I agree shining won't cause the deer to skip out. I'm sure it doesn't help but I doubt it hurts all the much.

Tom

Since the invent of smokeless powder men have hunted with shiny blued rifle barrels not to mention the shiny gun stocks (Remingtons were famous for with the 700.).
I never dull any of my hunting guns or other tools.

I have found that blaze orange in a dark cedar swamp causes more spooked deer tan any thing. I throw my stocking cap in the first mud hole I find and dry it to cut down on the brightness most wash detergents have now days.

Al

15 years ago I was parked in agravel "turnout" high on a hillllooking down a couplemiles of high voltage powerline, waiting for the rest of the guys to form up after the morning hunt.

Beganseeing cyclicintense flashes of light that would remind you of a light saber in Star Wars...put the binoculars on it and saw it was a hunter walking across that 100yd wide powerline, two & 1/2 big towers away (500yds) with his rifle slung over his shoulder, and with every other step, the sun was creating an intense two foot long reflectionoff that blued barrel...never forgot it.

Movement is everything

statjunk


For me it still comes down movement - movement causes more problems than anything. If i could become a statue made out of brightest metal in the world it would not bother the game but if the statue moves - it becomes a problem.

sproulman - I won't say one way or another about shiny things spooking game. But I too the finish off one of my T/C Hawkens down to the bare wood. I then refinished it with clear satin finish polyurethane. For the brass, I got some Birchwood Casey's Brass Black and treated the brass (you have to remove any oxidation off it first with very fine emery cloth and steel wool). The tint you get varies with the number of applications of the brass black. I did mine until it has a soft grey appearance and it looks really nice.

I have a thermos with a shiny chrome (maybe stainless) cup on top and a shiny bandaround the bottom. I covered them with masking tape and marked them with a black marker like camo. I don't know if the deer appreciated it, but my wife got a good laugh!

IM jaybe

we were raised deer and turkey hunters.we always dulled whatever we hunted with.i use camo tape you use on our recurve bows to take shine off.it last a season. we did a lot of stalking deer and driving deer.now, everyone sits in a tree.you want to see a turkey disappear, have shiny gun.i will continue to cover anything that is shiny on my guns.there is no way i can sit without moving all day and if that shine spooks a deer/turkey,i want to avoid 1 more thing while hunting.i know they can see it ,been at this for 45 years in the BIG WOODS hunting WILD DEER/TURKEYS.take care.

i brass blacked mine pretty much as soon as i got it......painstaking work but it looked good...i just dont like how it wore off on some parts...the screws were tough to do....but i liked the look of it......

man this thread got off track it went from a simple request for information on how to solve a problem, to a shiny-dulland a hunting meathod debate as I said before I use the first cleaning patch to wipe any brass I want dulled it will take the shine off over night and leave a nice tarnished look also regular cold bluing works on brass but can get plenty dark if left on to long both meathods can be polished off if you ever change you'r mind.

You know, your right...speaking for myself, I simply responded from years of experience that it wasn'tnecessary at all, so the poster might save himself a lot of unnecessary work.

So my answer to the poster is:Keep using the tape you're using.