Deer and UV spectrum

Hog Buster, sorry, but the medical science boffins have studied this color thing over and over for decades--since long before computers. The conclusions have been consistent throughout the research. I recall reading some on it back in the WW II era, about the use of pigeons to spot Mae West life jackets in the ocean.

Animals, as well as people, observe patterns, whether stationary or of movement. "Was that stump there, yesterday?" "Is that the regularly seen noisy beast, or is it something new and dangerous?"

Turkeys are said to be the best at pattern recognition, as well as being able to see colors. That's why hunting them is generally more difficult than for deer. A turkey will instantly recognize a change in the pattern of its surroundings--and any change is by definition dangerous and so Leaving Is Good.

On ranches, the rancher drives across a pasture at roughly as high a speed as the roadway allows. The deer get used to that behavior, that pattern. When a hunter drives along slowly, that's a different pattern. Different Is Bad.

Lotsa folks don't realize how far a human voice will carry from the windows of a pickup. I've sat and watched deer as a pickup approached. I heard the two hunters talking before I heard engine noises or tires on gravel--and so did the deer. Guess who never saw a deer?

And so it goes...
 
Deer are like Dogs and cats in that they are dichromats. They only have two types of color cones on their eyes. Meaning that while they can technically see color, there is much less variation in what they can see.

Humans and many birds are trichromats. Where we have three types of color cones in our eyes. This gives us the ability to differentiate a far wider range of colors than dichromats.

There is also the issue of the wiring of the brain. Humans have evolved to place priority on our sense of vision where other animals treat vision as equal to or secondary to smell and sound. Thus animals like Deer are not as well able to utilize their sense of vision vs humans.

This line about their study speaks volumes to me. "The computer interprets these responses and translates them into a "scientific best guess" of what deer can actually see."

So much for best guesses.
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Though when you start to think about it, how do we know exactly what another persons sees? Does the color Blue as I see it look the same to you? How do we really know if what is "Blue" to me is not "Red" to you and what is "Green" to you is not "Red" to me. Short of warping into a persons mind there is no way to tell for certain. All colors are is our brains interpretation of the signals sent from our eyes and there is nothing that says those interpretations are the same. Sure we can all agree that the sky is Blue, but how do we tell exactly what "blue" is from another persons perspective?
 
Hey guys! While I was messing around on this forum last night my chicken coop had a visitor.

Just wondering what colors you think I should wear tonight when I send him to heaven?
 

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I don't know about anything a deer can see but I was dressed in complete camo while bow hunting about a week ago and I walked right up on a 2 year old buck. I froze to try and get an arrow up and ready, but he started my way so I stoped all movements. I was completely out in the open with nothing but open woods around the both of us. The buck walked within 10 feet of me and never seen me. He would look my way but then go back to eating for about 15 mins I stood frozen in time watching the most amazing thing I have had happen so far in my time of hunting. He finaly walked off back into the thick brush he came from. I wear camo to help blend and break my outlines up and this memery will forever remind me that I haven't made the wrong move in doing so.
 
Yup, animals like deer have their vision tuned to see motion and not necessarily look for patterns that would indicate a predator like humans have. They rely on their sense of smell and hearing for that. Thus if you stand still they have a hard time seeing you.

I had that happen often with dogs on my paper routes. I would hear them running to the window and just freeze and stay perfectly still before they got to the window. They would be looking attentively through the window. Sometimes they would leave other times they would just stand there. Most only "saw" me and started barking when I moved.
 
Vignette: I once watched a doe walk up to within maybe twenty feet of a hunter. He was wearing Levis jeans and jacket and sitting on a stump out in an open area with no brush really close by. He sat absolutely still. The doe knew that the stump didn't look righteous, but without any motion to spook her, her curiosity had her checking it out.

She stomped around and bobbed her head. He never reacted, and she finally wandered off.

Staying with deer and coyote hunting: Wildlife is horizontal. People is vertical. :) Animals cue on motion, and different is by definition bad. Vertical is different, right?

I dunno. I learned how to sorta ooze along in the woods, moving slowly from tree to tree and letting dull earth-toned clothing make me into some sort of strange growth on a tree that didn't really stand out as being an obvious different thing.

One thing I've noticed through the years with other folks out hunting: Moving camo attracts MY eyes quicker than somebody in--for example--solid khaki in dead-grass country.
 
A few random stories about being seen, heard and smelled by deer. They prove nothing at all of course.

I once had a full length blaze orange hunting coat. I was walking through a plowed field late one evening wearing that coat, when I turned a corner, and there were a few (3-4) deer in the field. I stood still, but the old doe spotted me, but just kept snapping her head up trying to catch me moving. As long as I stayed still, they kept on feeding. As soon as I moved, she snorted, and off they went.

On stand once, I was wearing a blaze orange hat and pretty much camo everything else. A bunch of does came out 50-60 yards away (too far for buckshot). One of the does, looked right at me and came to attention. Gradually she looked away. When she did, I took off my hat and tucked it out of sight. The next time when she looked up at me, she paid me no mind and went back to browsing. I put my hat on. She spotted me right away. This went on through several cycles. Every time I had the hat on, she spotted me right away. It didn't "scare" her, but it did put her on alert. Eventually the dogs got too close, and they moved on.

A few days ago, I was squirrel hunting. I was leaning against a big tree when four or five deer came over the hill. At first they ignore me, but finally the bigger doe moved to where she had a clear view. Now I was just wearing a sweat shirt and pants, with a camo hunting vest over them. She spotted me right away and the stare down started. I tried not to move. She kept locked on me. Before too long one of the others must have seen me because she locked her vision on me too. I stood there for must have been five or more minutes before I finally got tired of the game, and moved. As soon as I moved, up went the tails, I heard a wheeze, and off they went.
They saw something out of place, alerted on it and watched it until they figured out what it was.

My grandfather used to hunt Civil War relics with a metal detector. When deer season was open, he'd put a rope on his Fox double, and sling it over his neck. I don't know how many deer he killed doing that but it was more than a few. He said the deer paid him no mind at all because he didn't move like a hunter so they didn't see him as a danger. He was walking in the woods, making no attempt at being quiet, digging holes in the ground, and so on. Was he right? Who knows. He had the results to prove it.

How many times have you heard of deer being attracted to a chain saw? I'm not a wood-cutter, but I've had people tell me they've been cutting on one end of a log and seen deer eating off the other end. People I have no doubt were telling the truth. Maybe we need to carry chain saws as calls. I know deer around here pay no attention at all to the kids in the yard yelling and screaming, and the yard dogs barking. They might look up when they hear the noise, but they don't really alert. Just more a curious look.

None of this proves anything other than you never know what a deer will do or how they'll react. And bucks react a lot differently than does.
 
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