Are deer camo smart?

[backlash 1]

It seems like ever since I bought a new camo jacket a few years back deer have been busting me on the ground and in trees even though the wind is right.

Do you think they just are so in tune with their home territory that anything different spooks them, or could it possibly be my camo?? Or are you guys getting picked out more than you should also?

I don't "think" I accidently washed it in reg detergent with brightners.

[Jim Hudson]

Hmmm interesting question... Any camo is meant to blend into a surrounding and break up your outline, as you know. But even so, if you as a hunter sit in a tree or on the ground and stick out as a sore object, the deer will bust you. Cause yes, they do know their home areas quite well!!!

So... while in a tree.. is there cover behind and around you? Or are you kind of stuck out in the open? Same goes if your on the ground, if you do not "blend" in with the surroundings, even with camo, the deer will see an unusual shape and be weary...

So two things to think about there... are you stuck in the open.. and does your camo match the surroundings if indeed you are "covered".

Another thing is movement... one of the biggest reasons besides scent a hunter is busted on!!

[CrappieJohn]

I apply the blue blocker to all of my camo and orange and it seems to work very well. If the natural ultra-violet is stopped from enhancing the colors of a fabric, the deer simply see the colors as a mixture of greys, blacks, and muted whites.

Camo smart? I think any deer that has been thru a hunting season once is flat out hunter smart and the hunter needs to be very well schooled to fool a deer.

[jiggin' fool]

Camo type/style aside.., if that deer is looking at you, you are %90 of the time busted by most deer, and %100 busted by mature bucks. I hunt an area that gets hunted hard..., (too many deer in there to not hunt the area during the rut).., and I have seen deer literally look at one of the permanent stands in the area, when they approach. You need to "blend-in". That is why they seldom see you setting on the ground, when you are turkey hunting in the spring. And if you have the tree behind you as the deer approach, you are fine if you don't move. But if you are "sky-lighted", (the deer comes in from the side, and you are aside the trunk, and not in front of it), you are in big trouble unless you are about 20-feet up in a tree.

So hunt HIGH!!!!! (But make sure you were a full-body safety harness)!!!!!! That alone will eliminate this the vast majority of the time!!!

[backlash 1]

Crappie tom, I am not familar with blue blocker but do you wash your camo in it, and where can I get it?

While hunting on the ground I do set up my chair with either brush behind me or sit up against a tree. I was hunting across the road from Ripley this year and had 2 deer come across the road to within 30 yards of me , turn around and go back in. Ten minutes later 2 does and 2 fawns came across and up to 15 yards away, but they had their eyes on me the whole time, looking and stomping, finially turned around and went back, and crossed about 40 yds away.

As for tree hunting, I set my wifes stands also, we hunt at the same heights, but she wears a different pattern of camo and NEVER gets busted, does'nt matter what the wind. HA

I did try a ground blind and arrowed a buck that did'nt have any idea I was there. Gonna try that again tomorrew.

Otherwise, if the blue blocker does'nt seem to work, i'll probably be looking for a new camo pattern.

[Stratosman]

Any of the popular camo patterns are fine, "camo smart" deer I believe is nonsense though. A deer knows it's home range very well and will notice when things are out of place, just like you or I would notice if a picture was missing in our own house or something, you get the idea. What the deer is seeing is an object that is apparant to them that doesn't belong and bingo you're busted. Regardless of the camo pattern. Set-up is the key like others have stated, if you hang your stand in a 6" diameter tree, surrounded by 6" daimeter trees, you will get busted every time I would bet. Bigger trees, higher up. Little movement, simple as that. People have been arrowing deer long before Advantage Max 4D was ever invented.