creed_az_88 Report post Posted November 2, 2006 I've always wondered what a deers vision is like. I really don't think they can see too well at night. A lot of mule deer in the flats around me go into open fields at night and just bed down. I think they do this so they can see predators. I imagine its the same with all deer but i don't know. what do you guys know? creed Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CouesWhitetail Report post Posted November 2, 2006 This is another question answered in Jim Heffelfinger's new book, Deer of the Southwest. He is currently in the process of setting up a website to sell the book online. Or I may be able to carry it in the bookstore here, we are still working out the details on that. Anyway, deer have great night vision. They have a special reflective membrane in their eyes that helps them get more out of the available light at night. Hopefully Jim will come here to the forum and give out some more info based on what research has been done on a deer's vision. Amanda Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bowsniper Report post Posted November 2, 2006 I have Jim Heffelfinger's new book, and it is excellent! I highly reccomend it! Mark Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
missedagain Report post Posted November 4, 2006 I have always wondered how far away they can see you? From my experience you can just about do jumping jacks in plain sight of an elk if you are roughly 300 yards or farther away and they won't see you. With coues I think the farthest I have been busted was probably around 400 yards when walking out in the open, but it is hard to tell if they are picking up on you because of sight or sound. Would be curious to here how far away people have been and been busted by coues. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Ernesto C Report post Posted November 4, 2006 They have telescopic sight.................if you can see a deer at 400 yards, then they can see you. If you can see a deer at 500 yards then......then can see you. Remember if they eyesight works extremelly well......how their smelling sense will work if it is their primary defense system?. Ernesto C Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bowsniper Report post Posted November 5, 2006 Coues see objects in motion extremely well, but cannot interpret still objects very well. I have had a lot of coues look right at me from 20 yards away (without face camo) while sitting in stand. They seemed a little suspicious, but not enough to be bothered, as long as I didn't blink. Any movement, and they were gone. Mark Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billrquimby Report post Posted November 6, 2006 Coues see objects in motion extremely well, but cannot interpret still objects very well. I have had a lot of coues look right at me from 20 yards away (without face camo) while sitting in stand. They seemed a little suspicious, but not enough to be bothered, as long as I didn't blink. Any movement, and they were gone. Mark This is true of all the different types of deer that I've hunted. A little forked-horn Texas Hill Country whitetail buck really proved it many years ago. I was sitting on the dam of a shallow tank when the buck came in to drink. I sat as still as I could as it approached the water upwind from me. It wasn't until after it was through drinking that it noticed me sitting motionless just 20-30 yards away. It snorted and stamped its feet, trying to make me move, and I wouldn't. It eventually came around the tank, stopping every yard or so to stare at me, until it actually sniffed my boots, jumped back, moved away a few yards, then stopped and stared at me for the longest time before leaving slowly. It kept stopping to look at me until it finally got out of sight. I don't think it ever figured out what I was. I was trying to decide whether or not to tell my friends ... I was sure they wouldn't believe me ... when the ranch owner walked up. He had seen the entire episode! Bill Quimby Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ruffcountry Report post Posted November 6, 2006 I read somewhere the other day that deer see yellows better than they see reds and that if you hunt in a place where you must wear hunter orange , a darker red orange is better than a lighter more yellow orange. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shortpants Report post Posted November 6, 2006 Hey Bill, great story! I've had many stories like that happen to me but I can't say I've ever had my boots sniffed before. I'll share a couple of interesting ones real quickly. This past Jan. while bowhunting coues I was sitting on my stool with my back against a small tree when I heard leaves rustling behind me. After waiting awhile I finally turned slowly and saw a doe staring at me only 10 yds. behind me. She did the stomp thing for quite a while. I grunted at her and she only got more curious. I finally just stuck my hand out and softly began asking her to ''come here.'' She would take a couple steps towards me but never came in. That went on for an hour before she finally walked away. The second is very smilar but with a mule deer doe and me sitting on a stump in full sunlight. I sat still for an hour while this doe walked in circles around me stomping and jumping and snorting to try to get me to move. Finally I just jumped up quickly, threw my arms up and yelled boo! Needless to say that ended that episode in a hurry. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
creed_az_88 Report post Posted November 6, 2006 I once sat underneath an oak tree to have about 12 mule deer does come all around me. i was back against the tree and they definitely smelled me, but they all just stood about 6-10 yards away and stomped and blew at me till one finally got gotsy and stomped close to about 3 yards. i moved my leg and they all got out of there in a hurry.that sameday another group of deer were about 20 yards away in the same area and i watched two small white bulls, only a couple of months old chase the entire herd in circles and then a couple of younger mule deer does would chase them and so on. it was pretty cool. its those kinda days that i wish i would have left my bow and brought the video camera. creed Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billrquimby Report post Posted November 7, 2006 I have never read anything about it, but I've always felt that deer that are not hunted much need to identify us by at least two of their senses -- sight and scent, or sight and hearing, for example -- before they get concerned enough to be spooked. I've had several different types of deer see but not smell me, and only stand and stare instead of running off. We've all walked downwind and walked up on deer that certainly must have smelled us coming. When they've already been spooked by other hunters, they seem to rely on just one sense. A case in point happened with Spanish red deer. The rut (they call it "the roar" in Europe) had just ended and at least twenty hunters had hunted there before me. I had a devil of a time getting a shot by spotting and stalking. No matter how careful we were, those deer would see us and bolt long before we could get in position. It was amazing to me how good their eyesight was -- we had only to expose our heads at 300 yards to get them running. Another example: two of us walked up on a large herd of caribou in open county from downwind without even attempting to hide. We held our arms up and waved them from side to side, trying to imitate having antlers and were able to get within 75-100 yards before they got curious and started to circle us. They ran off as soon as they got our scent. We were on the Arctic Circle in the Northwest Territories and I would bet next month's Social Security check that they had never seen a human before us. Bill Quimby Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
deernut Report post Posted November 7, 2006 A deer’s eyes are set on the side of their head which allows them to watch for danger from almost a complete circle (~310 degrees). Because of the location of the eyes, deer have weaker binocular vision and poor reduced depth perception. Because detecting movement of approaching predators is important, a deer’s vision is extremely sensitive to movement. When a deer spots something it can’t identify, it just freezes. We’ve all had these stare-downs with deer, and they usually win. The hoof stomp is used just to get you to move. Deer have excellent night vision. As Amanda mentioned, they have a specialized membrane, called the tapetum lucidum, behind the retina that reflects light back through the retina a second time to increase the amount of light the eye can use (this membrane is what causes the night time eye-shine in your headlights). On the subject of color vision, we know deer are not color blind (B&W), but can see the color spectrum from ultraviolet through the yellow (not orange/red/infra red). Some recent work shows they may have some very weak sensitivity to yellow-orange, but not enough to see blaze orange as we do. RuffCountry’s post about using “redder” orange (if legal) makes sense in this regard. This morning while walking midday, I spotted 2 whitetail up on a hill at about 400 yards and they were already watching me. No big surprise, if you are walking in the sun and in the open, they can certainly see you a long way off. Javelina, on the other hand, evolved in the thornscrub and never needed to see at great distances – their whole world is within 30 yards and you can generally walk upright (quietly ) to within 100 yards. JIM Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CouesWhitetail Report post Posted November 7, 2006 If anyone is interested in Jim's book, you can order it on his website (www.deernut.com). He decided he would sell them directly so I won't have it in the bookstore here, but it is certainly a very useful book for hunters. It addresses lots of the questions that have come up in the forum lately about what influences deer behavior. Amanda Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
