WHY UPLAND HUNTERS USE BLAZE ORANGE

Perhaps the main reason we upland bird hunters wear blaze orange is due to the laws in many areas we hunt. Another reason is that we have been told over and over that it is safer than not wearing the color. What really is the reason?

Mammals have eyes that contain a retina on the back of the eye ball. There are about a quarter billion photo receptors in the retina. They are called rods and cones. The rods and cones absorb different wavelengths of light.

We use the rods for dim-light and vision to the peripheral areas surrounding us. Although they are more sensitive to light, they do not provide either sharp images or color vision. That is what makes low light images appear fuzzy as does the images to the sides of our field of vision. Rods are very sensitive and respond best to dim light. They absorb all wavelengths of visible light but their input is perceived only in gray tones.

The cones work in bright light to give us great color vision. Cones need bright light for activation but have pigments that furnish a vivid color view of the world.

The addition or lack of light as when we move from darkness into bright light is adapted to automatically as the retina adjusts to the amount of light present.

With humans bright colors such as blaze orange look bright. The human eye is protected by a filter that blocks about 99 percent of UV light from entering the eye. It is like sunglasses.

Blaze orange absorbs UV rays that humans cannot see and turn them into longer wavelengths they can see. The orange reflects less UV that animals see well and more of the rays they do not.

This color correction perceived by game becomes a neutral gray. It is still highly visible to other hunters and has resulted in blaze orange being required of hunters to be worn in the field.