Which Colors Can Deer See? Do Not Wear Blue Like humans, deer have rods and cones in their eyes. Rods absorb light, cones differentiate color and detail. Our cone-packed eyes help us perceive a variety of hues and fine detail.
Deer's eyes have many rods, which help them see in low light, but they have few cones, so they can't see some hues like blaze orange and can't see details like your camo's brand label.
It's tempting to imagine a deer is colorblind since he views your hunter-orange coat as a drab yellow-ish gray. Not so. The deer eye cannot perceive reds and oranges because they have long wavelengths.
Shorter wavelength hues like blue and green are easy for deer to notice. This is especially true at dawn or dusk, when deer are most active.
The National Deer Association says deer can see blue 20 times better than humans. If you're in a tree stand wearing your favorite blue jeans, hope the buck doesn't look up.
Deer see 18 times better in dim light than humans. Not only do deer have many rods in their eyes to see well in low light. They also have a light-reflecting membrane in the back of their eyes that bounces light back across the rods for a second absorption.
In low-light situations, deer sight 18 times better than humans, according to the NDA.Deer eyes let in more light because their pupils are larger than their entire size.
Deer Vision Is 20/60, But Movement Is Better These huge pupils can see movement better than ours, which is critical for a prey species that is always alert. Deer vision is 20/60, compared to 20/20 for sharp-eyed humans, according to biologists.
However, research at the University of Georgia Deer Lab found that deer detect and process images four times faster than humans, allowing them to spot movement quickly and retreat before you realize you shouldn't have been sitting still.