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Author Topic: Deer dont see colors?  (Read 8563 times)

Offline STIKNSTRINGBOW

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Deer dont see colors?
« on: July 06, 2015, 01:53:17 PM »
I have to confess, I like berries.
I like just about all berries, other than those stupid Himalayans.
I have been fighting them back along my driveway for 7 years now.
My two favorite berries are the blue huckleberries and thimbleberries.
I have allowed them to flourish along my driveway, and collect them on a regular basis.
Due to their fragility and relative scarcity, I collect a few everyday, as soon as they are ripe.
I usually get between 1/4 and 1/2 cup a day.
The last few days a doe and her two fawns have been hanging out in my driveway, and I cannot find a single ripe berry.
Other than a few blackberries (trailing)  :dunno:
There are pink ones, but all the ripe red ones are gone.
The mountains are calling and I must go."
- John Muir
"I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order."
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Offline STIKNSTRINGBOW

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Re: Deer dont see colors?
« Reply #1 on: July 06, 2015, 01:56:36 PM »
Only the red ones are gone..
The mountains are calling and I must go."
- John Muir
"I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order."
- John Burroughs
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Offline Fl0und3rz

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Re: Deer dont see colors?
« Reply #2 on: July 06, 2015, 02:01:49 PM »
There's one right there.  Are you sure you see colors?

J/K

Offline JJB11B

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Re: Deer dont see colors?
« Reply #3 on: July 06, 2015, 02:39:55 PM »
It could be a scent thing too
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Re: Deer dont see colors?
« Reply #4 on: July 06, 2015, 03:33:01 PM »
They see blue.
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Offline Bango skank

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Re: Deer dont see colors?
« Reply #5 on: July 06, 2015, 03:44:51 PM »
Didnt know those were good to eat.  There are tons of them where i live.  Been meaning to look it up for a long time, just never got around to it.  Guess ill give some a try.

Offline _TONY_

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Re: Deer dont see colors?
« Reply #6 on: July 06, 2015, 03:52:42 PM »
I can sit and eat those for hours, if I find a good patch...

Offline Bullkllr

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Re: Deer dont see colors?
« Reply #7 on: July 06, 2015, 03:56:23 PM »
Didnt know those were good to eat.  There are tons of them where i live.  Been meaning to look it up for a long time, just never got around to it.  Guess ill give some a try.

Taste like a sweet raspberry.
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Offline Bigshooter

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Re: Deer dont see colors?
« Reply #8 on: July 06, 2015, 04:14:10 PM »
They see blue.
:yeah:

And I'm sure they can smell a ripe berry.
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Offline STIKNSTRINGBOW

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Re: Deer dont see colors?
« Reply #9 on: July 06, 2015, 10:39:24 PM »
Ahh, the smell... That must be it.
Quote
Didnt know those were good to eat.  There are tons of them where i live.  Been meaning to look it up for a long time, just never got around to it.  Guess ill give some a try.
One of the best. There was a guy that actually tried to cultivate for commercial harvest, but the berries are too soft, did not work out.
The mountains are calling and I must go."
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"I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order."
- John Burroughs
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Offline fishnfur

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Re: Deer dont see colors?
« Reply #10 on: July 06, 2015, 11:26:34 PM »
Not just the smell; the berries are so fragile that they likely just lick the ripe Thimbleberry right of the plant, preserving the remaining berries for later.  That would explain only the ripe ones being missing.  Then again, birds love those berries too.
“When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.”  - Will Rogers

Offline Turner89

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Re: Deer dont see colors?
« Reply #11 on: July 06, 2015, 11:34:14 PM »
Its funny how we grow up calling things by different names. I have always called thimble berries .....CAPberries
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Offline Bango skank

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Re: Deer dont see colors?
« Reply #12 on: July 06, 2015, 11:50:20 PM »
Its funny how we grow up calling things by different names. I have always called thimble berries .....CAPberries

I just now found out these are salmon berries.  I grew up calling a totally different berry salmonberry.  Feel pretty stupid walking by these for years not knowing theyre a common edible.  I will be walking by a big patch on the way to check one of my cameras in a couple days.  Ill have to stop and gather some on the way out.

Offline kball4

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Re: Deer dont see colors?
« Reply #13 on: July 07, 2015, 05:43:00 AM »
I call them wild raspberries, salmon berries look like blackberries but are yellow or orange and grow on those sticker bush tree things.  That's what I've always thought.

Offline fishnfur

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Re: Deer dont see colors?
« Reply #14 on: July 07, 2015, 09:59:28 AM »
That's closer. 

Thimbleberry - Rubus parviflorus, commonly called thimbleberry, salmonberry, and snow bramble, is a species of Rubus, native to western and northern North America, and the Great Lakes region - (not really a salmonberry) -  always red, thin shell of seeds that fit nicely on your fingers, and very tasty.




Salmonberry - Rubus spectabilis is a species of Rubus native to the west coast of North America from west central Alaska to California. It is a shrub growing to 1–4 m tall, with perennial, not biennial woody stems that are covered with fine prickles - generally orange, sometimes with a red- purple tinge.  Not a heck of a lot of taste, but a nice treat when your hot and thirsty.



Blackcap -  western American species - Rubus leucodermis. Other names occasionally used include wild black raspberry, black caps, black cap raspberry, thimbleberry, and scotch cap.  Mild taste, never pass them up because they don't last long.


“When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.”  - Will Rogers

Offline _TONY_

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Re: Deer dont see colors?
« Reply #15 on: July 07, 2015, 02:01:22 PM »
I call them wild raspberries, salmon berries look like blackberries but are yellow or orange and grow on those sticker bush tree things.  That's what I've always thought.
:yeah:

I've always called them that too...

Offline Tbob

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Re: Deer dont see colors?
« Reply #16 on: July 07, 2015, 02:42:39 PM »
I've been told deer can see shades of blues and grays. ?

Offline Igor

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Re: Deer dont see colors?
« Reply #17 on: July 07, 2015, 03:15:36 PM »
It always makes me chuckle when I see deer and elk hunters wearing blue jeans.  Blue is one of the colors that deer see most vividly.

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Offline Miles

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Re: Deer dont see colors?
« Reply #18 on: July 07, 2015, 05:27:13 PM »
It always makes me chuckle when I see deer and elk hunters wearing blue jeans.  Blue is one of the colors that deer see most vividly.



These ones must not have known they could see blue...   I think the blue thing is kind of funny cause my dad calls the blue sweatshirt in the picture below his "lucky" hunting shirt.   He's shot 5 or 6 bucks while wearing it. :chuckle:

Offline Igor

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Re: Deer dont see colors?
« Reply #19 on: July 07, 2015, 06:50:54 PM »
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Offline fishnfur

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Re: Deer dont see colors?
« Reply #20 on: July 07, 2015, 11:09:21 PM »
Good link.  Interesting article.  Somewhere in the back of my mind, I keep thinking all they did was teach the deer to eat at the trough with a light shining over it.  I'm sure that is not the case, and I believe there conclusions are probably correct - to a point.  I'm sure the deer responded better to the blue light, which may mean something.  I question though whether you can "infer" what colors deer see based on how our eyes work.  The signals received by the deer's retinal rod cells (that in us sees blues)  that is transmitted  to the brain may not be interpreted the same as it would in a human brain.  The eye does not "see", but instead captures the light with and then transforms that the information received into an nerve impulse that is then interpreted by the brain. 

I ask myself, "what possible reason would a deer eye have for seeing the color blue the best?".  What advantage would it give a deer to see blue better than others.   I can't think of a single reason.  Certainly not food.  If you believe in the theory of evolution, the deer we know today were selected for/ successful enough to survive, based at least partly on the improvements in eye (and of course, the nose).  I seriously doubt that they evolved their ability to see blues in order to avoid human hunters wearing bluejeans. Certainly, many, many, blue jean clad hunters were very successful while wearing blue.   

 I think that we only understand a small part of the story.  Hmmmm.......
“When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.”  - Will Rogers

Offline erk444

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Re: Deer dont see colors?
« Reply #21 on: July 08, 2015, 06:32:56 PM »
Maybe seeing blue has something to do with better night vision :dunno: I've read they see in blues, greens, and yellows.

Online grundy53

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Re: Deer dont see colors?
« Reply #22 on: July 08, 2015, 08:09:31 PM »
There has been more than study done on this subject.
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Offline fishnfur

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Re: Deer dont see colors?
« Reply #23 on: July 08, 2015, 10:32:49 PM »
ERK444  - that's a great guess.  It sounds reasonable anyway.
“When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.”  - Will Rogers

Offline Trapmark

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Re: Deer dont see colors?
« Reply #24 on: July 11, 2015, 01:18:02 PM »
I've seen too many guides wear blue jeans and any old ball cap to believe deer can see blue as we do.  Usually guiding hunters wearing lots of camo.  Really have never noticed game react to what I'm wearing but to motion.  I do wash in UV killing detergent though. :twocents:

 


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