So, you have washed your clothes in a scent free detergent, washed with scent free soaps and sprayed yourself down with scent free spray and it is time to hit the woods. You are there perched next to a tree or hidden in a bush sure that any deer that passes by will never see you. Because you are scent free and have camo patterned clothes on to break up your outline. Suddenly you see movement off in the distance and yes, it’s coming your way when suddenly the deer stops and seems to look right at you and runs away. You think to yourself what the! Did you stop to think that to the deer you were glowing “blue” and standing out like a smurf? According to documented scientific data from the Atsko company makers of such popular brands as, U-V-Killer, Sno-Seal, N-O-Dor and much more deer see Ultraviolet and blue light as bright blue, much more intensely than we see it. This is because the sensitivity of their blue cones is not reduced by the presence of a UV filter like we as humans. This is because deer eye contains two different types of cells that receive light, rods and cones. Rods are sensitive to low light but do not register colors. Deer also have blue and yellow cones and no UV filter. Therefore, because deer have this it causes the color blue to show up to them. Deer eyes are heavy on rods and light on cones, so whitetails move easily in the dark. There is a lot of data on how deer see and to avoid getting to intense I will leave this to you the reader to go to Atsko’s and read the information or research this on your own. There is also information to be found here at How Whitetail Deer view the world. When manufacturers of Camo buy their material it usually and unfortunately comes form overseas where brighteners were added to the fabric during manufacturing. So, to keep costs down camo manufacturers (not all) end up getting or using this fabric. The brighteners allow the products color to last longer and therefore marketing sense says the brighteners are a good thing. The justification for adding brighteners to hunting clothes was: These brighteners help the fabrics accept the dyes better and keep your camo pattern from fading as quickly. To a hunter this potentially could make the difference between a successful hunt and a disappointment. To test your clothing for yourself you must have access to a fluorescent UV light. Just simply turn it on and hold it over your camo and watch them glow. You can Google “check camo orange” for a link on how to choose and use the correct light. Humans have a filter on our eyes that blocks UV from entering it. A study in 1992 by the University of Georgia found that deer lacked this filter. They also have a cone to pick up blues, Why do deer only have two cones? Deer are crepuscular (they are active during dusk/dawn) so they need to be able to see in low light situations. There for they have more rods than humans, and have sacrificed the ability to see red for the ability to see at night. Adding to a deer’s ability to see at night is the tapetum lucidum, a shiny mirror like membrane that reflects light and gives eyes a second chance to pick it up. That is why deer's eye glow when a light is shined on them. In an article published in North Country Whitetails by Brian Murphy it stated that; “In August 1992, a group of leading deer researchers and vision scientists gathered at The University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens to conduct this landmark study. The group of researchers included Drs. R. Larry Marchinton and Karl V. Miller, and UGA, Dr. Gerald H. Jacobs and Jess Degan from the University of California, and Dr. Jay Neitz from the Medical College of Wisconsin. This study was made possible due to a highly sophisticated computer system developed by Dr. Jacobs. This system is based on the principle that an electrical response is produced when light enters the eye. The computer interprets these responses and translates them into a “scientific best guess” of what deer can actually see. “ After the study was completed the findings were as follows: “-Deer possess two (rather than three as in humans) types of cones allowing limited color vision. -The cone that deer lack is the “red” cone, or the one sensitive to long wavelength colors such as red and orange. This suggests that wearing red colors while hunting does not affect hunting success. -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. The results regarding the UV capabilities of deer were equally fascinating. Our results confirmed that deer lack a UV filter in their eye and that their vision in the shorter wavelengths was much better than ours. Deer also were found to have a relatively high sensitivity (good vision) in the short wavelengths where UV brighteners and dyes are active. “ Given this and other studies about this topic it seems to be a good bet you would be raising your chances of getting a deer if you take the UV out of your clothing. But, remember that by removing the UV does not guarantee a successful hunt. There are many other factors that go into a successful hunt such as; scouting, mock scrapes and rubs and providing a food plot and setting up near a bedding area and a feeding area. But, I would suggest using Atsko to take the UV out of your clothing. Can I say for sure Atsko works? Yes I can, because I took a fluorescent blue light and held it over my hunting clothes and sure enough all of it glowed. I then washed the clothing in Atsko Sport-Wash and let dry. Sport-Wash does not remove brighteners but did prepare my clothing for Permanent treatment with U-V-Killer. I sprayed every piece with U-V-Killer, spread it with a small veggie brush and let it dry. Once dried I laid it back out and used the light again and no glow what so ever. Some say use Woolite but even now Woolite is putting brighteners in their detergent as well. There are a lot of articles on this subject and I ask that you take the time and read some of them and educate yourself about this subject. Simply, Google this subject and many articles appear about it. You can also visit www.Atsko.com and read their studies and more about Dr. Miller and his studies as well. Review written by: Gary Elliott GarysBowhunting.com Facebook.com/GarysBowhunting
