Ever wondered exactly what deer do and do not see? Can they see the blaze orange, what's up with the UV thing, how much does camo matter? There have been many studies and many debates among hunters as to what is true and what is not. Well we can sort that out very easily by looking at a deer's equipment.
Deer eyes are equipped with cones and rods like ours. Their cones are blue and green, meaning that they do not have a red cone and they cannot distinguish shades of red and orange. This means that they are incapable of seeing your blaze orange. Having said that, if you are wearing a solid orange jacket and pants they may still see your shape unless your blaze orange has a break-up pattern to it.
Next their eyes have more rods than ours as they spend a majority of their time functioning in the dark and in low light situations. The rods, paired with a reflective membrane over their eyes, allow them to see well with very little light. This is also why their eyes are reflective in trail camera pictures. Another thing that helps them in low light is the fact that their eyes lack UV filters. If you wash your clothes with regular detergent which contains UV brighteners then your clothes may appear brighter to the deer. This helps them at dawn and dusk to pick out shapes and objects.
As these aspects of a deer's vision help the effectiveness of your camo when in a tree, the best way to avoid being seen by deer is still limiting your movement. Deer vision may seem limited but they still have advantages during prime dawn and dusk hunting times. If that isn't enough to keep you on your toes, remember a deer can smell seven distinctly different layers of scent at once and their hearing is not too bad either.
