Colour Blindness

mudman

Well-Known Member
I was just wondering if any of you chaps were colour blind, as if so, how the heck do you follow a blood trail???

I'm colour blind myself in the red/ green spectrum so unless there is a gallon or so of blood forming a nice shiney pool on the ground I just can't see it. I have no chance in spotting the typical traces of blood left by a shot beast.
 
I was diagnosed many years ago as being "a touch colour blind with regard to shades of blue", not very technical but it prevented me being fighter pilot :D :D Thankfully I have no trouble with reds and greens.

John
 
Morning, Mudman,

I've got exactly the same problem and have given up trying to follow blood trails because of it.

What type of deer do you stalk and what type of ground are they on?

I stalk mainly roe in conifer plantations and if they don't drop on the spot it can time consuming finding them.

After waiting 5 minutes or so and on the basis I cant see the deer lying, I go to where it was was when I fired. I check for a hit mark by looking for hair - not a problem if the roe was still in its winter coat.

If I can't see obvious signs of blood where the hair is, I wipe my hand across the grass to try and find the blood to enable me to find if it's lung shot or whatever.

If I have hit it I then try and carry out a systematic search of the area, bearing in mind the followoing points which a friend who has shot well over a thousand roe gave me to try and help me recover shot deer.

1. Usually a shot roe will run downhill rather than uphill.

2. A shot roe will usually take the line of least resistance bearing in mind its height, not yours.

3 Sometimes it is possible to follow the path the deer took through the trees by the hair snagged on the low branches but not always.

If I know I've hit the deer I don't leave till I find it no matter how long it takes and will come back in the morning if necessary.

That 's one of the reasons I prefer stalking in the morning. I don't have to worry about failling light.

If you think you have only wounded the deer and know a follow up with a dog is needed then don't mess up the trail for the dog by tramping all over it.

I did look at electronic game finders (a different post on this forum) to try and get round the problem but after surfing the net found that even the most up to date version got mixed reviews so have put on hold my next toy purchase.

Nick
 
Thanks for the tips Nick. I have been shooting in conifer plantations for roe, but not with much success, hopefully that will change this coming buck season!

I was told that a shot roe will often run on a curving line, and if only wounded will sometimes come round almost in a full circle, do you know if there is any truth in this?
 
Fortunately I do have a HWV which I use as an all purpose shooting dog. He is seven now and has had no training as a deer dog and very little exposure to deer apart from live ones charging past on a shoot day. But he has shown a natural ability to follow a cold trail so with a bit of more deer specific training hopefully he will make the grade.
 
Hi, i am not colour blind myself but took a guy out once who turned out to have a big problem with greens and browns. I did not know this prior to taking him out and as we were in woodland with quite a bit of cover he could not see the deer until they moved and it turned into a fruitless exercise. I did not have the heart to take any money off him.
 
As far as deer running in a circle goes, I've heard this myself but never seen or encountered it.

Over the years I've been stalking there seems to be no hard and fast rules about roe running on after the shot.

I'm sure others here will have the same experience of shooting a roe which quite obviously has seen the stalker and is ready to go but drops on the spot and others where the deer is totally unaware of the stalker yet runs after the shot.

Sometimes, I wish roe would learn to read :rolleyes:

Nick
 
I prefer to call you "Spectrum limited visionaries" :lol:
On a more serious note, I've just read in the tracking dogs for deer book, about taking some white tissue when you stalk. This way you can dab around the ground where you expect to find blood. I'm only guessing, but I would imagine even an S.L.V. would be able to make out the red against a white background. If not, well at least you are prepared for one of the other problems of stalking far from a public convenience ;)
Happy hunting,
Mark
 
l was diagnosed Colour blind as a child as is most people and it has not effected me much during life other than joining one of the armed services, l can not distinguish colours at distance and l can only pick up blood trails if there is plenty of claret around if not there is no simple solution other than a dog (which l am currently training) l have found myself in the past crawling along trying to find blood and following the trail, white tissue is essential not only to distinguish blood but to mark the trail as you go.
 
Evening Gentlemen,
I have no colour blindness but I'm blind as a bat come dusk. :( I think how it works is that if you are colour blind your night sight is keener. Something to do with the rods and cones in your eyes. :confused: So at least there is something good about this condition.

So whilst I'm walking or stumbling back to the car you lot are still stalking! Lucky sods :lol:
 
Well I never knew that, but I have always thought my night vision was pretty good. When going out on the marsh in the dark wildfowling I very rarely need to use a torch but my pals are always using theirs.

Strange thing colour blindness, I never realised I was until I failed that multi coloured dot vision test at school. So that was fighter pilot scratched off the career options at the age of seven!
 
Sorry Beo,

I have to disagree.

I have red/green colour blindness and have pretty poor night which means when my pals are still shooting teal etc my gun is back in the slip. :(

The most common form of colour blindness is between red and green and is a mainly a male problem for some reason.

According to my doctor and my optician there is no connection between night vision and colour blindness.

On the subject of eyesight a word of warning to anyone considering laser treatment to correct their eyesight. I understand the treatment has a noticeable adverse affect on night vision.

Nick
 
Hi Nick,
I'll dig the article out about night vision and colour blindness. But for the moment I will just add that large meat eating animals like wolves, lions and dogs if you like all have colour blindness to some extent but also have very good night vision.
I've now got to go up into the loft and find the article I mentioned, men and women also have different types of eyes. This is due to the fact men used to do all the hunting and women all the gathering and therefore required different visionary skills.
 
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