What can critters see?

I want to hear a personal story of a deer NOT seeing someone in camo.

I got busted by making noise, and bambi saw me, looked at me, and ran.
But I had on a full orange vest and orange hat, no camo.

a personal story is more accurate than reading some advertisment.
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Happy to oblige. I've had deer practically walk over me during turkey season while I was wearing my full camo turkey hunting outfit. Heck, I once had a squirrel jump on my hat on his way down the tree I was resting on. I don't think he would have done that if I'd been wearing a red satin dress and pumps. :D

For deer I think camo comes after scent and movement. But it does help. Sure can't hurt.
 
A few years ago I was on the ground taking a nap with a blaze orange sweat shirt and blue jeans on and woke up with a doe not five feet away looking at me. I went BOO and she hit the trail flying.
 
I'd consider the red dress if it was water repellant, and had one of those cool zippers on the sleeve (it's not sleeveless, right?) but the pumps have to have at least 200 grams of thinsulate.
 
There are too many variables to pin down an absolute answer. Is it gun season, have the deer you are next to been exposed to hunters before, what time of day and that sort of thing. I have noticed for years that on dark , overcast ,rainy days that spooked deer can and will pick out blaze orange. If sitting in snow or bright sunlight in the leaves the deer will usually not notice you even if they are spooked. When it starts to get light in the morning, and all you see is black and shades of grey without any color, look around the woods and you can see blaze orange. Just my observations.
 
From everything I have read through the years, Most animals are color blind to a certain degree. Again with the rods and cones. They do see different shades of black, grey, and white very well. Here is a good experiment for you to try to see just how well you can be picked out. Use black and white film (I know.......cant use your digital cam) and take a picture of you in the brush wearing camo, then orange, and then blue jeans and shirt. You will be able to see a lot of difference! Biggest thing is to break up the pattern so that you blend in with your surroundings. At one time, they had a blaze orange camo that worked the best when you are required to wear blaze orange, but I dont know it that is legal anymore or not.
 
Kestrels see in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum also . Voles dribble urine that reflects UV . Kestrels eat a lot of voles !!


Kestrels are pretty birds and highly protected.
 
I suspect bears can see blaze orange, I called one in and was sitting perfectly still and well hidden, but he saw me and ran away. A few minutes later I called a coyote almost into my lap and got him. I normally don't wear blaze orange when calling, but we were actually deer hunting and I got bored..;)
 
I was reading in the Canada hunting regulations that bear do indeed see orange. I am checking into a 'bear over bait' hunt in Ontario.

Deer can see colors, (IMO). I got busted this season wearing orange and blue. It's well documented about deer seeing blue, but not orange. But I only had blue sleeves showing, and a full orange vest, with a full orange hat.
 
In fact I would say that in daylight humans have better eyesight than deer.
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This is true.

Humans have what is called trichromat vision. Meaning we have three different types of cones in our eyes, each sensitive to a different wavelength of light. Add on top of this the rods and have an eye sensitive to 4 different wavelengths.

cvision-how-works-03.jpg


Most mammals, and some humans, are dichromats. Meaning they only have two different types of cones in their eyes. The effect on color perception is significant. Trichromats can distinguish about 1 million colors A dichromat will only be able to distinguish about 10,000 different.

cvision-how-works-04.jpg


This is what the color spectrum would look like.

dogvis.jpg


As you can see, a great deal of information is lost in an animal with dichromatic vision vs trichromatic vision. Look at how difficult it is to discern the green vs brown patches of grass.

Now you know how an orange cat can hide in the green grass and catch rabbits effectively. To a dichromat, orange and green are two shades of the same color. The cat may stand out like a sore thumb to humans, but blends in well for other animals.

cvision-tri-vs-di.jpg


Better color vision has a cost. Cones require far more light to work than rods, so the more cones an animal has, the better daytime color vision it will have, but the worse night vision it will have.
 
Science is a good thing, but hardly a year goes by that an absolute scientific fact is not proven wrong. Not long ago science said deer were color blind. Period. Now it is accepted that they may see some colors and us ignorant hillbillys were probably correct, although science will never admit that. Years of observation by myself and others proved to us deer see certain colors. That is the way scientific experiments are conducted. I trust my observations over scientific experiments conducted under controlled conditions. The only way we will ever know what deer actually see is to ask one.
 
I think a more scientific way is to hear actual experience.
If you got busted like I did, and the deer ran away, what colors were you wearing ???

Me, I got busted wearing orange and blue. no camo.

you:
 
Complete camo-blaze orange on very dark overcast days. Rifle season in progress, deer definitely looking for hunters and alert. Photo-ray glasses are a dead giveaway, but deer that are not spooked will sometimes come close to investigate, as they can not see your eyes. I always ground hunted during bow season and camo or not you need to cover or camo your face and hands. I used to lean my back quiver against a tree near me or one I sat against. I had deer pick out bright colored feathers on the arrows and stamp their foot to get the quiver to move and ignore me. Nothing to do with deer, but I had a pet fox that was tame as a dog and he was terribly afraid of anyone that walked toward him in camo, even me. Go figure.
 
Before gun deer season last fall, actually like a couple weeks prior to the opener, I began the task of clearing shooting lanes and a few other enhancements. Like a water trough and a feeder for the deer and other critters on my land. I was not quiet with a radio playin and 4 wheeler pulling stumps and chainsaw. I kept a small fire going when working to rid the
"little stuff".
The point to this is that nearly every day while I was not a threat to the deer wearing blue jeans and gray T shirt. There was a rather large 10 point buck that would come in and drink if I was in his comfort zone across the fence into the non wooded side of the property. He was not bothered by my blue jeans.
Season opens. I put the orange on and did not see a single deer untill next to the last day. By the way I did not see the big buck again till a couple weeks after the season had closed.
The difference was the orange.
 
much more on the detection of movement than color
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I think deer find quick movement as threatening.

I have walked up very close to deer by simply freezing when they look up.
Buck
...
Bucks
In those videos I walked-up to within 30 yards wearing a white t-shirt and beeping camera. When they eat, I walk; when they look, I stop.

Those two were somewhat curious as to what I was; during hunting season they'll get jumpy.
 
In fact I would say that in daylight humans have better eyesight than deer.
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This is true.
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"Better" vision is subjective to criteria and and ability. Humans may see a wider range of color than deer and apparently in more detail especially at distance, but this does not mean that humans have better daylight eyesight. Deer vision has developed relative to their needs. If you think about it, the "visible" color spectrum is somewhat limited when compared to taxa that see into the IR or UV spectra. They can see things that are invisible to us.

Deer have a much greater field of view than do humans and so they are actually able to take in much more of their visible environment than humans. So if field of view is the criterion, then deer have superior vision.
 
...So if the field of view is criterion, then deer have superior vision.
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Gotta agree with DNS on this one.

The peripheral vision of both deer and turkey are without a doubt better than humans. We may see color better/differently than these animals but their capability of picking up movement, especially within their periphial vision, is undoubtedly better than humans.

Also, I'm not convinced that deer see hunter orange as an un-natural color. I've just been to close to mature deer wearing it.

I do believe there are colors or shades of colors (such as blue) that deer see as un-natural or unsafe. Along with forms of objects such as a lone, standing human silouhette whatever its clothed in.
 
Just like the average scientist, many of you are not looking at the complete picture. If you fired a couple of shots over the backs of those deer you were walking up on, and then tried to walk up on them the next day, I am sure the results would be different. As for the excellent vision of deer, you better believe it. Many a time I would be slowly hunting the top flat of a mountain and think I see movement 200-250 yards ahead of me. When I got to that point, there would be a little high spot and a fresh bed. Once the leaves are down and the shooting starts, the older more educated deer will pick you out. There are always exceptions to this and I have had them happen to me, but as a rule the good eyesight of deer can not be denied.
 
Most, if not, all prey animals have their eyes much more on the side of their heads. That accounts for their superior peripheral vision.
 
Before gun deer season last fall, actually like a couple weeks prior to the opener, I began the task of clearing shooting lanes and a few other enhancements. Like a water trough and a feeder for the deer and other critters on my land. I was not quiet with a radio playin and 4 wheeler pulling stumps and chainsaw. I kept a small fire going when working to rid the
"little stuff".
The point to this is that nearly every day while I was not a threat to the deer wearing blue jeans and gray T shirt. There was a rather large 10 point buck that would come in and drink if I was in his comfort zone across the fence into the non wooded side of the property. He was not bothered by my blue jeans.
Season opens. I put the orange on and did not see a single deer untill next to the last day. By the way I did not see the big buck again till a couple weeks after the season had closed.
The difference was the orange.
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How about the difference was the season?
 
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