For you deer hunters

[GunnyMack]

A buddy of mine sent this to me, thought I would share it with you all.
https://deerassociation.com/new-science ... eers-eyes/

Seems to me UV Killer for our clothes might pay for itself.

[Ray]

In the '90s this was all in the hunting discussions. The half-hour infomercials sold many bottles of the clothes-washing remedy. Just a capfull or two in the machine would stop the purple glow. Then one of the guys in the anti-glow infomercials defected and went to work for a scent control product manufactory. He claimed and had somewhat convincing "scientific" evidence that both in the dark of nighttime and the gloom of the forest that e v e r y t h i n g glowed bluish/purple to deer's eyes. Sitting up a tree a human was just a slightly different tinted "glow" from the tree he/she/it was in and the surrounding foliage. The moral of the story ? Don't let the beast see you move up in that suspicious lumpy treetop.

[AJMD429]

.
My son takes all the UV stuff and soaps and scents into account, keeping his hunting clothing always outside - hung in the barn or woodshed, and he enters the woods carefully noting wind direction and so on, and selecting the stand and route to it accordingly. As a result, he always sees at least a dozen deer in a four hour session, and selects the best one (for herd-health) to harvest, using a bow because he likes the extra challenge.

Me, on the other hand, grabs whatever 44 Magnum JSP-shooter I have on-hand that suits weather and mood*, and moseys out to the same old deer stand, wearing my diesel-fuel-smelling coveralls, stepping in dog-poo as I cross the driveway, and within a couple hours I am back home with whatever deer (usually a doe but occasionally a buck) failed the 'Darwin Award' by being dumb enough to cross my path.

* (Marlin 1894SS, Ruger 96/44, Ruger 77/44, Ruger Redhawk, Ruger Super Blackhawk, Marlin 444, Savage ML-10 or Mossberg 500, using saboted JSP 44-45 cal pistol bullets - they all basically make the same holes)

[Bill in Oregon]

Doc, you're a contrarian for sure!

[JimT]

I tried camo and scent hider and did better in levi's and a western shirt.

I have been within 25 feet of Whitetails. They knew I was there somewhere but they would look right at me, Hunter Orange vest and hat, and never see me if I did not move.

[GunnyMack]

Exactly the responses I was expecting.
I have noticed 'neighborhood' deer could care less about scent, sight. One property we used to hunt , 96 acres was surrounded on 3 sides by developments, cars, mowers, doing laundry smells, you name it the deer were used to it. Over the five or six years we hunted the place we killed 20 or more per year.
Then places like the club property the deer are very spooky, you better be on your scent control game. I've know many guys that smoked on stand and always killed deer.
Normally I don't worry much for gun hunting when distance doesn't matter much.
I actually have a black light flashlight, I shined my scentlok clothes and the only thing that glows is the tag of the jacket.

Still I think the article was interesting.

[piller]

Being a tetrachromat, It never occurred to me until I was about 50 that not everyone sees those colors. I guess that is why I like Van Gogh's actual paintings. They glow. He must have been a tetrachromat. The reproductions do not glow.

[Bill in Oregon]

Well, Brian, you made me have to look that up. Hadn't heard of it, but sounds like a unique gift.

[Paladin]

Thanks for the reminder

[Pisgah]

Many years ago I proved a point with my informal hunt club by wearing no camo and by not washing my hunting outfit a single time during the season. After about a week, the pants would almost stand in a corner unassisted, and they STANK. I smoked at the time and also made a point of smoking on deer stands. In short, I intentionally violated almost every rule in the Deer Hunter's Handbook. I limited-out in 8 weeks that year, killing 14 deer.

Second place, who washed his latest-camo clothes in anti-UV stuff, aired them out constantly, bathed religiously in anti-scent soap, wore sanitized rubber boots, etc., etc. --- got 4.

Hint: It ain't the gimmicks that get deer...

[Lastmohecken]

Anymore, I don't buy cover scents, etc. Maybe they help, sometimes, but I have noticed that my success rate has climbed a lot in the last few years, because I pay very close attention to the wind direction, and I know my hunting area pretty good, so I have a fair idea what direction the deer will be coming from. The idea is that it doesn't matter what you smell like, if you are always down wind. But of course on those days when the wind is swirling all bets are off.

I have killed quite a few deer wearing blue jeans, but do think that camo or at least brown, grey, or even black are better colors. I have read that deer can see the blue spectrum better, and I tend to suspect that maybe there's some truth to that, based on my own experiences of getting busted or picked off by deer. I have had a good year this year, and nearly tagged out but on the last deer, I shot so far this year, I only had an hour to hunt before dark, and was too lazy to change out of my blue jeans. I had a 9pt buck slipping slowly across a field crossing I was watching from a tree stand, about 120 yards away. It was dusty dark, and he made it 1/3 of the way across before I saw him. I slowly shifted my rifle towards him, and he kind of nailed me. He got nervous and started that fast trot out of there, But I got him with a one shot before he got really going with my Browning B78 single shot 45/70. Granted it was probably movement that got me, but I have been killing deer from that same stand for probably 30 years and usually know what I can get away with. I just feel like I get busted quicker if I am wearing blue jeans, vs. browns, greys, or camo's.