I don't know the science of it, but I've had deer, rabbits and squirrels, `possums and raccoons, minks, antelope, muskrats,mule deer, bobcats, beaver, prairie dogs, woodchucks, coyotes, wild turkeys, and other critters come right up close enough to touch so long as I was still.
I remember sitting quietly on a lime rock shelf while a small flock of turkeys wandered past clucking and pecking the ground for bugs and such. Several of them passed me just inches from my boot toes. Elk have grazed peacefully within yards of me and more than once a bear, intent on his own business, ignored me sitting on a stump as he wandered around a few yards away. I've walked up on yarded deer groups wearing blue jeans, a t-shirt, and sneakers while walking a woods trail. I dunno who was most startled, me or the 8 or 10 deer. I hunkered down once while a wobbly-legged fawn crossed a small clearing to investigate me. His Mama fussed in the edge of the treeline, stomping her forefeet and snorting to call him back. I believe she wasn't sure if I was a threat or not but she wanted him to stay clear. At the time, I was just out on a walk in jeans and a loose shirt and boots and I have no recollection what color they were but they were not bright or camo or plaid. I was carrying a small bore rifle but not hunting. Back then I smoked so probably had strong tobacco smoke smell on top of the human scent, sweat, and whatever I had for lunch. When the little feller got a couple of feet away I tapped my wedding ring on the stock of my rifle and he jumped in the air and ran to Mama.
On one occasion a buck whitetail ran up a dry wash, then turned and ran up a slope to higher ground and stopped looking over his shoulder to see his back trail. When he stopped he was maybe 20 feet from where I sat on a fallen log with my rifle across my lap. That day I was hunting.
I remember reading about mountain men and hunters
luring antelope by putting a fluttering rag on their ramrod and holding it up in the breeze. I tried it once on a road in Wyoming by tying my hankerchief to a ramrod and holding it up while standing behind my pickup which was parked on the shoulder. A small herd of Pronghorns was grazing in a pasture next to that road. The herd sentry buck worked his way slowly, head up and nose in the air, until he was maybe 30 yards from me --- at which point a Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper stopped to see what in h*ll I was doing and spooked the antelope when he did. I explained what I was doing and that I didn't have a loaded weapon, wasn't actually hunting, and then he got interested.
My point is, I grew up with rules about what you should do and not do, wear and not wear, in the woods. I suspect those were the result of my father and my uncles, and their friends' experience -- but I've found that some of them were true sometimes and other times things didn't work that way. I do know from observation and experience that wild animals see and respond to motion and to regular shapes. I'm not at all certain that animals are spooked by certain colors, or if so, what those colors are. I AM sure that I will not voluntarily wear certain colors in the woods during hunting seasons because I don't want to be mistaken for a game animal. That may fall in the category of "not enough" care, since I know of instances where inexperienced or foolish (or "under the influence") hunters have shot at motion or sounds. Please note that in the interest of PC, I avoided using the term "D*mn F##ls".
