Cootmeurer
Well-Known Member
Haha
But now that you mention it - I’ve only shot reds on the peat moors or in/adjacent to conifer plantings
Colour blind stalker !
- Thread starter Bobajob
- Start date
But now that you mention it - I’ve only shot reds on the peat moors or in/adjacent to conifer plantings
Heym SR20
Well-Known Member
Most people, regardless of being colour blind or not cannot see deer, nor for that matter any other wildlife.
Our eyes / brain are adapted to look for things that are important to us.
So you can easily pick out your loved ones in a crowded street / stadium etc. And you don’t even need to see their face in full - what catches your eye is their shape and way they walk etc.
Somebody who is interested in cars can tell you make and model very easily from just a brief glimpse, but for most its just a different colour.
It’s the same with deer - it takes time to train your eyes to see deer. You mostly don’t see a deer, rather you see a white blob (butt end) or a straight line - leg or back etc, or a touch of movement. It also takes time to see animals in different environments. So if I haven’t been out on the open hill, it takes time to tune back into red deer.
Closest I could compare to colour blindness is duck and goose flighting in the dusk and under moonlight. It really is a black and white affair, yet I can tell the difference at a glance between a mallard, widgeon and teal and more importantly between a shootable duck and protected species such as shell duck. It’s down to the silhouette and the way they move and fly. It’s taken time to learn this skill and there is no substitute for time on the marsh.
So taking novices out there is a very big difference in ability to see animals from those who have grown up doing so to those whose interests have been elsewhere.
One thing I am sure of is that use of technology probably does not assist the learning experience. You need to learn to see with the Mark 1 eyeball, long before you start relying on binoculars or thermals.
It also really helps to know when and where to look.
Our eyes / brain are adapted to look for things that are important to us.
So you can easily pick out your loved ones in a crowded street / stadium etc. And you don’t even need to see their face in full - what catches your eye is their shape and way they walk etc.
Somebody who is interested in cars can tell you make and model very easily from just a brief glimpse, but for most its just a different colour.
It’s the same with deer - it takes time to train your eyes to see deer. You mostly don’t see a deer, rather you see a white blob (butt end) or a straight line - leg or back etc, or a touch of movement. It also takes time to see animals in different environments. So if I haven’t been out on the open hill, it takes time to tune back into red deer.
Closest I could compare to colour blindness is duck and goose flighting in the dusk and under moonlight. It really is a black and white affair, yet I can tell the difference at a glance between a mallard, widgeon and teal and more importantly between a shootable duck and protected species such as shell duck. It’s down to the silhouette and the way they move and fly. It’s taken time to learn this skill and there is no substitute for time on the marsh.
So taking novices out there is a very big difference in ability to see animals from those who have grown up doing so to those whose interests have been elsewhere.
One thing I am sure of is that use of technology probably does not assist the learning experience. You need to learn to see with the Mark 1 eyeball, long before you start relying on binoculars or thermals.
It also really helps to know when and where to look.
Exactly the same - managed 10 years as an infanteer where targets were the same colour as the background if they were doing it right! I find deer against green hard but not undoable, however thermal and higher power binos once I've spotted have been transformational.....funnily enough infantrymen all have personal thermal on their helmets now.
Just as annoying as not being able to see a blood trail is being unable to tell when a thermal battery with red and green indicator lights is fully charged
Isn't it the other way round? Cones are for light detection, rods are for colour
As some have previously mentioned, I find the tracking of blood really difficult as a red/green colourblindness sufferer. I'm relatively noivce in my deer stalking experience and the inability to track a wounded deer because of my lack of colour perception is something which is impacting to my confidence for operating solo - I can't imagine i'm not alone in this feeling.
I appreciate that it doesn't make tracking insurmountable but it certainly makes it harder! Nothing like a motivator to get the shot right first time!
Hatch
I appreciate that it doesn't make tracking insurmountable but it certainly makes it harder! Nothing like a motivator to get the shot right first time!
Hatch
Colour blindness is no joke, most that are CB manage to find a work around mostly.
My military career was stopped when I was tested, Red, Green, Blue and Brown, it is not so much that you can't see them that causes the main issue, it's differentiating between them that is mostly the problem.
A colour blind sufferer will rarely say, wow look at that brown or green jumper for example, as 50% of the time its incorrect.
After living with it for so long, confidence in colour choice diminishes, a couple of examples of working around the issue.
Snooker balls, Brown is as dark as the Reds to a CB sufferer, Green is usually lighter, Blue is bright so identification is easier.
This meant when playing a game of snooker, I follow the Brown so know where it is at all times to avoid a foul shot.
Pool with numbered balls is way easier.
Believe it or not, I worked on main power networks up to 33kv for 40 years, when working on 240/415v it was the post war cables with wrapped paper cores that were the main issue, reason being that Red, Blue and green oil soaked paper were used to insulate .
To overcome, I tended to do the live joints, utilising a test device to confirm connections were correct, if I got it wrong, I would be first to know.
As others have said, thermal for sufferers has been a game changer, success rates have risen dramatically, location of shot deer hidden down in the brier patches has now become simpler even blood tracking can be done sometimes.
If a cure could be found, we who suffer would give anything to see vibrancy of that autumn display provided by the trees, the brightness of the russet red of a Roe buck in summer coat.
My military career was stopped when I was tested, Red, Green, Blue and Brown, it is not so much that you can't see them that causes the main issue, it's differentiating between them that is mostly the problem.
A colour blind sufferer will rarely say, wow look at that brown or green jumper for example, as 50% of the time its incorrect.
After living with it for so long, confidence in colour choice diminishes, a couple of examples of working around the issue.
Snooker balls, Brown is as dark as the Reds to a CB sufferer, Green is usually lighter, Blue is bright so identification is easier.
This meant when playing a game of snooker, I follow the Brown so know where it is at all times to avoid a foul shot.
Pool with numbered balls is way easier.
Believe it or not, I worked on main power networks up to 33kv for 40 years, when working on 240/415v it was the post war cables with wrapped paper cores that were the main issue, reason being that Red, Blue and green oil soaked paper were used to insulate .
To overcome, I tended to do the live joints, utilising a test device to confirm connections were correct, if I got it wrong, I would be first to know.
As others have said, thermal for sufferers has been a game changer, success rates have risen dramatically, location of shot deer hidden down in the brier patches has now become simpler even blood tracking can be done sometimes.
If a cure could be found, we who suffer would give anything to see vibrancy of that autumn display provided by the trees, the brightness of the russet red of a Roe buck in summer coat.
I'm not colour blind but suffer from terrible low light vision after a bad laser surgery some 12 years ago. I noticed relatively quickly after the surgery that although I no longer needed glasses I couldn't see a rabbit in the lamp beam for the life of me. Since then I now have to wear glasses again and still struggle in low light. I wouldn't recommend it! Thermal has been a life saver for me. Without it my stalking would be very limited
I've learned to work with it. I'm not completely colour blind but partially. Spotting a deer led on a woodland floor is virtually impossible. When out with mates, 99% of the time they will spot a deer before me.
I still get decent sport out of it. I tend to find an area where deer activity is high and wait for them - movement is dead easy to spot. I use thermal if I really need to get the job done but I prefer not to.
I still get decent sport out of it. I tend to find an area where deer activity is high and wait for them - movement is dead easy to spot. I use thermal if I really need to get the job done but I prefer not to.
jezzo this must be a nightmare
Funnily enough......many years ago when I was young and daft, I went to Biggin Hill for a selection weekend for potential Pilot training. One of the other willing volunteers was a chap who already had a private Pilot's licence and we thought he would be a shoe in for the RAF.
Sadly, they discovered that he was colour blind and that was the end of his potential career........me.......I discovered I wasn't RAF "material" (can't think why!) ........
Yeah, it can be! I think it's why I never made the grade that some of the real pro stalkers can manage. Don't get me wrong I can hold my own for stalk success against most hobbyists, but I'll never be the guy that goes out and gets it done virtually every time. I'm ok with that, I still love my time in the woods and fields. I've shot enough deer to be sick of venison!
HappyHunter
Well-Known Member
I have red green colour deficiency and following a blood trail is challenging to say the least. That aside I have excellent vision, including detecting movement and at low light. I don't have an issue spotting deer. Perhaps more reliant on shape, movement or a fleck of white? Hard to say. I could not for the life of me spot a fox I'd been asked to shoot by a stalker some time ago though... 'He's tucked in a hedge a couple of hundred yards up that ditch'.
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