I’m not trying to troll, I’m genuinely curious. Thinking about deer specifically, it doesn’t seem like visual camouflage would really help much when hunting them. Deer sense predators by sensitive hearing (big ears) and smell (long snout). Their eyes are on the sides of their head, so they detect motion rather than high-resolution.
So trying to blend in with the surroundings doesn’t seem to be an advantage in this case. Assuming all this, what’s the point of clothing with camo print on it?
For deer camo is irrelevant because most cases you have to wear hunter orange (or pink) because you don’t want to die by being shot by another hunter. Also the deer don’t really notice the orange so it works out. If you strictly hunt deer you should focus on staying warm and wear hunter orange, camo doesn’t matter.
For waterfowl and Turkey especially though camo is necessary. Birds are really good at seeing danger so if you don’t blend in you have almost no chance of getting one.
The reason a deer hunter would likely be wearing camo is they also hunt turkey/waterfowl and gear isn’t free so they use a lot of the same gear for both seasons.
At least this is why I wear camo while hunting, I do both, but I’m fully aware it doesn’t matter for the deer. The gear is just good for long duration outdoor activity in all weather.
Depends on the deer. Some species have good eyesight. If you live on a big open field that is a very effective way to detect predators.
Breaking up the contour of your human shape is why you have camo when hunting animals with poor colour vision. They can't tell if you're a boulder or human but no big gray blob is supposed to move. Grass and branches swaying in the wind are all over the place.
You may also use the same clothes for hunting birds, which usually have very good vision, including color.
The rare times I have been hunting we wore blaze orange hats & vests with no camo at all. Not getting shot by accident was priority #1, avoiding hypothermia was priority #2.
People already covered a few reasons deer hunters wear camo (only wanting one set of hunting clothes, camo does work on deer to an extent, etc). I'll add a couple of other reasons.
Many hunting seasons overlap, so someone might head out early on a Saturday morning to their hunting area to hunt for deer then spend the heat of the day hunting birds. Or maybe they have a license for both bear and deer, and they'll take what they see.
Second, camo works on humans. Non-hunters absolutely love to mess with hunters. I have several stories of waking up hours before dawn, driving to a place I can hunt, sitting in a tree stand in the freezing cold waiting for dawn, and then having a random person spot me from the road, then hike up to me to tell me I'm not allowed to be there cause Mr X doesnt let people hunt on his property (despite the fact that I have a signed permission note from Mr X). Or someone who doesn't think hunting should be allowed spotting me and then just letting their dogs off leash through the woods to flush away any deer, despite the fact that if I had a dog with me while hunting, it would be illegal because of how stressing it is for deer to be chased by dogs. Or the DNR officer doing their job by checking to make sure I have permission, the proper licenses, weaponry, square inches of pure blaze orange, etc, and next thing you know, you've lost 1 of the 2 days you'll be able to hunt that season. You only have a few prime hours per day, and having a person show up during that time will keep deer away for the rest of that window.
It's far easier to just hide from people.
Edit: and another thing I just remembered to add, camo lets other people know you are likely a hunter. If you are just walking the woods with shorts, a t-shirt, and a weapon, you will likely freak some people out.
Hunters try to account for the deers senses, approaching from up wind so they cant smell you. Sneaking so they cant hear you, it makes sense that you'd also use camo so they cant see you.
Most of the hunters I know go for the hi vis orange camo so you stand out to humans but not deer since they cannot see the colours.
It's all about stimuli. I'm sure most hunters have sat for hours without seeing a thing only to absent-mindedly stumble on a deer while noisily walking or riding back home. Deer might react to a stimulus, but they won't react to nothing... obviously right? I've had deer snap their heads straight to me because of a slight movement I made. While others have just kept an eye on me while they continued whatever they were doing. The point is to give them as little to react to as possible while actively trying to hunt.
Another aspect is that's simply what is available. I've got nice warm camo bibs because they are made with soft quiet fabric. My buddy who ice fishes has warm bibs as well that are not camo but noisy as hell because fishermen don't need to worry about noise. There's almost no options for warm and quiet clothing that isn't camo.
I do just about everything I can to minimize me disturbing the area. So breaking up the contour, hiding my face (eyes and faces looking at you mean predators), and try to match camo to where I live and when I hunt. Not just for deer but also the birds, squirrels, etc because if they are acting scared they might alert a deer or at least put them on edge.
Also it might I can see wild life a little more naturally then if I was just screaming "human here!" Visually, audibly or through smell.
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