Does Camo Clothing Transmit UV Light?

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  • Archeryrob

    Undecided on a great many things
    Mar 7, 2013
    3,064
    Washington Co. - Fairplay

    onedash

    Ultimate Member
    Feb 24, 2016
    1,026
    Calvert County
    I think most of this is a bunch of crap. I've been hunting for fifty plus years and don't worry about scent blockers and uv or ir or any other crap. My middle son worries about all this crab. Special bins for boots clothes and everything else, detergents for this and that. In the end his kill ratio is no better then mine when comparing hours in the field to kills.

    Does he have more mature bucks? Just wondering. Shooting does and young bucks are pretty easy. That's all I ever get. My brother gets some whoppers.
     

    Striper69

    Ultimate Member
    Jan 31, 2014
    1,400
    Iowa
    Tonight I sat on the side of a hill with some tall brush behind me. I was hunting a cornfield below me that had a wood line about 150 yards from me. Just before shooting light ended 3 does came out and started browsing. I took a shot with my .308 at one and missed. The does looked all around and even in my direction but couldn't figure out what happened. I even took a second shot and missed again and they still stood there looking around. LOL!

    :rolleyes:

    So I'm convinced that "Surf" detergent is safe to use on your hunting clothes.

    Don't know what you'll have to do about the bowstrings though.
     

    lazarus

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 23, 2015
    13,678
    All hydrocarbons fluoresce to some degree; Dacron, being a hydrocarbon will fluoresce, but I think the question of this thread is whether deer can see farther into the blue-violet side of the spectrum than humans. Fluorescence and whether something reflects UV or not are probably not directly related, the black light test is moot. I cannot imagine a biological advantage for deer to see UV.

    There are some atmospheric conditions where the ratio of visible to UV has higher UV than cloudless noon and under those conditions objects that fluoresce seem brighter than normal. I noticed this a couple decades ago in a shady parking lot just before sunset one afternoon. The fluorescent oranges and greens popped like crazy as if they themselves were lights, because they were - the background invisible UV was being converted to visible. The clear hard plastic used for a lot of packaging fluoresces purple. The higher the UV/visible ratio is the more purple the clear plastic will appear (esp around the edges).

    If you have a black light you can observe the fluorescence of undyed oil in a cup. Under normal visible light, it will appear amber/brown. With higher UV it will fluoresce green, blue or purple. I first noticed this looking into a bucket of oil at my dad's repair shop when I was about 7 years old, the oil appeared to be amber and green at the same time, because it is amber, but fluoresces green. Just a wild ass guess, but since the natural light color leans toward the middle of the visible spectrum (yellow-ish), I would be surprised if it reflected UV at all and I still don't think deer can see UV.

    Yes, deer can see beyond violet.

    https://www.grandviewoutdoors.com/b...scientific-facts-about-how-deer-see-and-hear/

    The ability to see in to UV helps with nightvision and low light vision in the woods in general. The light is generally bluer at dawn and dusk before the sunrises, this includes UV light being brighter than reds and greens. Deer eyes don’t have a UV filter in them. Human eyes do. That means deer can get sun damage to their eyes much more easily than humans. They don’t generally hang out sun bathing though.

    Deer vision in general is pretty bad, but they can notice movement very well. Having had roughly 20/170 vision prior to getting LASIK, I can sympathize with deer having 20/100 vision. But everything is equally sharp for them, unlikely human vision. Our fovea is only the center ~1% of our vision. About a 1.5 degree arc. So your “20/20” is only that center bit. At twice the distance of your fovea, your visual acuity is about 1/4th your sharpest resolving power. So if you were 20/20, at 3 degrees, your vision is about 20/80 and it gets worse from there. You can see roughly 120,degrees, but human peripheral vision is the equivalent of about 20/500-20/1000 near the edges of our vision.

    IE we can see things much clearer where we can focus on them in the center of our vision, but deer see 300 degrees around themselves and their entire vision is massively more sensitive to movement and ability to make out shapes than ours is (when we aren’t focused directly on something).

    A lot of that means if you aren’t moving much, a deer can’t see you at all really at 100yds probably. But get closer and even slow movement a deer is going to notice you moving at 50, 60yds and likely take off even if it isn’t sure of what you are. If you are moving at a good clip (walking), a deer can likely see you at 200 or 300yds. Maybe further if you are moving fast. Depends on the background and what you are wearing for how much your movement stands out.

    Also deer see a relatively narrow arc in the center of their vision. A deer can see about 300 degree around them with their head stationary. They can only see something like 80-90 degrees above and below them, but only the center third is in relative focus, above and below that is is extremely blurry based on the rod and cone placement on their retina. So you’ve got that 20/100 vision, and then it is maybe 10x worse than that. So a deer can probably spot you moving in a stand 100yds away if you move a bunch, but it probably can’t even notice the movement if it is 30yds away unless it is turning it’s head to try to look up (unless you are doing the funky chicken).

    Humans can see about 120 degrees around us and about 80-90 degrees in height and moving our eyes gets what we look at in sharp focus.
     

    lazarus

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 23, 2015
    13,678
    To add, deer UV sensitivity appears to be about as strong as human red sensitivity (low) or maybe slightly better. Their blue sensitivity is extremely high though. It won’t quiet as simple as shifting color sensitivity to shorter wave lengths, but not too far different. Deer are dichromatic. Only two types of cones that are sensitive to UV/Violet and Bule/green. Almost no red sensitivity and only to the shorter red wave lengths (like yellow and the tinniest bit orange). Humans are trichromatic with blue, green and red cones. Our green sensitivity is the highest and red the lowest. Which is why as light levels drop reds look very dark to us compared to other colors.

    We actually have the fewest blue cones, but the sensitivity of those cones is much higher than red or green (I forget the split, but it is something like 8% of our cones are blue, 35% green and 67% red. But the blue cones are around 10x more sensitive than the red cones and about 3x more sensitive than the green ones (green being about 3x more sensitive than red). So we have peak spectral sensitivity at green in standard light. As light levels drop, red diminishes the fastest because of the lower sensitivity (but more of them), green next and finally blue diminishes.

    Rods provide only black and white vision and are not sensitive to red at all for humans (why red light doesn’t impact your night vision). They are sensitive to green and a lesser degree blue.

    Deer rods have zero red, orange or yellow sensitivity, but are sensitive to green, some, blue and UV. Deer also have pupils about 10x the size of ours, that reflective layer at the back of their eye which increases light sensitivity about 2x AND higher rod density than human eyes do. So basically their night vision is about 25x better than ours. Figure a new moon being the equivalent to a full moon to us and a full moon probably providing enough light for limited color vision even for a deer it would seem so bright. Poor color vision, but they’d likely have some (about the equivalent to late dusk).
     

    willtill

    The Dude Abides
    MDS Supporter
    May 15, 2007
    24,317
    I sat in my ladder stand this last Wednesday; 15 feet up. Wearing an old set of camo coveralls, light gloves and face veil. Also was wearing a fluorescent orange vest. All washed in regular Tide detergent previously and hung to dry.

    I had bucks as close as 10 yards below me; all looking up at me occasionally. I was still as a statue for 25 minutes; with my eyes squinted and looking directly at them. They had no idea what I was... but the deer were not alarmed; nor showing anything but mild curiosity at times.

    I had a doe behave just the same.. though looking closely and longer at me much more than the bucks did. Until I shot her.

    I am a firm believer that movement is the dead giveaway to your unnatural presence to a deer in the woods. Keep your movement as absent as much as possible. The deer will come in close. It's part of the technique to assure a successful hunt from a stand. I've practiced this minimal movement technique often.

    If you have to move; do it very slowly and keep your hands and arms as close to your body; as much as possible.

    ..
     

    Striper69

    Ultimate Member
    Jan 31, 2014
    1,400
    Iowa
    Yes, deer can see beyond violet.

    https://www.grandviewoutdoors.com/b...scientific-facts-about-how-deer-see-and-hear/

    The ability to see in to UV helps with nightvision and low light vision in the woods in general. The light is generally bluer at dawn and dusk before the sunrises, this includes UV light being brighter than reds and greens. Deer eyes don’t have a UV filter in them. Human eyes do. That means deer can get sun damage to their eyes much more easily than humans. They don’t generally hang out sun bathing though.

    Deer vision in general is pretty bad, but they can notice movement very well. Having had roughly 20/170 vision prior to getting LASIK, I can sympathize with deer having 20/100 vision. But everything is equally sharp for them, unlikely human vision. Our fovea is only the center ~1% of our vision. About a 1.5 degree arc. So your “20/20” is only that center bit. At twice the distance of your fovea, your visual acuity is about 1/4th your sharpest resolving power. So if you were 20/20, at 3 degrees, your vision is about 20/80 and it gets worse from there. You can see roughly 120,degrees, but human peripheral vision is the equivalent of about 20/500-20/1000 near the edges of our vision.

    IE we can see things much clearer where we can focus on them in the center of our vision, but deer see 300 degrees around themselves and their entire vision is massively more sensitive to movement and ability to make out shapes than ours is (when we aren’t focused directly on something).

    A lot of that means if you aren’t moving much, a deer can’t see you at all really at 100yds probably. But get closer and even slow movement a deer is going to notice you moving at 50, 60yds and likely take off even if it isn’t sure of what you are. If you are moving at a good clip (walking), a deer can likely see you at 200 or 300yds. Maybe further if you are moving fast. Depends on the background and what you are wearing for how much your movement stands out.

    Also deer see a relatively narrow arc in the center of their vision. A deer can see about 300 degree around them with their head stationary. They can only see something like 80-90 degrees above and below them, but only the center third is in relative focus, above and below that is is extremely blurry based on the rod and cone placement on their retina. So you’ve got that 20/100 vision, and then it is maybe 10x worse than that. So a deer can probably spot you moving in a stand 100yds away if you move a bunch, but it probably can’t even notice the movement if it is 30yds away unless it is turning it’s head to try to look up (unless you are doing the funky chicken).

    Humans can see about 120 degrees around us and about 80-90 degrees in height and moving our eyes gets what we look at in sharp focus.

    I disagree with this statement.

    Two years ago I was just learning about the area I hunt and sat with my camo on in front of a tree on a small hill (kinda dumb but...). I looked through my binocs and I saw a doe at least a 1/3 mile away watching me. I couldn't see her with without the binocs but she could see me even with my camo on. I was sitting still by the way.

    So I think they have better vision than most people think.
     

    Striper69

    Ultimate Member
    Jan 31, 2014
    1,400
    Iowa
    I sat in my ladder stand this last Wednesday; 15 feet up. Wearing an old set of camo coveralls, light gloves and face veil. Also was wearing a fluorescent orange vest. All washed in regular Tide detergent previously and hung to dry.

    I had bucks as close as 10 yards below me; all looking up at me occasionally. I was still as a statue for 25 minutes; with my eyes squinted and looking directly at them. They had no idea what I was... but the deer were not alarmed; nor showing anything but mild curiosity at times.

    I had a doe behave just the same.. though looking closely and longer at me much more than the bucks did. Until I shot her.

    I am a firm believer that movement is the dead giveaway to your unnatural presence to a deer in the woods. Keep your movement as absent as much as possible. The deer will come in close. It's part of the technique to assure a successful hunt from a stand. I've practiced this minimal movement technique often.

    If you have to move; do it very slowly and keep your hands and arms as close to your body; as much as possible.

    ..

    And that's why they make ladder stands.


    I prefer not to use them. Try sitting at ground level and see what happens.
     

    willtill

    The Dude Abides
    MDS Supporter
    May 15, 2007
    24,317
    And that's why they make ladder stands.


    I prefer not to use them. Try sitting at ground level and see what happens.

    I'd rather use a stand; or a climber. You can see farther and much more around you, and when hunting property with a firearm; your backstop is the ground.

    I've walked the woods and have come across deer. One occasion I stopped and stood absolutely still. The doe bobbed her head numerous times and she occasionally stomped the ground with her front legs, trying to get me to move so she could determine what I was. She didn't alarm and take off. Was basically a mexican standoff for two minutes between me and her. Then I waved my arms and she bolted.

    Movement and known association with that is what they key in on when determining a threat. In a tree or on the ground.

    I also believe that if they see your eyes; the risk for them to alarm is much more greater than if you can veil them... it's what I practice concealing and it's working for me.

    .
     

    Striper69

    Ultimate Member
    Jan 31, 2014
    1,400
    Iowa
    Some deer are pretty dumb.

    My first year back in the Midwest I was hunting with a crossbow in Sep. I was getting ready to put my stuff back in the trunk of my car when a doe walked out of the cornfield about 20 yards from me. She stopped and looked at me then kept on walking over to a cornfield on the other side of a dirt road (really just a path in the middle of the cornfield).

    I wanted a meat deer so I put a bolt right through her.
     

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