Deer colorblind?

[Oklahomahunter]

Okay guys I must ask, I've heard ever since I was little that deer were color blind, seeing only black and white. Yet everyone around here refuses to wear orange because "THe deer will see me" How true is this?

[DinkKiller]

I always thought deer were colorblind or could distinguish different hues from others. This below might give a better perspective:

Deer are essentially red-green color blind like some humans. Their color vision is limited to the short (blue) and middle (green) wavelength colors. As a result, deer likely can distinguish blue from red, but not green from red, or orange from red. Therefore, it appears that hunters would be equally suited wearing green, red, or orange clothing but perhaps slightly disadvantaged wearing blue.

[reloadmike78]

Here is an article that I found.

Pretty good reading.

http://www.qdma.com/articles/details.asp?id=48

Different explanation I found.

Not really. They're dichromats, meaning that the color-detecting cone cells in their retinas contain two visual pigments, blue-sensitive and green-sensitive. (Normal humans are trichromats, with three visual pigments.) Deer would be able to discriminate shades of blue and blue-green from other colors but would have trouble distinguishing colors in the green-to-red range. Reds would look black or dark gray, and some greens would be indistinguishable from white. This would be very similar to the color vision deficiency in humans known as protanopia.

In deer and other nocturnal to crepuscular animals, the cone cells are greatly outnumbered by rod cells that give them "black and white" vision. With the help of the reflective tapetum lucidum layer that produces that eerie "eyeshine" in a car's headlights, their night vision is far superior to ours. (We're not only night-blind compared to deer but colorblind compared to many other animals. Most birds have four types of visual pigments, Australian lungfish have five, and mantis shrimps have more than ten.)

That's how. Why, as evolutionary biologists usually explain it, starts with our distant mammalian ancestors, who were little guys that came out mainly at night to stay out of the way of predators such as dinosaurs. They descended from reptiles that would have had good color vision, but at some point they lost all but two of the genes that code for visual pigments. Think of this as a cost-saving measure - it cut out the less useful color-detecting cells and made more room in the retina for the more useful night-vision cells.

Once the dinos were out of the way, the early mammals radiated to fill many niches, both diurnal and nocturnal. In most of those niches, including large herbivores such as deer, the long lost visual pigments weren't missed much. When our Old World primate ancestors took to the trees, a few mutants that produced a new kind of yellow/red-sensitive pigment had an advantage in detecting the ripest fruits and most succulent (and least toxic) young leaves. They survived better and produced more offspring than their red-blind (dichromat) relatives and became the founders of our family line.

[KATMAN]

Originally Posted by Oklahomahunter

Okay guys I must ask, I've heard ever since I was little that deer were color blind, seeing only black and white. Yet everyone around here refuses to wear orange because "THe deer will see me" How true is this?

I would wear orange,not because of the deer,it's because of the hunters.I noticed in Oklahoma that you can't even wear camoflauge orange.I guess some people don't take enough time to look carefully and shoot at something they can't see.Many accidents start like that.

[Oklahomahunter]

"I would wear orange,not because of the deer,it's because of the hunters.I noticed in Oklahoma that you can't even wear camoflauge orange.I guess some people don't take enough time to look carefully and shoot at something they can't see.Many accidents start like that."

Yeah I wear it to where I am going then usually take it off. i guess I'm not too worried about people, since i am on private land, but still, I know quite a few people don't read the posted signs. I was just curious if deer saw orange better than camoflauge. If not, **** i mine as well wear it all the time. I think they'd see the solid color better though, and realize what it is more quickly, but thats just me

[adirondackbushwhack]

I've heard the blaze called bullet proof for it's ability to be seen by hunters. We've always called it deer proof for it's ability to be seen by deer. There is nothing natural in the woods that is as bright as blaze. Leaving the color aside the brightness alone stands out. I'll bet the guys who sell blaze, or the government that mandates it's use, will provbide scientific proof that deer can't see blaze; but on the other hand I'll bet that the companys that sell only camo will provide proof that they do.

You are all hunters and the best test is your own experiance. From your own experiance you know when deer see you easily and when you are harder for them to pick out. Wear anything bright and you get busted easily. A solid color can be good camo; for example I used to wear olive drab coveralls over my hunting gear left over from my military days that worked pretty well. It worked better then my red and black check coat and pants. But even better is camo. I've been using seclusion 3D and have been surprized at the deers inability to bust me when I was sure they would. Maybe some other camo works better than the seclusion but my experiance is with that. If you want to know if deer can see blaze stalk them in blaze and then stalk them in camo and see the differance. You won't care what anyone says about a deers ability to see blaze; you'll know.

[buddy]

I have never head of someone getting shot and the excuse was "I thought is was a deer"

Thats not to say it has NEVER happened but it seems VERY VERY unlikely. You have a greater chance of dying on the way to work in your car.

[Oklahomahunter]

Hah, buddy, around here it is a common occourence, but thats because a LOT of idiots shoot at sound or movement.

[KATMAN]

I've heard people tell me that they look for a white triangle in the woods.Sure,it could be a whitetail,but it can also be a hankercheif. I don't know if there is a difference that deer can see colors or not,but hunters can and for safety reasons that is why orange vests and hats were made. Deer also rely on movement,smell,and even birds for warnings.When you put them three together,I doubt that they notice the orange much.

[Oklahomahunter]

Yeah kat, I know people who hear a twig break and fire a couple rounds in that direction. I don't know where they learned this but, it's scary to think about. I know squirrels work for hunters, and deer alike, sometimes you want to just turn around and let the squirrel have it just to get him to shut up. But I'll just stick to what I am doing, wear it to my spot, take it off, and sit ontop of it, and hope for the best.