Semisane

The science says that (except for possibly some perception of the color blue) deer see in black, white, and shades of gray.

So how important is camo?

Here's how my X7 with its stainless steel barrel and high gloss laminate stock would likely look to a deer from about twenty feet away. The picture was taken in full sun.



And from five feet.

Muley Hunter

I have to disagree a bit. Deer see everything in a pale yellow.

I agree about camo. It's to fool humans. Red and black plaid has worked for decades against deer/elk.

chaded

According to the research that I have read deer have receptors for blue and yellow. Everything else is shades of gray. This does not mean they see in blue and yellow but means they can see blue and yellow. So all other colors are shades of gray. They claim deer have 40/20 vision which makes deers vision not as people make out but the problem lies with there ability to focus in on a object, hence the headbobbing you often see deer do trying to figure out what something or someone is. Camo is not my priority but I do consider it. It is just one more edge that I can gain but I will take the right wind along with not getting caught moving over camo but camo is certainly on the list. This mainly applies to bowhunting for me though, when I have a gun where I hunt usually if I see the deer it is already too late for them. Bowhunting I'm often times letting deer walk by me without the intention on shooting them but don't want them to bust me either, also ranges are much closer. So camo is just another thing for me to take advantage of in my opinion.

Muley Hunter

This is what my research shows.

On the left is what we see. In the middle is what deer see when you have UV brighteners in your clothes. On the right is what deer see without brighteners.

hubby11

Pretty much agree. Deer only have two color cones in their eyes compared to our three. As such, they cannot distinguish certain colors like red and orange as well as us. Blue is apparently a no no. But they have better low light visibility and may be able to see into the UV spectrum.

Short of it is camo is pretty much unneeded as long as you break up your outline and avoid blue. And detergents with color brighteners.

wabi

I hunt a lot in archery season and rarely wear camo anymore.

My go-to shirt is a dark brown (polarfleece) w/cream colored lines dividing the brown into small squares. I like that shirt because it's soft, warm, and quiet (plus I own a couple of them - bought them on sale).
My "busted" rate is no higher with those shirts than with camo.

Same for other accessories. I have a couple camo gun stocks, but black or plain old walnut seems to make no difference.

I think what gives you away to deer (more than color) is reflectivity and motion. Set still with an orange jacket on and most deer will walk right past. I do prefer soft fabric, though.

chaded

Here is a video of some info that I have read about. Keep in mind they do talk about Sitka camo but it lines up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNe2P...feature=relmfu

cayugad

I have one camo blended rifle and two that are a shaded green laminate. I really am not sure it makes that big a difference. All the rest are wood or black. As for the colors a deer can see, I was told they can spot blue and yellow. That means I can't wear my pajamas or my superman outfit. But the rest of the stuff is pretty much wide open.

That was pretty cool, how well that rifle blended into the bush there. I really had to look for it, and I spotted the scope of all things. Interesting.

Muley Hunter

That was more of a commercial Chad.

Here's an unbiased study.

http://www.northcountrywhitetails.co...tdodeersee.htm

chaded

Your right, and that's why I clarified they talked about sitka gear. But, it lines up regardless and I'm not trying to sell nor do I own sitka gear but I agree with their view on what a deer sees. It has been proven that deer have receptors for blue and yellow. When you have receptors for a certain color that means you can see that color, doesn't mean you see IN that color like you photo example. Whatever colors you don't have receptors for you will see in gray. My wife agrees with me on this issue of colorblindness and she is a doctor herself.