yellow and deer

[frrobert]

I am going out for my first deer hunting experience this weekend and I have a strange question. I have been reading articles about what colors a deer sees and most of them talk about deer seeing blue and yellow. It also sounds like most other colors in our visible spectrum appear as shades of yellow and UV appears as blue.

My question is I have a jacket that is great for out in the woods. It is very lightweight but waterproof and very warm and also very quiet. The only issue is it's color it is a mix of black, grey, and tonka truck yellow. So I am wondering would the jacket be a good jacket for deer hunting? I am thinking between the yellow and the hunter orange people will easily see me but if deer see most visible colors except blue as shades of yellow anyway would the yellow blend in ok.

thanks in advance

Fr. Robert

[trader74]

i have herd stories that deer dont see colors as we do. but i always wear camo the reason is so i blend in with the woods. if your brighter than the tree and surronding area the deer will see you. you have to blend in.

[npaden]

The key is that the colors are broken up and not in one big blob. Deer don't see colors at all and their vision is completely different than a human's or a predator's.

I've been 25 yards from a deer with a blaze orange vest and hat and the deer never saw me even though it was looking right at me. The key is motion and blending with your background.

Camo is not going to hurt you by any means, but if you are warm and cozy with a nice jacket and not moving you are probably going to be better off than if you were cold and moving around in full camo.

I do wash my hunting clothes separate from my other clothes and use detergent that doesn't have any UV brightners in it like most commercial detergents do. UV will show up to a deer as you noted in your reading. Some camo has UV brighteners in it and sticks out like a sore thumb to a deer but looks awesome to a person. Might not hurt to wash your coat a few times in a detergent without any UV brightners just to make sure or look at it under a black light and see if it glows.

[Terasec]

deer dont see colors that well, regardless of shade,
what they do see is patterns,
key is to break up your pattern,
if you are wearing all 1 solid color, it will stand out regardless if its blue, green, yellow, orange,
but if you break up the pattern to mix with the background, can getaway with wearing most any color.

[warbirdlover]

For gun deer season Wisconsin makes us wear flashing neon blaze orange coats and caps so that we scare all the deer away.

But I wear blaze orange camo which helps alot.

The states that allow rifle hunting in camo are really giving the hunter an advantage.

[Bocajnala]

Here's some of the colors I use. Obviously not a big fan of "needing" camo
-Jake

[frrobert]

Just wanted to say thanks for your replies and have a great weekend.