Ultraviolet detection?

[Naphtali]

Bugle (RMEF periodical) had a section of articles years back about ungulates' vision. Special mention occurred about their ability to detect ultraviolet kind've as a color. It also mentioned that most laundry detergents included brighteners - that is, chemicals that furnish an ultraviolet type of shine or gloss to clothing. One of the articles advised using detergents that did not include brightening chemicals to the wash. If I wanted to detect or not detect this brightener shine that deer and elk see, how would I do it?

[John Wayne]

Well, I'll throw caution to the wind here. Amazon "Sport Wash & UV Killer" An old friend of mine gave me his nice Rem 700 scoped deer huntin' rifle and he made me buy this stuff which I have not used yet. I think it's all gimmick but he has hunted with using it and without and swears by it. He always harvested lot's of deer when others did not. I look forward to hearing other opinions ;^)

[Winger Ed.]

What I'd heard years ago is that the way we see things glow under a black light, or even near most bug zappers-
deer and other prey animals can see that effect in the day time.

I think that's why you can be in the woods being still, more or less hidden, and a deer will turn and look straight at you.

Another thing ya hear a lot about is cover scent that's supposed to hide your body odor/smells.
I don't think they work. Animals can distinguish all sorts of smells.
Like stew- a dog can smell each individual item in it.
That's how and why dogs are used for drug detection.
Prey animals are even more keen than dogs in that reguard.

The cover scent works about as well as us putting perfume on our self when we are sweaty and stink.
We just smell like someone with BO that put on perfume.

[Mk42gunner]

I'm not convinced.

I have had deer come within fifteen feet of me and stand for a few minutes looking directly at me before leaving. Caty corner across a big round hay bale, with a florescent orange shirt and ball cap on (me not the deer).

I have also had a coyote (I know not an ungulate) pop over a levee 400 yards or so away and head almost directly at me until he was twenty or so yards away then he went in a circle and into the timber I was sitting in front of watching the cut soybean field. I was wearing blue jeans, the aforementioned shirt and hat. It wasn't head on, if I put my crosshairs on his leading shoulder, he travelled about 25-30 yards before the crosshairs left his rear hip. The key I think was sitting still.

Robert

[.429&H110]

When I was young I collected fluorescent rocks.
AZ fun is hunting scorpions with a blacklight.
Back when dirt was new I went to a bar that had a black light.
Women's bras would blaze through their sweaters and their makeup would fluoresce strangely.
Blacklight will show cat urine.
So maybe deer can see fluorescence, but the sun would have to shine on the subject.
My mother taught me that if you don't move they can't see you. Most people fidget.

[Good Cheer]

Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine once published an article saying that the colors deer perceive the least are medium gray and hot pink. Waited for years to see if yuppies would start wearing hot pink camo.

[725]

I just shower with hot water and scrub well with a good wash cloth (hair, too). no soaps or shampoos. I do this during hunting season when I'm serious about hunting. same for my clothes. wash with no soaps & air dry outside. does it work? I don't know for sure, but I've had some seriously close encounters w/o scaring them off.

[20:1]

Laundry detergents without so-called "UV Brighteners" are most commonly sold in sporting goods departments that outfit hunters as hunting clothes wash, or detergent. You can also make your own from directions on YouTube for "homemade laundry detergent". Mainly, if you read the ingredients list on the box and select one that doesn't claim to make clothes brighter you could be okay.

[Handloader109]

No, you can't eliminate your human odor, but you are camouflaging the odor and I think confusing them. Color means nothing. It's ALL movement. I had 5 deer in my front yard last night early. An hour past sunset. They were 20 feet from the house. 5 feet or so from my sidewalk. Noise in the house. They weren't worried. Not until we opened the door and my daughter stepped out to go home. Movement. And they are gone.

Sent from my SM-S908U using Tapatalk

[M-Tecs]

Back in the day when Cabela's was still a great store they had a clearance sale of some of their high-end camo Quad parkas and pants sets due to "UV Brighteners" being used in the manufacture. At 80% off I purchased a couple of sets. As soon as I started bow hunting with them I started getting busted most of the time. I took the jacket and hung it in a tree on a trail I could watch. The deer would stop and look at it from outside bow range. It didn't spook them but they wouldn't go near it either. I started giving the camo a mud rub and U-V Killer treatment. After that my getting busted issues from being spotted went away. On the other hand, I've killed a lot of deer without worrying about U-V issues but most of those were with a rifle. For archery all my hunting clothes get a scent and U-V treatment followed by a mud rub.

https://www.themeateater.com/wired-to-hunt/whitetail-hunting/deer-vision-how-whitetails-see-color-light-and-movement

https://www.atsko.com/how-to-check-camo-and-orange-for-uv-glow/

https://www.atsko.com/u-v-killer-information/

[MT Gianni]

I liked to set camo clothes in the sun and let them fade when bowhunting. I don't think it makes much difference when rifle hunting unless you're stalking in the thick stuff.

[Tatume]

If I wanted to detect or not detect this brightener shine that deer and elk see, how would I do it?

Some people can see ultraviolet, but most of us have to rely on instruments to detect high-frequency colors. Here is an example:

https://www.temu.com/subject/n9/googleshopping-landingpage-a-psurl.html?_bg_fs=1&_p_rfs=1&_x_ads_sub_channel=shopping&_x_vst_scene=adg&mkt_rec=1&goods_id=601099518337811&sku_id=17592223823774&_x_ns_sku_id=17592223823774&_x_ads_channel=bing&_x_gmc_account=3429411&_x_gmc_catalog=1055977&_x_ads_creative_id=82051423108543&_x_ns_device=c&_x_ads_account=176148943&_x_ns_match_type=e&_x_ns_msclkid=19b4a7f0ef951911a15fc251c71eba00&_x_ads_set=518824908&_x_ns_source=s&_x_ads_id=1312819171098960&msclkid=19b4a7f0ef951911a15fc251c71eba00&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Bing%E8%B4%AD%E7%89%A9_US_ROI_%E5%85% 9C%E5%BA%95_all%E6%89%B9%E6%AC%A1_%E5%85%9C%E5%BA% 95_%E9%80%9A%E6%8A%95_%E6%B5%8B%E6%96%B0&utm_term=4585650688162699&utm_content=Bing%E8%B4%AD%E7%89%A9_US_ROI_%E5%85%9 C%E5%BA%95_all%E6%89%B9%E6%AC%A1_%E5%85%9C%E5%BA%9 5_PC_%E6%B5%8B%E6%96%B0&adg_ctx=f-5e0ff4c4

[georgerkahn]

I was taught the "normal" colour spectrum seen by many humans is "VIBGYOR" -- Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, & Red -- with deer being able to see colours below this range. To the right, above, Red, is Infrared; and, to the left -- below Violet, is Ultraviolet. Deer, I was taught (maybe wrong?) can see colours from, and including Ultraviolet through to just-about Green. Hence -- albeit, say, Orange is seen (think of all images in a black and white photo), it is not as a specific/outstanding colour. This is one of the arguments for wearing Hunter (or "blaze") orange in the woods, as humans with normal colour vision can readily see it, while the deer do not. The wavelength of Violet is ~380-420nm, with deer purportedly being able to distinguish wavelengths only up to ~550nm -- ~50nm below the wavelength of Orange.
geo

[waksupi]

Just another non-issue. Animals alert due to scent and movement.

[Tatume]

I was taught the "normal" colour spectrum seen by many humans is "VIBGYOR" -- Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, & Red -- with deer being able to see colours below this range. To the right, above, Red, is Infrared; and, to the left -- below Violet, is Ultraviolet.

When you say "above" and "below" are you thinking of wavelength (in which case you would be correct)? I'm used to thinking of light in terms of frequency, which is of course inversely related to wavelength.

[georgerkahn]

When you say "above" and "below" are you thinking of wavelength (in which case you would be correct)? I'm used to thinking of light in terms of frequency, which is of course inversely related to wavelength.

Yes :) re wavelength. The prof in class who touted this made it analogous to dogs' hearing. To wit, he had brought and blew on a whistle which no one in class could hear when he blew through it; however, he assured all that pretty much any canine could hear it at quite the distance! And, just as dogs readily can and do hear sounds at higher frequencies than most humans, deer generally may see colours with wave-lengths shorter than those in the lower Violet (e.g., ultraviolet) range. Hey -- I'm not any sort of a "scientist" -- but, as a hunter this really piqued my interest and I made a point to remember it. IF it has had any effect whatever, I do not know -- but, from it, I never wore/wear blue jeans or anything blue-coloured ;) while hunting, too. Again -- me no scientest ;) -- just sum'thin I remember from a course many decades back -- which seemed germane to this discussion.
geo

[.45Cole]

I don't have any horse in the race here but for natural selection to be guiding evolution there would have to be an advantage for ultraviolet vision. If it benefits you then you'll keep it. I don't think that it helps them find food or a mate and so they probably don't have that adaptation. From my experiences deer are offput by something that shouldn't be AND acts suspiciously. You can be fly fishing and see deer and they really take no exception. This theory would be easily tested at night by watching deer's reaction to a blacklight flashlight. I know they don't see much NIR as my nightvision Arlo's didn't ever seem to bother them.

[ascast]

UV - I know nothing. Had a buddy who bowhunted here. He was a barber and smelled it. Always smoked about a pack on watch; on the ground behind a big tree. He always got a buck. Always said " buck move into the wind".
UV - don't move...

[trebor44]

Here is an interesting article: https://www.rmef.org/elk-network/what-you-see-isnt-what-that-elk-sees-eye-of-the-beholder/

[popper]

So that stuff is the 'bluing' grandma used? UV vision by animals is nonsense. There is NO natural source of UV light on this planet! Therefore NO reason for any animal to 'see' it. Now, UV light will cause some materials to fluoresce, emitting VISIBLE light. Absorbed UV (from the sun) is converted to IR (heat). Plants develop flavonoids to act as absorbing sunscreen to UV as the plants DON'T need or want it. So there is NOT even any reflection of UV from plants for the animals to see. Visible light is REFLECTED and that is 99% of what WE see (outside - to avoid any argument). There is enough visible light for animals to see to find NORTH and when to nap.

[M-Tecs]

UV vision by animals is nonsense. There is NO natural source of UV light on this planet! Therefore NO reason for any animal to 'see' it. Now, UV light will cause some materials to fluoresce, emitting VISIBLE light. Absorbed UV (from the sun) is converted to IR (heat). Plants develop flavonoids to act as absorbing sunscreen to UV as the plants DON'T need or want it. So there is NOT even any reflection of UV from plants for the animals to see. Visible light is REFLECTED and that is 99% of what WE see (outside - to avoid any argument). There is enough visible light for animals to see to find NORTH and when to nap.

Science claims Ultraviolet (UV) is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelength shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation is present in sunlight, and constitutes about 10% of the total electromagnetic radiation output from the Sun.

UV lights damages plastics and various other substances. It is what caused skin to tan and skin cancer.

[firefly1957]

I do not know what a deer sees mostly movement . HOWEVER when my game camera caught me in the dark my camo hunting coat glowed like it was white . Washing in a UV killing soap and the coat no longer looks that way on the trail cam.

[Good Cheer]

Eh, maybe they like the odor coming out of the dryer vent.
https://i.imgur.com/M7EPNYd.jpg