In What Colors Can Deer See (and also here), we discussed cammo and colors deer can see. ODL follows up its own reporting with even more.
The University of Georgia’s Deer Lab has been on the cutting edge of most of this research, and Outdoor Life recently caught up with Blaise Newman, a PhD student at UGA who is studying how deer vision influences their behavior. Her research in the Deer Lab is being sponsored by Sitka gear, and it looks specifically at how whitetail deer use their eyes to avoid predation as they move through different landscapes.
“What I focus on is understanding how deer’s vision helps them meet their ecological needs—how their physiology helps them meet their basic needs and functions,” Newman says. “Sitka funded this project in an effort to advance everything we know about deer vision. As a camo company, it makes sense. They want to know how they can make their camouflage less detectable by deer.”
Hunters used to believe that deer were unable to see color, and that they only viewed the world in shades of gray. We can now say with certainty that deer can see color— just not in the same way that humans do because their eyeballs are physiologically different than ours.
BLUF, don’t worry about red and orange. Do worry about lack of pattern that just becomes a one-color blob. Don’t wear blue.
Anyone who has spent real time around feral hogs learns the same lesson fast: these animals trust their nose more than almost anything else. Texas A&M AgriLife materials describe feral hogs as having poor eyesight but excellent hearing and smell, and that tracks with what hunters, trappers, and wildlife managers see in the field year after year. When a hog feels pressure, it often reacts to scent before sound and long before a person gets a visual.
That matters because smell is the earliest-warning system a hog has. A deer may lift its head and stare. A turkey may freeze and listen. A hog is more likely to sort the world through odor, constantly reading air currents for food, danger, and other hogs. In thick cover, at night, and in humid bottoms where visibility is limited, that sensory strategy makes perfect sense.
Texas A&M has even noted that wild pigs can detect some odors from several miles away under favorable conditions, though that does not mean they identify every human at that range with total precision. It does mean their odor detection ability is exceptional, especially when scent is concentrated and moving steadily. For a hunter, the practical takeaway is simple: if your scent reaches them, the hunt may be over before it begins.
Eh, maybe. But I’m not so sure about this. I’ve seen deer get one whiff in a change of wind and bolt away in an instant at full speed. As for hogs, I think they are a little more prone to sauntering into the middle of a field as long as they think food may be available.
“He was trying to get a better angle, better focus,” said Richard Curylo, who is engaged to the injured man’s sister.
The incident occurred on Tuesday, July 21, near a boat launch at Proud Lake Recreation Area in Commerce Township, according to a spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in a statement to PEOPLE.
The incident involved a 41-year-old man and was handled by local 911, per the spokesperson.
While speaking to local outlet WXYZ, Richard Curylo, who is engaged to the injured man’s sister, said he and his group had been swimming when they noticed movement in some nearby grass.
“We saw and heard the rattle and it was his first time seeing one, so he wanted to get a really good picture,” Curylo said while speaking to the outlet.
Curylo said he recorded video of the Eastern Massasauga rattlesnake before his fiancée’s brother then moved in even closer to capture a photo.
The Eastern Massasauga is the only venomous snake native to Michigan, and only one of two rattlesnake species native to the Great Lakes region, according to Michigan State University.
The family called 911, and the man was transported by ambulance to the University of Michigan, which was the nearest hospital equipped with antivenom, per WXYZ.
Don’t be stupid. A cat has quicker reflexes than a snake and will rarely lose to a snake. You aren’t a cat.
Anthony Pollio, 33, was hiking in Montana’s Glacier National Park on May 3 when he “surprised an adult male grizzly bear on the Mt. Brown Lookout trail,” according to an interagency report on the first deadly bear attack at the park in nearly 30 years.
“Darkness and deadfall on the trail would have prevented the bear and Mr. Pollio from seeing each other until they were very close,” the report stated, saying the protective grizzly launched an “intense” attack.
Pollio, of Davie, Florida, “fully discharged” his bear spray — but plunged 93 feet downslope “probably while the bear continued its attack,” the July 20 report stated.
Pollio managed to climb 18 feet back up the slope as the bear briefly halted its attack — before it “reengaged and killed Mr. Pollio,” the report stated.
There are several lessons here. (1) Glacier National Park. (2) Bear spray was “fully discharged.” (3) The bear reengaged. Let’s cover that again. He didn’t give it up. He didn’t run away. He didn’t stop. He reengaged and killed the man.
In other news from Montana, “animal advocates ask the state to demand hunters and hikers carry bear spray.
On Tuesday a coalition of grizzly bear advocates filed a petition with the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission to require hunters and trappers to carry bear spray in the state. They argue that it will keep sportsmen safer and reduce grizzly bear mortality.
Local outlets are reporting 19 Montana groups and 46 individuals have backed the petition for “public safety.” The full text and the petitioning organizations and individuals have not yet been made available to the public …
Whatever. It’s just added weight. Carry a large bore firearm like a .44 magnum, .454 Casull or .45 SMC or Super.
Oregon voters have moved one step closer this week to potentially banning hunting, fishing and animal agriculture.
On Thursday, activists submitted a final batch of signatures to state officials for a ballot measure that would effectively criminalize such practices.
The proposal, known as the People for the Elimination of Animal Cruelty Exemptions (PEACE) Act, has not officially qualified for the ballot yet. State officials have until August to decide whether it goes to a popular vote in November elections.
The measure, Initiative Petition 28, would remove hunting, fishing and livestock husbandry exceptions from the state’s animal abuse law.
“We want to see the state of Oregon stop killing animals,” David Michelson, who is spearheading the campaign, told KGW of the effort, his third attempt to get such rules on the ballot.
Lol. This not only effects hunting and fishing, this would put an end to cattle ranching or farmers harvesting chickens for meat.
Make no mistake about it. This is about worshiping the creation rather than the creator.
I suppose there is a little bit of good news. “Twenty-two states recognize the right to hunt and fish in their constitution, according to the National Rifle Association, while 11 states have bans on Sunday hunting.”
A flesh‑eating fly thought eradicated decades ago has been found in Texas, its first return to the United States in generations.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed the presence of New World screwworm in a 3-week-old calf in Texas on June 3, marking the first known U.S. case in decades and the closest the parasite has come to reestablishing itself north of the Mexico border since its eradication in the 1960s.
So you kill the cartel boss who’s extorting money for the USDA flights. Then when you try another flight and some cartel big wig tries to extort money from you, you send folks to kill him too. And so on. Until you reach the end of cartel bosses who want to perish because of fly drops.
There is no real problem that can’t be solved in this manner. The other option is to let our cattle herds be eaten alive and forswear ever eating beef again.
Which will it be?
But we won’t do that because the U.S. has become a nation of effeminate cowards.
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