I leaned something today! Deer are not truly colorblind

i feel this is why it's hard to agree on anything.
Let's just disregard camo altogether for second…
Are you guys mostly east coast hunters?

Multiple comments that involve not moving?
You guys never stalked deer or elk in open country before?

I shot this dude at 87 yards with an archery tag shortly after taking this on my phone. That slope is steep than the picture seems and there's nowhere to hide, and those rocks move when you step on them…this is just a typical season for me. There's no way to "not move" and cover/concealment can only take you so far before your crawling into bow range.

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Zoomed out before that buck came out.

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Y
i feel this is why it's hard to agree on anything.
Let's just disregard camo altogether for second…
Are you guys mostly east coast hunters?

Multiple comments that involve not moving?
You guys never stalked deer or elk in open country before?

I shot this dude at 87 yards with an archery tag shortly after taking this on my phone. That slope is steep than the picture seems and there's nowhere to hide, and those rocks move when you step on them…this is just a typical season for me. There's no way to "not move" and cover/concealment can only take you so far before your crawling into bow range.

View attachment 592374

Zoomed out before that buck came out.

View attachment 592375
You would be surprised how much this Alabama boy hunted in the country you have in those pictures. About twenty years worth of it .I could drive there and buy elk and mule deer tags over the counter that were good for any part of the state. Hunted Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, New Mexico. Texas got my attention for about a decade. Don't preach.
 
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That's literally biologist jobs…

Doing things the right way is hardly ever easier.
And easy = quicker & cheaper, the deer color vision study can be done with some simple medical observations over a short period of time in one location by one or two people

Fawn death/ coyote studies take hundreds of people in multiple states years to make any kind of meaningful correlation between the numbers. And those results might take a decade or more to process and factor out the data that was tainted by other factors.

That being said there are plenty of studies that have been done but the factors are too complex to simply nail down to X coyotes = y dead fawns.

https://www.themeateater.com/wired-to-hunt/whitetail-management/what-is-killing-americas-fawns



Like I said... young and stupid. We were also trying to shoot deer at 400+ yards in the field with open sighted 30-30s. Mine (borrowed from a coysin) had a 2.5 power scope. I held perfect... just forgot to take into account 4+ feet of drop. Lol
When I was 13 I missed 8 shots on deer in a single weekend at 150 yards off a rest with my .243. That was the catalyst that caused me to get interested in long range shooting and making myself a better shot. Once I got older and more experienced I realized that the field I was told was 200 yards was actually 350 and my "150 yard shot" was actually 300 yards. I was shooting under or short of those deer.
i feel this is why it's hard to agree on anything.
Let's just disregard camo altogether for second…
Are you guys mostly east coast hunters?

Multiple comments that involve not moving?
You guys never stalked deer or elk in open country before?

I shot this dude at 87 yards with an archery tag shortly after taking this on my phone. That slope is steep than the picture seems and there's nowhere to hide, and those rocks move when you step on them…this is just a typical season for me. There's no way to "not move" and cover/concealment can only take you so far before your crawling into bow range.

View attachment 592374

Zoomed out before that buck came out.

View attachment 592375

In my case I am, here in PA the majority of the deer where I hunt are extremely skittish around people as they spend several months of the year being hunted. Additionally in many cases the terrain does not allow for them to be seen prior to being well within their ability to see you.

I have several places I hunt where 60 yards is the farthest that I can see and you definitely have to time your movements or they will bust you. In my experience camo seems to give you a bit more leeway in your movements compared to solid colors if your timing is less than perfect.
 
Y

You would be surprised how much this Alabama boy hunted in the country you have in those pictures. About twenty years worth of it .
I don't doubt it. I'm sure a lot do, it's why it's hard to get western tags. That said, there isn't a ton of southerners/easterners, or flat landers, I personally see at 11,000 ft 12 miles from any road in random alpine canyons.

My point is much broader about limiting movement and how that's just not a typical western game strategy.
 
And easy = quicker & cheaper, the deer color vision study can be done with some simple medical observations over a short period of time in one location by one or two people

Fawn death/ coyote studies take hundreds of people in multiple states years to make any kind of meaningful correlation between the numbers. And those results might take a decade or more to process and factor out the data that was tainted by other factors.

That being said there are plenty of studies that have been done but the factors are too complex to simply nail down to X coyotes = y dead fawns.

https://www.themeateater.com/wired-to-hunt/whitetail-management/what-is-killing-americas-fawns







In my case I am, here in PA the majority of the deer where I hunt are extremely skittish around people as they spend several months of the year being hunted. Additionally in many cases the terrain does not allow for them to be seen prior to being well within their ability to see you.

I have several places I hunt where 60 yards is the farthest that I can see and you definitely have to time your movements or they will bust you. In my experience camo seems to give you a bit more leeway in your movements compared to solid colors if your timing is less than perfect.
I've seen that meat eater article.
Cheaper should not be the main consideration with the skyrocketing cost that go to fish and wildlife agencies. They've had decades.

If it's complicated, then maybe they shouldn't be in charge of conducting animal counts. Maybe it should back to trappers?

My point is the constant failure of state/government sponsored "science."


You might not being seeing that failure where you are but I see it across the west, in different forms but all the same.


Where I hunt, they'll be up on a hill looking at you from a mile away. If you get behind them the wind, and there's always wind, will be blowing from behind them to their snout. Bucks in the early season will be bachelor'd up. Once you get within 150 yards you'll probably bump up a buck you didn't see in a random bush or micro terrain.

And later in the season prior and during the rut, bucks will be surrounded by an army of doe presenting a similar problem.
 
I don't doubt it. I'm sure a lot do, it's why it's hard to get western tags. That said, there isn't a ton of southerners/easterners, or flat landers, I personally see at 11,000 ft 12 miles from any road in random alpine canyons.

My point is much broader about limiting movement and how that's just not a typical western game strategy.
Fair enough, no doubt. Flatlander here, 11000 feet….wow! I'm at 1100 🤣

I certainly didn't mean to convey that not moving is the only hunting strategy, just affirming that in my experience deer in particular DEFINITELY pick up on movement that's out of place more than colour that's out of place, that's all.
 
I don't doubt it. I'm sure a lot do, it's why it's hard to get western tags. That said, there isn't a ton of southerners/easterners, or flat landers, I personally see at 11,000 ft 12 miles from any road in random alpine canyons.

My point is much broader about limiting movement and how that's just not a typical western game strategy.
Agreed! When we hunted the wilderness areas we went on horse and stayed a while. Usually the two week elk season. Had camps we had used for years. I didn't start bowhunting there until the late 80s, and 90s. Didn't take us long to figure out that if a mule deer saw you moving the jig was up. Found that elk were more forgiving with movement than deer. That may have changed now. Haven't been there in almost twenty years. Its a young mans game. I'm no longer young.
 
i feel this is why it's hard to agree on anything.
Let's just disregard camo altogether for second…
Are you guys mostly east coast hunters?

Multiple comments that involve not moving?
You guys never stalked deer or elk in open country before?

I shot this dude at 87 yards with an archery tag shortly after taking this on my phone. That slope is steep than the picture seems and there's nowhere to hide, and those rocks move when you step on them…this is just a typical season for me. There's no way to "not move" and cover/concealment can only take you so far before your crawling into bow range.

View attachment 592374

Zoomed out before that buck came out.

View attachment 592375
That's some beautiful country ya got there!
 
I certainly didn't mean to convey that not moving is the only hunting strategy, just affirming that in my experience deer in particular DEFINITELY pick up on movement that's out of place more than colour that's out of place, that's all.
you're 100% right on the movement. I just like to add to context. Especially as this is a camo thread. I feel that open country situations don't get fully represented a lot of times.

Agreed! When we hunted the wilderness areas we went on horse and stayed a while. Usually the two week elk season. Had camps we had used for years. I didn't start bowhunting there until the late 80s, and 90s. Didn't take us long to figure out that if a mule deer saw you moving the jig was up. Found that elk were more forgiving with movement than deer. That may have changed now. Haven't been there in almost twenty years. Its a young mans game. I'm no longer young.
I get in by foot. Pack outs suck, but thankfully I have my heath and above average fitness. By military standards. Not my opinion.

I don't really have camps per se. I set up bivys, and hunt areas i have strong suspicion holds whatever I'm hunting. I usually have gotten off trail by that point. Mostly just E-scout when I get an out of state tag, and transcribe all my planning onto a hard map.

I usually go in with 6-7 major spots, and each spot will have about 4 or 5 glass points. Takes about all day to get glass it all up, then move on. Rarely have a problem finding game. Usually if I don't fill out a tag, it's because there was just some rough stalks in near impossible terrain.
 
I met a gentleman up here once, through a friend. My friend said you gotta see how this guy hunts... he wears felt packs (the felt liners that go in your winter boots), they were wrapped in a plastic bag and then some tape. Fleece pants. Tape on his zippers so there was no noise anywhere. No sling. Little sako in 222. He wore the regulation orange vest and hat... but how he hunted was the interesting part. He would find a track and get on it and he would track a deer (bucks only) until he found it in their bed, and then he would neck shoot them (30-50 yards kind of thing). IF... the deer stood up, then he was free to go on his way... no matter how big he was. This guy had done some trapping, but he basically just knew how to move silently and cautiously through the bush and not give away his moments. He was legendary in the area for how he did it and he had some massive trophies.

In the end... it was all about quiet movement, reading the wind, knowing how animals reacted/lived in the wild, being patient and biding his time. Not about wearing some camo, etc.

I wish I had 1% of that guys ability.
 
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