I've been reading about deer seeing in the UV range, and how regular clothing detergents can acerbate the matter. I was curious to see how my camo shows up under a blacklight. Off I go to Home Depot to look at the blacklights they had for sale. Looking at the lamp when I turned it on something pinged in the dark crevices of my brain and realized the UV Torch I use for fly tying was in fact a blacklight. Duh. So I went home to shine the light on my clothes. I don't think they did to badly. This is what I saw: As I was putting the torch away I noticed a glow just as I turned it off. I turned the lamp back on and discovered this: When I pulled my hands out of the glove, the tag pulled with it. when I put my hand back in, the tag was unfolded. From my eyes, the tag was completely invisible beneath the camo mesh. This is my glove hand! I wrote earlier of a great buck that spooked when I went to half draw, could be he see this square floating and weaving as I pulled my recurve? No way to know for certain, but I then went through all my clothing an checked everything removing all offending tags. I also noted the brighter lines that are supposed to be branches. Next time I go out in the woods I am taking my light so I can see what the branches and blinds look like. Just had another thought, blood shows nicely with my UV lamp. Should be a great tool for tracking animals at night, especially where coyotes are a concern.
Good thread. I've always worried that UV light is sometimes giving me away, then again sometimes it seems a deer can look right through me and not see me. Sort of crazy but I seem to remember hardly ever spooking deer wearing my Trebark camo many many years ago. It would be considered very "blobby" today.
My weim is a solid grey. When he is still, practically anywhere, he is virtually invisible. I am more and more inclined to thinking that a solid gray on a person is as good as anything. Your point regarding 'seems a deer can look right through me' is why I want to take my uv torch to the woods. I am curious how much uv is being reflected off the different trees and brush I am walking through. If there are lotsa squirrels, chipmunks, and birds pooping and peeing and dying, their bodily fluids will reflect uv. So, could your 'blobby' camo look like spreading bodily fluids on branches etc.?
There is not much we can really 'know' an animal being harvested is thinking, but I think we can have a general consensus that waving at a deer 30 feet away will get its attention. If we are waving a glowing square at it, it would seem to me that would get its attention, especially in the early and late hours. The difficulty is not becoming anthropomorphic while hunting.
I don't know that I fall for all the camo and uv crap. There was no such thing as camo when I started hunting. We wore plaid red and black jackets back then. Yep, those were the old days kids. I wear camo today because it's available, but I haven't shot any more deer wearing it. Camo will break up your outline but doesn't cover your movement or scent. I really don't think camo gives a big edge to hunting. If you can stay still and mask your scent then your in there! Worried about UV? I think that's all bull feces.
If the deer (or dear) sees you when you don't want to, that is bad. The clothes john(bunchanumbers) wore in the old days, especially the red plaid and black would by definition be non-UV emitters. Ask your self, would you go out in white painters overalls or gray overalls? Pretty clearly you would wear the gray. Would you wear the gray overalls sprayed with a UV emitting whitener (such as in Tide etc) or just plain detergent? If the deer see the UV emitting light as well as the University of Georgia study (Warnell School of Forest Resources at the University of Georgia, Dr. Bob Warren, Dr. Jay Neitz, and others) says they do, then that is something of value.
