Can deer see red light?

[scotjute]

Been seeing adds lately for LED flashlites that are available in red
and other colors of lite. Supposedly the red or infra-red lite doesn't hurt your nite vision as much. If you walk to your stand prior to day-break and use a red lense, hence red lite, do deer have a harder time seeing that than the regular white lite of a flashlite?

 

[Art Eatman]

SFAIK, yes. I often use a red lens-cover when varmint hunting. Now, something like a Q-Beam is so powerful that coyotes and deer react, but there's no sign of their being disturbed by the lesser candlepower of a flashlight.

Red cellophane or a very-thin coat of red paint on a brake-light bulb, set up over some bait, makes a good setup to hunt varmints at night. They're not at all disturbed, and with a scoped rifle...

, Art