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10-01-2008 | 03:57 PM

#14

buckwild41

Fork Horn

Joined: Feb 2003

Posts: 201

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From: va USA

RE: UV Killer?

First I will say I am not affiliated with any of the products or ideas mentioned other than being a hunter. I firmly believe the large majority of products on the market for both fishing and hunting are in most cases designed to catch the customer more than the prey. I took on this project just for fun and if I learned something then all the better.

OK, here is what I have learned thus far. It’s not a 100% complete answer but pretty close. Some hunting fabrics do glow very brightly when subjected to a fluorescent black light. The jacket to the left was a Remington coat (untreated) while the garments to the right are some used some new. Nothing in the first photos had been treated other than washed in non UV detergent. (see photos).

For what it’s worth all of my garments made by Remington did not glow what so ever. Almost everything from Red Head did glow. My gillie suit was really bad and my Summit climber was moderate. I tried repeatedly washing of some of the glowing garments in non UV detergent and noticed no change in glow.

I applied UV Killer to some of the garments that glowed while under the black light. Although my photos do not clearly show the effect the spray does significantly reduce the bluish glow. It actually masked the entire glow however the fabric did still appear lighter than those pieces that display no glow under the light. The instructions tell you to spray the fabric until wet. I found that to be true with the more you apply the better it works. This is where I ran into a problem. With my gillie suit being my primary cover and it glowing the brightest I spent a lot of time on that piece. Because it is 3 dimensional it drinks up the product. It was easy to see where the spray was blocking the glow however a leafy suit is hard to cover. Needless to say I ran out of product before completely covering the suit. I was unable to get photos that clearly showed how the glow was completely covered. I did try light misting over some camo pants and it again knocks down the glow but the pants were still lighter than non UV Brightener fabric. It appears like advertised that if you soak the garment you will block all of the glow.

Now for the tuff questions. I read numerous research documents regarding white-tail deer vision. That in itself was worth the trouble. I attempted to contact several of the researchers (Phd Types) to ask specific questions about UV light, the glow that humans see when using a black light, and deer’s vision. One researcher did respond (Wade Nolan) however he has not answered the specific questions as of yet. He did however direct me to several sources of important information which helped with my own conclusions.

Deer are able to see UV light, which humans see very little of. Deer see shades of yellow and blue., with colors from the blue into UV spectrum being very visible. It is this area that is concerning with regard to the glow of some fabrics. It is also in this area that I have my biggest question and do not have an answer. “If I block or mask the glow am I also blocking or masking the UV observed by deer?” I have yet to get an answer but I think from what I have read you are reducing the UV signature observed by deer. If the UV brighteners cause the fabric to luminescence/glow? And you block those brighteners therefore blocking the UV emitted; it is a reasonable conclusion that you are blocking the UV reflection from the garment hence reducing appearance to deer.

So no, it’s not a clear cut answer for me and there are still a few questions I would like answered. However, there are some points I now feel settled on.
1. Some hunting fabrics and items glow extremely bright blue when viewed under a black light. Some do not.
2. Deer see UV and shades of blue very well.
3. If during low light periods deer see the blue of some untreated fabrics as bright as this test shows, it can’t be good.
4. The treatment does significantly reduce and or remove the glow described. It dulls the appearance of the fabric when viewed under a black light comparable to those garments that did not glow.

For me I will be ordering two more bottles. It may not be the fix to all my hunting challenges but it definitely won’t hurt.

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