A Deer's Vison

[SSSTaxidermy]

I was wondering if anyone knew the extent of what type of vision a deer really has…Such as, are they color blind or can they see certain colors only? I have heard both stories and was hoping to get an expert answer or solid reasoning. I am assuming they can’t see the blaze orange like we can, but can they partially see it, and I have also heard that they can see darker colors easier? I have not done any research myself but was just hoping someone would know right off the top of their head.

Thanks

[Gissert]

It is my understanding that deer can see various shades of gray, and some other parts of the spectrum which I cannot remember.

Where they relly bust you is movement, or if you are out of place in a familiar area to them. That is why I like to break up my outline with some trees/brush whenever possible

[Zach J]

i think that every color is juss a another shade of grey the arange we wear is juss a darker shade of grey 2 a deer there color blind

[woodview]

I read an article a couple months ago about this. I'll try to find it again.

It was a bunch of guys in white coats who tried analyzing the rods and such in different animals to make educated guesses on what the vision capabilities were. They mainly focussed on nightvision, color perception and distances.

according to them:

Deer supposedly see the green and blue spectrums well. They specifically mentioned blue jeans worn by hunters would be a sore thumb because it's something they can see well and it's a large block of color not broken up like standard green camo would be. other colors appear as shades of grey.

They also theorized that their depth perception wasn't very good at any longer ranges.

Bear had pretty comprehensive color vision but almost no depth perception and they figured they couldn't see clearly more than 20' or so (very nearsighted for an animal).

Again these were guys in white coats guessing but they did sound like they were pretty knowledgable and tried comparing abilities vs. human vision. Think there was one more color they see pretty well also but I forget what it is.

Oh ya, they had a certain label for the ability to focus on detail vs detect motion which I'd never heard of before.

Not sure I buy into everything they were saying just passing on what I'd read - again take this with a grain of salt since it's all based on educated GUESSES and my memory of the article . All I know for sure is I've had them look straight at me in the tree not knowing what the next second had in store for them

[Piker]

I'm currently reading an older (1980??, not sure though) deer hunting book and in there it says that deer can see red the best. To me that makes sense when you think about bull fighters using red. Well it's red in cartoons, anyway. I would think that since they are both ungulates and related that maybe this is true.

However, I've heard the bit on blue jeans before also. I never where blue jeans anymore without cover.

Then I've heard that deer don't really see color at all and that it looks gray to them. However, they can see UV and certain detergent (Tide) contains UV brighteners that make your clothes "glow" to the deer. I don't necessarily believe that either, but I don't wash my clothes in Tide any more. Mainly for the scent factor, though.

I guess we could debate it all day, but until we know for sure I don't where red, blue jeans or use Tide. I sit downwind, breakup my outline and try and hold still. All this and a guy still doesn't get big deer every year. This is why it's fun.

[mnvikingsfreak]

After watching the animal planet numerous times animals have on strong sence to make up for another weak one so since a deer's sence of smell is so great it must mean their vision isn't very good??