Whitetail deer readily see light in the ultraviolet spectrum. Many laundry detergent use UV brighteners to make clothes seem brighter to the human eye, yet they really stand out to the animal kingdom.
If you’re careful to be fully camouflaged and remain motionless, yet find that deer still bust you, UV may be the problem.
UV Killer’s Michael Jordan (not the basketball player) told me that when this problem was first discovered, they expected camo companies to use dies that eliminated UV detection. “Yet that never happened,” he said. Get the full story from Whitetail Journal.
Many hunters know that adding UV brighteners to laundry detergent and/or hunting clothing actually makes hunters stand out more to deer, especially in low light conditions. But the reason that UV brighteners make it easy for deer to spot you isn’t what most people think. “UV brighteners don’t make UV colors stand out more to deer — they take UV light and convert it to blue light, which is what deer are most sensitive to,” explained Bradley Cohen, Ph.D., a research scientist at the University of Georgia’s Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources.
