Gimphunter

What we need to understand is that regular laundry detergent has UV brighteners to keep your colored clothes bright. That same UV enhancer is what the deer sees. Like a headlight in the dark.

buckwild41

For those interested. I am still waiting on the UV Killer to arrive. Couldn't find it anywhere in SE Va. Bass Pro, Gander Mt, Wal Mart, K mart, Sport Authority, local shops, no where. Once here I will treat the pieces I have already photographed and post.

I have located one of the researchers and he did respond but did not answer my question directly. I am awaiting another response to the million dollar question?

L. Clement

Sounds good be sure to let us know what you find out. thanks !

buckwild41

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.

The Outdoorsman

I have posted something about my problem with this in the hunting forum. My clothes dont have the blue hue, its orange!!! like a rusty orange glow. Specifically on my masks, gloves and threading on my hats and some jackets. I have a Spartan lightweight jacket and the jacket is fine, but the Spartan logo take on the pockets glows orange. I cant figure out where it came from, maybe lint from the dryer or something. I dont know, but I will be getting some UV killer and applying it to everything to hopefully get rid of the orange glow. I do wash my glows in detergants with no UV Brighteners so thats why Im puzzled as to why I have an orange glow.

deermeat01

i bought a small hand held black light to look at all of the camo i bought over the last few years to checkand see if any of them had this bright blueish glow every one as ranting about because frankly it sounds like hog wash to me. what this hunter found was interesting. the camo that was hard wood gray, hard wood ap and simliarpatterns, all were 100% cotton or a poly cotton blend of some sort,made by 3 different mid range ($)manufactuers did not glow. some very small whiteblotches in the patterns that were highlights in the bark or on the limbs stood out alittle more, like white does under a black light. all of these were bought in the last 4 years. 2 seasons ago and last seasoni bought a camo set; long sleeve t-shirt, shirt and pants from the local walmart. last years pattern is the same as prievious but colored slightly different to be more defined, i guess. the pants and shirt from 2 yrs ago glowed in the areas that had white highlights, easly taken care with the uv kill spray.then... when i hit the long sleeve t-shirt with the light, BOING, it glowed like a blue neon light. if deer could see uv light, they werent going to miss me in the woods!. i then checked last years set and nothing glowed at all. that was the only problems i had with all the jackets, gloves, coveralls...everything elsei had. what this told me is that not EVERY thing is made with brightners in thefabric dye but you might as well check because you myhave some like i did just in case the deercan see in the uv range. i have always washed every thing in unscented soap that just happend to be non uv soap.

buckwild41

No idea what the orange glow is all about?? Let us know if the spray knocks it down.

deermeat: Thats pretty much what I found. Some clothing glowed like a clown suit while other pieces did not. I may not get all of my clothing sprayed as it will get too costly for me. I will however get my favorite outer garments done. Then I plan on exposing all of my clothing to the light and markingon the inside label those pieces that glow and those that don't. At least I will have an idea what I am putting on and at times will have a choice which shirt or pants I wear.

The Outdoorsman

Well here is the latest on my UV Killer issue, I CANT FIND THE UV KILLER!!!!!!!!!! This is driving me insane. Gander Mtn doesnt sell it, the Wal-Marts near me have next to nothing in terms of hunting stuff anymore (cant figure that one out), Meijer doesnt sell it, and the one place that I know that does carry it, is waiting for a back order shippment of it and it will be a minimum of 7-8 days before they could get it in, cant wait that long. My dad has some down at the farm and his is bringing it back this sunday, but its an old bottle from years ago. Its beeing stored inside all the time, would it still work??? If it doesnt work, should I just buy the Sport Wash detergant and wash my clothes in that and then let them air dry???? (to prevent lint getting on them) Will the detergant kill the Orange glow???

buckwild41

MIke, No the detergent will not kill the glow. It just cleans with adding any brightener.However the good news is Red is better than Blue. Red is a longer wave lenght and deer do not see it nearly as well as humans.

Now for theBad news. I have gone through 7 bottles of UV Killer over the past week and I'm not digging the results. Sure in most all cases it knocks the glow down significantly. However, I swear it appears to be wearing off within 24 hours or so ( maybe sooner). I too had a difficult time locating the stuff and had to order it from the manufacture plus shipping. Thus far I've spent over $100.00 bucks trying to kill the blue and although things appear better its not gone yet.

May I offer this suggestion. Don't spend your money just yet as it takes several bottles to soak a couple of shirts, some pants and maybe a hat. If your trying to treat a leafy 3D suit plan on atleast one bottle for the top and one for the bottoms. Iplan on giving the treated items a week. If the glow returns Iam going to calltheguy at the manufacture and discuss my findings (and request arefund). Ifthey don't have an answer or do not refund the cash I will be left with no other choice but to call them out.

It is clear to me that from this point on I will spend the extra money when buying cloths from the start to avoid this in the future. I'm sure the folks at the local Bass Pro will question why I'm walking around with a black light and extension cord. One thing I have gotten from all this reading and research is this... UV is an issue and deer do see it... Fixing the glow once you get it? Not so sure that can be done just yet..???

The Outdoorsman

Buckwild41, thanks for your insight and sorry you are not getting positive results with the UV Killer. I did buy a long sleeve turtle neck shirt from Gander Mnt on Saturday in Realtree AP Green and I hit it with the black light and it looks like it hassome blue glow to it. Im going to hit it with the UV Killer once I wash it and it line dries. What I dont get is that only one place here sells the UV Killer and its on a long backorder, no other place sells it as if the new fabric being used does not have UV brighteners in it today but in fact they do!! You would think more places would offer the UV Killer. I did find the detergant by Atsko at WalMart finally, but its in the camping section???? And no UV Killer with it. That is good to know about the orange glow not being a big of a problem as a blue glow in my clothes. I will see what I come up with as my dad is back and Im picking up the bottle he had at the farm today and spraying that shirt tonite!!! I will let you know.