Question:
What is the latest info on deer's ability to see. Colors, night
vision etc. Can a deer see colors or not? It used to be the consensus
that deer were completely color blind. Now I'm hearing this may not be
the case. How about UV? Do I need to use some kind of UV killer on my
hunting clothes or is this just some gimmick to get me to buy some
spray I don't really need?
Answer:
I agree with you that smell and movement are key to staying undetected
by deer. You hit a nerve on the subject of UV. I can't offer anything
on Deer visual response other than studies I've read (Univ. of Texas,
Texas A&M, one of the two) says that deer can see into the UV range as
can many nocturnal animals, I understand. I wanted to offer some testing
I did with UV lights in the long and short wave UV ranges. I don't have
the wavelengths with me. The real point is that I found that some
commercial hunting clothes glows when exposed to UV light and some does
not. The worst I found for glowing in Treebark, the best (no glow) was
woodland and desert battle dress uniforms. (I'm retired from the
military and have my old Cammies). Other camo, such as real tree, mossy
oak,etc. fall in between in their response to UV. If deer can see into
the Ultraviolet, then I opt for clothing that does not reflect UV
wavelengths. I didn't try the UV killer because I didn't need to. If I
happen to see it in the store I may give it a try on half a treebark
garment and see if it works. I also found that washing in Woolite
leaves a lot of residue, UV reflective material, on the garment. Using
Borax, several commercial hunting soaps, or baking soda left no UV
reflective residue.
