With this visual comparison exercise, you will better understand the differences between how we see color versus how animals see color.
Scientifically speaking, RODS and CONES are what allow any creature to perceive light and color. Rods are the cells located along the retina that are most sensitive to light levels, while cones are the cells that perceive colors. In humans, there are higher levels of cones than rods, meaning we see colors very well but have less-than-perfect night vision. Many mammals, like deer, have rods and cones, but they are structured far differently. The number of rods far exceeds our own, allowing them to behave very well nocturnally. The cones however are far less than ours, and they in fact are missing a specific cone that aids color perception, making them red-green colorblind. This is why blaze orange clothing does not bother them... they perceive the red and green spectrums as roughly the same shade of pale yellow.
So what does all of this mean? In a nutshell, it means that many of the colors used in camouflage today are pointless because the deer cannot distinguish them anyway.
In the exercise here, you can barely make out a hunter wearing Shaman DeadFall on the right side of the treeline... and this is how our eye perceives the scene. By clicking the "change view" button, you will see the shift of color to how a deer would perceive this environment, and how well our pattern vanishes into the thicket.
SHAMAN DEADFALL -
In this image, you can see how a slight shift (from left side to right side) might occur when DeadFall is perceived through a deer's eyes.
As you can see here, the base neutrality of the pattern works in the hunter's favor, and the pattern becomes enhanced within the yellow spectrum naturally seen by deer. By removing unnecessary colors, Shaman DeadFall will blend perfectly into any wooded environment and within the animal's visual level.
SHAMAN GRASSLAND -
In this image, you can see how a slight shift (from left side to right side) might occur when Grassland is perceived through a deer's eyes.
Again, the pattern's base colors work in the hunter's favor. Being a predominately red-tone pattern, the shift is to a highly-detailed image of grass as the deer would normally see it in the wild.
The shift here would allow any hunters finding themselves in a grassy environment perfectly concealed against any game.
SO, WHAT ABOUT THE BIRDS? -
The completely honest answer is... nobody really knows.
The fact is that birds... especially those most active during daylight, have literally tens of thousands more color receptive cone cells than we do... meaning their worlds are much more vibrant to view than anything we can imagine.
What we can say is that by choosing colors that are neutral, and therefore easy to blend within any spectrum of color and light, our patterns are more likely to fool a bird's eye than any other camouflage available. It's been tested and proven against turkeys and waterfowl already, with great success.
