasposible for our color vision and are less sensitive to light= poor night vision. and and our rods cells are for black and white and are more sensitive to light = good night vision. In humans we have a large concentration of cone cells in the fovea centralis region of our retina (center) making us see sharp color images but very poor night vision. the rest of the retina is made up of mostly rods cells our peripheral vision. rod cells also pick up motion dection very well.
Long story short animals retina and fovea centralis is made up primarily of rod cells giving them great night vision and motion detection but no color vision.

Matt

[Big Daddy Badger]

Animals only see colour in black and white

???

Thats an oxymoron...

Some see colour...some don't.
The purpose of cam is to disrupt outine and pattern or smooth lines to confuse the eye.
Deer don't seem to care whether it is blaze orange cam or traditional subdued natural coloured cam....but they do seem to pick out solids where there is no disruptive pattern.

What I want to know is...
Is there a window in the day when they do not see well...period?

They seem to have good visual acuity in the day and...at night but...during twilight hours in morning and evening when the light is sort of flat and neutral....they seem to have a harder time picking out people regardless of what we wear.
Anyone else think/notice this?
Or...is it just my imagination?

[Lone_Wolf]

So if I read this thread right, deer only see in shades of black and grey so they can make you out if you're in blaze orange because you appear as a big sold shade of grey, however camo will help to break up your image and blend in with the shades---Am I on the right track?

[Big Daddy Badger]

Originally Posted by Lone_Wolf

So if I read this thread right, deer only see in shades of black and grey so they can make you out if you're in blaze orange because you appear as a big sold shade of grey, however camo will help to break up your image and blend in with the shades---Am I on the right track?

I know guys that wear the blaze orange and black cam and seem to get their animal. I think they would see grey against black and it would be disrupted so hard to make out a human shape.
To be honest...I think movement is more important than anything...they pick that up really quick and I shot lots of em wearing solids.
I just wear cam because it is easier to find good hunting cloths that are cam....mainly.

[harryones]

Found this article disputing what is being said. Just thought I'd post for a different perspective on the issue.

For deer hunters, especially bowhunters, being successful often comes down to overcoming the keen senses deer use to avoid danger. Clothing and bows are now designed to be quieter than ever so the deer won't hear us. We bathe, wash our clothes and spray ourselves with odor reducing chemicals, and wear odor suppressing suits so deer won't smell us. And we wear the latest and greatest camouflage patterns so they won't see us. Or will they?

Dr. Karl Miller, a recognized deer researcher from the University of Georgia, has studied deer vision extensively. According to the results of Miller's research, deer perceive color much as a human with red-green color blindness would. Their color vision is poor in the longer wavelengths. In light bright enough for color vision orange and red will be perceived by the deer as shades of dark yellow,

They can however, detect colors in the middle wavelengths. Middle wavelengths like green will be perceived as yellow (The same as dichromatic (two-color) vision humans and see those colors in the shorter wavelengths (blue and purple) very well. An authority on Deer vision, Michael Jordan of Atsko said, "In our book "How Game Animals See" we say brighteners reradiate the UV energy into short blue (438 nm) very near to the deer's peak of sensitivity".

So it seems as long as we wear camo with predominantly green, brown and yellow, or even orange, we should be okay, right? Not necessarily.

Not only do deer see blue and purple very well, they see it much better than we do. Furthermore, we often unwittingly expose ourselves to this strength. Deer must love us!

Most laundry detergents and many of the dyes now used on camo clothing manufactured overseas contain fabric brighteners. Essentially, these brighteners change the wave length of colors, brining them out of the ultraviolet range, which humans cannot see, into the blue range we humans can see, and right into the range where deer have the highest color sensitivity. Brighteners subtract energy in the UV range and reradiate that energy in the short blue.

To them, we glow. If you don't believe it, next time you buy a new camo suit, put it under a black light. You'll be shocked. You'll think that your camo was designed for a disco. Incidentally, blaze orange is actually made from magenta and yellow. The range of dominant wavelength of blaze orange (595-605nm) is not the problem and most new orange is between 603-605nm. The problem is a brightness peak in the short blue range that can be eliminated with UV-Killer without loosing the brightness at 605nm.

Then, treat it with U-V Killer. UV-Killer absorbs UV energy just like the brighteners the manufacturers add. The difference is brighteners reradiate the energy at the peak of deer's sensitivity while UV-Killer reradiates it at longer wavelengths like red to which the deer has very little sensitivity and no contrast to all the other long wavelength colors. (Now all are perceived as shades of yellow.) A deer's natural world is seen as yellow. Now you're winning the concealment battle.

Editor's note: Granted it is challenging to understand all of this science. The short of it is UV brighteners are added by textile manufacturers and then enhanced by using detergents with brighteners. This all makes deer see us as glowing blue hunters.
Almost nothing else in the woods glows. Deer spot us because we glow to them in an unnatural blue hue. To fix the problem, first wash your camo in Sport Wash to open the dye sites and remove residue, then treat your camo once with UV Killer. After treated, wash only in Sport Wash. The Blue Glow is why deer pick you off so easy. Fix it.
Are you Glowing? >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Wade Nolan

[KegRiver]

I had heard that as well harryones.

I'm not sure I believe it or any other theory. I have yet to see anything that would convince me that any claims made by researchers are anything more then SWAG.

Not saying it isn't true, just that I don't buy everything put out as "The facts".

I do know this. Animals I have observed, do not see as well in the dark as some of these statements would suggest.

[James M]

I've always noticed that deer can pick out my camo blind way faster than me in an orange coat before I bought the blind. I used to sit on a folding chair on the edge of cutlines and rarely had passerby animals stop to look at me. As soon as the blind went up they all noticed it for some reason. I personally don't think they can see the orange.

[dgl1948]

One thing I have noticed with deer is that they do not seem to see blaze orange when you are in the bush. I do a lot of still hunting in a full blaze outfit. I could not count the number of times deer have walked past me, some not much more than an arms length away. Several times it seems that they seem to think I am another deer from the way they act. I once watched a buck chasing a few does around in the bush. They slipped away from him as he run from one to the next. I was about 50 yards away and all of a sudden he looked in my direction and came running. He stopped about 5 steps from me, got a smell of man and changed his mind. I have noticed that when I am in the open they seem to pick up the color then, or it could be they see the shape of a man, I am not sure. One thing I am sure of is that the blaze color is no handicap when you are in the bush.

[Drewski Canuck]

X2 on the sport wash / UV Killer. Once treated, and with good scent control, WITH A FULL FACE MASK, you will be invisible. Most guys don't understand the importance of a face mask. whether its duck or deer, up close our faces flash in the sun. This is the finishing touch. By the way, go take a pee FAR from the truck so you are not walking in it on the way to the deer stand. Little things like this make a huge difference.

Drewski

[gonefishin]

Originally Posted by Drewski Canuck

X2 on the sport wash / UV Killer. Once treated, and with good scent control, WITH A FULL FACE MASK, you will be invisible. Most guys don't understand the importance of a face mask. whether its duck or deer, up close our faces flash in the sun. This is the finishing touch. By the way, go take a pee FAR from the truck so you are not walking in it on the way to the deer stand. Little things like this make a huge difference.

Drewski

I totally agree with the wash and UV killer, but not so much about the pee. Everything in the bush pees, so it's omething animals live with. I highly doubt an animal can tell the difference between friendly and enemy pee.

[mulecrazy]

Originally Posted by gonefishin

I totally agree with the wash and UV killer, but not so much about the pee. Everything in the bush pees, so it's omething animals live with. I highly doubt an animal can tell the difference between friendly and enemy pee.

X2 A good way to start a scrape is to pee in it yourself. Deer are not at all scared of human urine. Many times sitting on a cutline I go over the hill behind me to take a leak and there are deer standing where I pee.

[Drewski Canuck]

Gonefishin, i wish I could agree with you. Wildlife do not drink coffee. Pee contains cafine when humans drink coffee. Cafine takes a long time to break down. Animals are very sensitive to pee, and are very curious about it. Cafine, and much else we consume is not natural to wildlife.

If you are shooting something 100 yards away, scent is likely not an issue. Oherwise, consideration of little details like carrying an unnatural scent on your boots, will be an issue.

As the thread is about getting close to wildlife, and factors that impact detection, perhaps little details taken from others in escaping detection will be appreciated by people who read this post.

Many successful guides make the point not to contaminate footwear with unnatural scents. Will attention to details make a difference in any individual situation? I guess its all about increasing the odds.

Drewski

[mulecrazy]

Originally Posted by Drewski Canuck

Gonefishin, i wish I could agree with you. Wildlife do not drink coffee. Pee contains cafine when humans drink coffee. Cafine takes a long time to break down. Animals are very sensitive to pee, and are very curious about it. Cafine, and much else we consume is not natural to wildlife.

If you are shooting something 100 yards away, scent is likely not an issue. Oherwise, consideration of little details like carrying an unnatural scent on your boots, will be an issue.

As the thread is about getting close to wildlife, and factors that impact detection, perhaps little details taken from others in escaping detection will be appreciated by people who read this post.

Many successful guides make the point not to contaminate footwear with unnatural scents. Will attention to details make a difference in any individual situation? I guess its all about increasing the odds.

Drewski

I don't buy into your Caffeine theory. On my way to my cutline it is a 1 hour drive every morning and coffee is being consumed the whole way, and maybe another cup around noon. Why is it then that the deer keep going to my pee spot and are not alarmed in any way, shape, or form? There are many people out there that have done it and know that urine does not spook deer at all.

[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by mulecrazy

I don't buy into your Caffeine theory. On my way to my cutline it is a 1 hour drive every morning and coffee is being consumed the whole way, and maybe another cup around noon. Why is it then that the deer keep going to my pee spot and are not alarmed in any way, shape, or form? There are many people out there that have done it and know that urine does not spook deer at all.

Not only does it not spook them, at times it will attract them.

As far as un-natural scents go, most will attract wildlife.
Trappers use scent a lot, as an attractant. You would be amazed at what will attract an animal. Deer included.

I found I had to be carfull what scents I used around my sets or the Deer and/or Moose would trash my set.

[greylynx]

Originally Posted by KegRiver

I had heard that as well harryones.

I'm not sure I believe it or any other theory. I have yet to see anything that would convince me that any claims made by researchers are anything more then SWAG.

Not saying it isn't true, just that I don't buy everything put out as "The facts".

I do know this. Animals I have observed, do not see as well in the dark as some of these statements would suggest.

x2

[OK-AL]

Work at a wildness resort for 6 months of the year and we have had groups in drinking beer and peeing around the camp they leave after the weekend and the deer will come in and chew the grass and munch the dirt in those areas. One lady boiled potatoes over the open fire drained those in the camp area the deer loved it. On a side note human pee seems to work as a good bear replant get it high on a stump bear will think you’re a monster LOL.These are just my observation being in the bush for 6months of each year.

[Stinky Buffalo]

Originally Posted by KegRiver

Not only does it not spook them, at times it will attract them.

As far as un-natural scents go, most will attract wildlife.
Trappers use scent a lot, as an attractant. You would be amazed at what will attract an animal. Deer included.

I found I had to be carfull what scents I used around my sets or the Deer and/or Moose would trash my set.

Aw, nuts! Now who am I going to sell my 20-odd cases of these to?



(kidding, of course!)

[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by Stinky Buffalo

Aw, nuts! Now who am I going to sell my 20-odd cases of these to?



(kidding, of course!)

LOL that reminds me of the fellow who took folding commode equipped with throw away bags for easy disposal. He showed up in Carcajou for a Moose hunt, with this thing in his gear.
The next day in base camp, he toted it off into the bush to have some peace and quiet, in the MUSKEG.
Need I say what happened next?

[Grizzly Adams]

Originally Posted by great white whaler

How do we no this ? i wear orange i see no game ,i wear camo i see lots of life.

Ever consider there might be other factors? Any high contrast is going to be very obvious and alarming , especially if it's tall and narrow. They DO make orange camo.

Grizz

[TheClash]

the orange isn't for the deer?? it is the fact that they do not see in color or do not see color well that you can wear orange. The orange is for the hunter and for other hunters to identify humans in the field from a distance and not shoot first and identify later. It doesn't matter a lick what the color of your camo is, as others have said it is about not being a solid identifiable outline.

[dgl1948]

I use human urine for a deer lure in front of my game cameras all the time. You would be amazed at the number of different animals it attracts. Works best if you use an old rotten stump. You will get everything from squirrels to bear checking it out.