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.

Source.

Across the United States, the deer population has ballooned in recent years to an estimated 30 million. Once a rare sight, deer have become something of a pest, spreading disease and causing fatal car accidents at an increasing rate. But for people like Arnow, who has a background in environmental science, the biggest issue is the impact of too many deer on the forest. With fewer bears and mountain lions around to keep their numbers in check, deer can reproduce with abandon and decimate the young trees and native plants that live beneath forest canopies.

“[If] we have a beautiful overstory of mature oak trees [but] zero oak saplings in the woods, there’s no future for the forest,” said Arnow, whose concern has turned into an obsession with herd management.

To protect these crucial habitats and carbon sinks in order to help keep climate change from spiraling further out of control, scientists say deer population density in much of the country must be drastically reduced. “For this thing to work, you have to drive the deer numbers down to a very low level,” said William McShea, a wildlife ecologist at the Smithsonian Conservation Ecology Center. “You can’t just have casual hunting.”

I don’t know if I agree with the superlative “very low level.”  But the point is that the proliferation of hunting regulations on bag limits, allowable antlered and antlerless take, time, season duration, etc., etc., has overdone it.

I agree with that.  It’s time to pull back on the overbearing regulations.

Many in my area are already preparing for deer season, scouting out spots, readying weapons, and so on. We have a bow season, a muzzle season, and a rifle season. I’m woefully under-educated in the use of a bow for any purpose. It pays to listen as I learned there is a local bow guy who “everybody” goes to see. He will fit you to the proper pull based on your strength, etc.

Also, having learned something new the other day might change some plans. There is a youth rifle hunt between bow season and muzzleloader season. Now that seems interesting. The deer (theoretically) have not been shot at yet this year, and some will not have heard the crack of a rifle shot since last season. This seems like an opportunity to be first in the field.

Deer, like most creatures, take the path of least resistance. That’s why animal trails exist. They, like us, don’t want to go through sticker bushes and challenging terrain, although in the calculous of a deer, terrain difficulty is measured differently than by a man. Getting an early start is paramount to some hunters.

People love to talk about which cartridges are the best deer cartridges, and many work just fine.

But what about tactics?

Everybody is getting their spots picked and making travel plans if they’re going any distance.

Deer hunting in America is massive; it may be the largest participant event in the country. (Notice how I didn’t call it a sport!)

“THE BEST DEER HUNTING STATES IN 2022” includes a list of deer population by state.

The desired State’s website is where to find up-to-date and accurate info. This link has a season dates and bag limit link for each state. Deer Hunting Season 2022 Forecast: A State-by-State Guide.