Many people wonder why hunters wear camouflage clothing when hunting deer, since it’s commonly known that deer have dichromatic vision and are essentially colorblind. This seems like it would render camouflage ineffective, yet camo remains an essential part of a deer hunter’s gear. While it’s true that deer see color differently than humans do, camouflage does still provide effective concealment when hunting deer. Here’s a look at why camo works, even though deer are colorblind.
How Deer See Color
Deer have dichromatic vision, meaning they have two types of color receptors (cones) in their eyes as opposed to three, which is found in trichromatic vision like humans have. This means deer can distinguish between some colors in the blue and yellow spectrum, but they are unable to discern the full spectrum of colors that humans can see. Specifically, deer are unable to distinguish between reds and greens. These colors appear more similarly as shades of gray to a deer.
This is why hunters are often advised to avoid wearing blue jeans or red shirts when hunting deer. To a deer’s eyes, these bright colors would not stand out in the way they do to our vision. Wearing clothing in shades of red or green essentially appears neutral to a deer.
How Camouflage Works
Since deer cannot pick out green from red or orange hues, this means that traditional camouflage with patterns in greens, browns, tans, oranges and blacks will blend together and appear more neutral to a deer. Even though the patterns and colors stand out brightly to human eyes, to a deer, camo clothing takes on a grayish muted appearance that blends into the background colors of the forest or field.
Camouflage is designed to break up the human outline and causes the hunter to blend into the surroundings. The patterns and shades work to disguise the hunter whether they are standing still or moving through the brush. Even though the deer cannot discern the colors specifically, the blending of the camo patterns works to conceal the hunter in the deer’s neutral field of vision.
Other Visual Factors
In addition to camo colors being indistinguishable to deer, there are other visual advantages of camouflage clothing when hunting deer:
| Camo Factor | How It Conceals the Hunter |
|---|---|
| Breaks up body outline | Blocks the deer’s ability to distinguish the hunter’s body shape and silhouette against the background. |
| Blends hunter into terrain | Matches the dominant shades of the environment whether forest, field or snow. |
| Diffuses movement | Disrupts the body shape when hunter is moving, making them harder to spot. |
Deer also have excellent peripheral vision and motion detection abilities. Sitting perfectly still in full camo helps conceal peripheral movement that deer are highly sensitive to detecting. Camo combined with minimal movement is key to avoid catching a deer’s eye.
Deer also rely heavily on their sense of smell to be aware of their surroundings. Paying attention to wind direction, using scent masking sprays and playing the wind right is critical along with visual camouflage to stay undetected.
When Camo is Less Effective
There are some situations where camouflage becomes less useful for concealing from deer:
– Close distances – Camo helps avoid detection from a distance but less so up close
– Nighttime – In low light when deer rely on senses besides sight, camo offers less advantage
– Snow – Bright white snow eliminates camo’s blending effect, so snow camo becomes necessary
– Movement – Camouflage only goes so far if the hunter moves suddenly or frequently
Proper Use of Camo
For camouflage to be effective, it also needs to be used properly when deer hunting:
– Match camo pattern and colors to the environment
– Cover exposed skin and wear camo face masks/gloves
– Use scent control sprays or cover scents
– Sit perfectly still or move slowly, deliberately while scanning ahead
– Use terrain, vegetation and shadows as cover
Conclusion
While deer lack the color vision that humans have, camouflage clothing still provides vital visual concealment when hunting whitetails. The key patterns and neutral shades make hunters appear as part of the background through a deer’s eyes. Along with minimizing movement and scent, camo gives hunters an edge by allowing them to blend into the deer’s surroundings. Hunters use camouflage not necessarily for the colors themselves, but for the concealment the camo patterns provide even to colorblind deer. So while the colors may not stand out to the deer, the camo’s effectiveness comes from breaking up the hunter’s outline and disguising shape and movement. For this reason, camouflage remains an essential piece of gear for concealed and effective deer hunting.
