Recent studies conducted by the University of Georgia Deer Lab, along with other research, have revealed some rather interesting and significant data about deer vision. Deer are constantly being preyed upon by various predators, and one of their most important means of defense is their vision. Knowing and understanding this data can be of great benefit to a whitetail deer hunter to become more successful once they understand the strengths and weaknesses of a deer’s eyes.

Have you ever been wandering in the woods and come upon a deer, only to have it just stand there staring at you, or have a doe slowly walk toward you, seemingly to “investigate” what she is seeing? Well, it turns out that deer have a much lower visual sharpness than humans. Surprisingly, deer can see an object at 20 feet away in the daylight with the same clarity that a human can see it at 60 feet. That is to say, normal human eyesight is 20/20, while the normal eyesight of a deer is about 20/60, meaning that they see three times less clearly than humans!

Thus, when they appear to be just standing there staring at you, they are trying to interpret what they are looking at.

Deer have 20 times more rods than cones in their retinas, helping them to see better in low light conditions at dawn and dusk. Rods enable light absorption, and cones enable color vision and distinguishing fine details. Since deer have more rods than cones, they can see better in low light than humans do, but they see with less clarity.

Deer see almost 18 times better than humans at twilight.

They have a layer in the back of their eye that acts as a mirror that reflects back across the rods any light that is not absorbed when first entering the eye. In effect, it allows a deer to use the same light twice while we only use it once. The shape and location of this reflective layer are such that it uses light coming from the horizon, which is strongest at dawn and dusk. Research shows that deer are not nocturnal as many think but instead are “crepuscular,” i.e., meaning they are most active during the twilight period of dawn and dusk.

While deer have been observed to have lower image sharpness than humans, they receive and process images almost four times faster than we do at dawn and dusk. They can detect even the slightest of movement within their field of vision.

Although various camouflage patterns may help you conceal your presence because of a deer’s poor visual acuity, it only works as long as you remain motionless.

The average human has a 180-degree field of view, while deer have an amazing field of view of 300 degrees, leaving a mere 60-degree “blind spot” in their otherwise wide field of view. Even though deer have reduced clarity and focus, they make up for it with their ability to detect danger in almost every direction at once. The only way you have a chance of not being spotted by a deer is when you are standing directly behind it – and remaining motionless!

As to their color vision, deer can see blue wavelengths 20 times better than humans, but in their eyes, red and orange wavelengths appear brown or gray. While humans have UV filters in their eyes, deer do not, which allows them to maximize the additional light from the shorter blue wavelengths that are more abundant at dawn and dusk. With a deer’s superior ability to detect blue, it would be wise to leave the blue jeans at home when hunting deer!

Hopefully, these revealing and interesting facts regarding a deer’s vision might just help you be successful on your next deer hunt.

Good Luck!