Am I color blind?

[Steve Wagner]

Use a bigger ball and more powder. Why are you having to track so much?

I never thought about that because after years of killing [I don't 'harvest', bc where I live that's for vegetables and grains.] a pile of deer, I have only had to spend any real tracking time on 2 and they were both well hit in the vital zone. As I now look back, I should have considered this advice because the bullets in those 2 cases actually bounced off of those 2 deer and they died from the blunt force trauma quite a ways from where they were shot. I needed more powder and bigger bullets. Since I am pretty new to ML, my experiences were with center fire cartridges. I can only imagine how many round balls and conicals with a mere striking velocity of 1200-1000 fps just hit hide, cause a massive welt and fall to the ground. Oh, wait-that's what my 45-70 does ! SW

 

[woodsnwater]

I've got it too but it's strange, when someone points to the blood, and it's close enough, I can see it, and it is red. I just can't pick it out for myself. I remember being on a trail before I knew, and someone seeing blood out twenty feet in front of us, and I thought they were super tracker or something. I have a disability, I need Government assistance!

 

[Spikebuck]

I have friends that carry 'tracking flashlights' that are made for hunting/blood tracking. I believe it is a green light and the blood glows in the dark from the this. I don't think color blindness would matter.

Just like I cannot imagine normal color vision, people with normal color vision cannot imagine not seeing certain colors. If one doesn't have the color receptors they won't see the colors. No transmission from eye to brain...period. You can't create something from nothing.

Fortunately most colorblind people just have a LOT fewer receptors for certain colors, so we see colors, just not as vividly, so some forms of "enhancement" can work. Those forms work not by brightening a color we can't see, but by further REDUCING (as in filtering out) other colors in the spectrum to create differentiation with the muted colors the affected person has trouble seeing.

 

[MaterielGeneral]

Have any of you guys used those blood trail flashlights? Supposed to use UV light I believe. I have one in my hunting day bag but never used it. Most of my kills have been immediate drops(nock on wood).

If your color blind it may be useful.

 

[Brokennock]

Have any of you guys used those blood trail flashlights? Supposed to use UV light I believe. I have one in my hunting day bag but never used it. Most of my kills have been immediate drops(nock on wood).

If your color blind it may be useful.

Have you not been reading about a 1/4 of the replies here?

 

[Jedidiah]

Just like I cannot imagine normal color vision, people with normal color vision cannot imagine not seeing certain colors. If one doesn't have the color receptors they won't see the colors. No transmission from eye to brain...period. You can't create something from nothing.

Fortunately most colorblind people just have a LOT fewer receptors for certain colors, so we see colors, just not as vividly, so some forms of "enhancement" can work. Those forms work not by brightening a color we can't see, but by further REDUCING (as in filtering out) other colors in the spectrum to create differentiation with the muted colors the affected person has trouble seeing.

Absolutely. I see lots of colors, just not the same ones others see. It is as if my color spectrum shifted a few degrees etc. It can be very frustrating!

 

[Brokennock]

All very interesting, or mostly anyway. Definitely learning something here. My uncle was color blind, can't remember what spectrum,,, but I do know that traffic lights would give him a hard time of they were hung in a non-standard fashion. We have a few in the area that are horizontal. He is/was the only one in the family color blind that I'm aware of.

Thank you for the education gentlemen.

 

[derrickman]

check out Enhroma glasses.

 

[MaterielGeneral]

Have you not been reading about a 1/4 of the replies here?

Didn't see any mention about flashlights.

 

[FishDFly]

Red/green and blue/green color blind, makes for some interesting clothes matching.

The old gas Coleman lanterns are the ticket for finding blood in the dark.

Don't bother tempering springs if you are color blind.

When taking the color blind test and they ask what number do you see, you can't trick me, there are no numbers there.

 

[Rawhide67]

I'm red green deficient as well. In have tried different colored lenses on lights, with no success. Haven't tried the lights linked above.

I have found over the years, that I want to be confident of my shots. That usually means being patient, at the risk of not filling a tag. If I shoot, the animal is hit. At that point, I will spend hours looking. I have even called friends to help me grid search.

I'm not bragging about being a great shot, I just accepy my limitations. With a caplock, 75 yards is it. With a smoothy flintlock it's 30 yards, longbow is 15 yards.

 

[Nuthatch]

The first deer I ever shot was with a CF & left no blood at all. She only went 20 yards but we didn't find her until the next day due to all the brush. My buddy wanted to call it but I was determined. Guess that shaped my perspectives. Blood is a bonus.

I've had to track a couple of bears shot in the evening. One didn't leave a single drop of blood or print even though the arrow sailed right through her lungs. Found her about 100 yards away about an hour later. The only sign I got that I was on her trail was a small, fresh turd on a dusty cattle trail about 60 yards away.

It helps me to think about the animal's general direction of travel after being hit, then their likely path, then possible destinations on that path. If the animal runs after the shot, I'm thinking about all those things. Blood is just confirmation that I'm on the right path.

The only time I lost an animal, so far, was a turkey that I had hit in the neck with an air rifle. We found small drops of blood but eventually lost the trail about 200 yards away at the property line. Still bummed about that one. Hope it was the last time I fail to recover an animal but I doubt it will be. All we can do is our absolute best.

 

[Spikebuck]

Red/green and blue/green color blind, makes for some interesting clothes matching.

The old gas Coleman lanterns are the ticket for finding blood in the dark.

Don't bother tempering springs if you are color blind.

You nailed all of those!!!

Coleman gas lanterns are by far my favorite night tracking aid. Added benefit of keeping you warm on a cold night while trailing. Just don't touch that knurled nut on top with a bare finger! Don't ask me how I know.

And no blacksmithing for me.

Sometimes my wife says: "You think that color is WHAT???!!!"

 

[Patocazador]

Although my son is color-blind, he was the art director for GAFF, a fishing magazine. He taught himself to recognize actual colors by asking co-workers what colors showed up. Essentially, he taught his brain a different "language" so that he now recognizes all colors even though he doesn't see them as normal folks do.

 

[deerstalkert]

another tool for the color challenged guy's is a small spray bottle of hydrogen peroxide. mist it on suspected blood sign and if it foams its blood.

 

[ETipp]

Sadly, I too, am in the red/green color vision issue boat. I can see red and I can see green just fine under most circumstances. But sometimes when they are put next to each other, they blend in. Its more of a lighting or shade issue I would say. However, being a hard core bow hunter for many years, not being able to see blood on the ground most of the time has its challenges.

With that said, I will convey this, and please do not beat me up for stating this.

Due to blood tracking issues for so many years now, I have learned how to read the woods much better. For ways and reasons I cannot understand, much of the time I can see where a hit deer traveled when others do not see a thing. Its almost as if I can see their tracks when none can be seen by others. Sometimes I can walk in places I have never been before and see where deer have walked even if they are not on a path and the leaves have covered up their tracks. This has become obvious time and time again when I had others help trying to find a downed critter. And if I cannot see their tracks or blood, its as if I can know what direction they went anyway. Weird I know, but its true. To be clear, this does not always happen, but much of the time it does. I have killed over 60 deer with arrows and the only way I found many of them, much of the time was by reading the woods and walking where I was sure they went.

This pretty much happens in woods only. Open areas and/or fields are a different story. That's where I have those real "they Lord have mercy" moments.

 

[ETipp]

I have tried everything out there. The lights did absolutely nothing for me...nothing. The color vision glasses available will help in daylight, but not at night under artificial light and diminished under cloudy skies as they require a full spectrum of natural light.

The best for me was a red contact lense in my non dominant eye. When wearing it in the doctor's office I went from only being able to read three of 25 of those "numbers buried in colored dots" test to 19 of the 25. Unfortunately for me, I have serious issues with contact lenses and cannot wear them. But for red/green deficiency, that does work to enhance...at least in daylight. Would make everyone think you have a serious case of pinkeye though!!!

The stem cell gene therapy that is coming will be amazing. This is an older article, but is a quick read for a start on the subject:

https://hms.harvard.edu/magazine/art-medicine/color-therapy
There is one advantage to being colorblind ... You don't need the secret decoder glasses in the cereal box to read the clues/answer on the back of the cereal box. Hitler's army actually used colorblind people in airplanes as spotters for camo'd allied equipment. Those kinds of things are designed for people with normal color vision, but colorblind people can often see through that and pick out the hidden items.

This red/green color vision deficiency has its challenges for sure, especially for us hunters. And, as you have noted, we often can pick out things in the woods that folks with normal color vision cannot.

I can say with 100% certainty that due to my red/green color vision issue, I can see blue in the woods for a country mile, for whatever reason. Often I can see a blueish glow when the object is not visible or defined. It actually glows. Thus I have often fletched up my arrows with white and blue fletchings. Its kind of neat in one sense, nothing blue is natural to the woods and when I do spot something, its like there's a bright LED light around it.

Strange indeed.

 

[Ames]

This pretty much happens in woods only. Open areas and/or fields are a different story. That's where I have those real "they Lord have mercy" moments.

Thats when I have the " time to get my dog moments".

 

[Brokennock]

It makes sense to me that your eyes and brain, and more importantly the connection between the two, would adapt to overcome the dificiency. People who are completely blind often have heightened states of other senses. So why not the system finding an adaption to overcome the color blind issue? I'm sure there was some work done at least subconsciously by your eyes and brain learning to recognize and process "normal" untraveled or normally traveled ground from ground disturbed by wounded game. But, the adaption was made.
Very interesting.

 

[Jedidiah]

When I was in the Service, they were well aware of what a "Red Green Deficient" person was capable of seeing as opposed to those with normal color vision. Many people with "color" issues were used in photo analysis because camouflaged items or areas did not look the same to them as it did a person with no issues. Ask me how I know!