Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints Coyotes and blaze orange

While deer hunting yesterday with my muzzleloader, a coyote walked past me at less than 50 feet (upwind, of course) but it never reacted to my presence. I was standing next to a tree and was dressed in green and camo and a blaze orange cap. The coyote looked at me a couple of times and was within my sight for two or three minutes but never acted nervous. I have always thought that coyotes were able to detect shapes and color. Was this one exhibiting normal behavior? There is a lot of orange flagging in the woods from boundary survey work so might the coyote be comfortable with the orange color? I'm curious about what the experts think.

You stood still and he was upwind.

Camo makes $$ for the camo companies.


Same for turkeys. I have had them close while in jeans and a tee shirt.

The best camo in the world doesn't work if you're moving.

Game animals see the blob. I wear different patterns top and bottom so my outline isn't as noticeable. I have taken a lot in brown overalls and orange jacket with full orange shirt under the jacket. I huntva ladderstand and on the first hunt of the year I wrap the tree above me with a full orange vest. I do it so other hunters know where my stand is and think I am in it. I do bieve that the turkeys get used to it as well as they stroll.right by

Yep!! I feel like a Santa Claus suit would work just as well as camo

I share the skepticism about camo. The jacket is what I happened to have with me that day. I don't believe it actually frightens game. However, what I'm trying to understand is whether or not coyotes, specifically, detect and react to blaze orange. I have confirmed to my satisfaction that deer do not detect blaze orange but what about coyotes?

I have seen a ton of em when deer hunting.

Killed several. None of the ones I shot or didn't shoot never knew I was there unless they winded me or if they knew I was there there never really showed it.

The Canis family’s eyes are dichromats, IE, they only see blues and yellows. Reds and greens appear as yellow; depicted in the chart below:



Here’s a comparison of what they see and what we see:



They’re much, much more sensitive to movement than color. Camo is much like flies for fly fishing. They’re made to catch fisherman, not fish. As long as your pattern is broken up, they’ll probably not see you.

Gerry Blair dressed in a red Santa Claus suit and successfully called and killed coyotes in the Arizona scrub brush. Scent and movement matter much more than what you wear.

I went deer hunting one time wearing a pair of jeans and a white t-shirt. Found a group of deer and decided to see how close I could get before they saw me and left. Everytime they put their head down to eat I'd take a couple steps then stop and wait again. It was obvious they saw me and also obvious they had no clue what I was. They simply saw an out of place blob, in a white t-shirt and after a bit their courisoity turned to being bothered but still didn't leave right away. Got to withing about 50 yds and they all simply walked off! They weren't scared, just bothered by something they didn't recognize. I suspect all wild animals are like that to some degree. All camo really seem's to do is hide the shape. make the shape move while they are looking and I'm bettin they will leave what ever animal they might be.

While big game hunting, I've called in numerous coyotes while wearing blaze orange, many very close. I almost never pass up a chance to call coyotes while hunting big game.

As Ben Lurkin posted, canines don't see color like we do, but they sure do spot movement!

I hunt everything, but coyotes are my favorite.

You can fool their eyes, you can fool their ears, but you can never fool The Nose.

I have had coyotes walk past me close with orange on a few times and never notice me. I was still. I have Turkeys come close often with orange on. The trees in the fall here are covered with leaves that are brightly colored.

Using orange bumpers while dog training really opened my eye into how most dogs see. They'll see white bumpers on top of snow before they'll see blaze orange bumpers, though I do think some dogs are genetic exceptions to this.

Seriously...if you know anybody there that trains hunting does with bumpers, try to watch them for an afternoon. It'll be educating.

I think you’ve got it about right. Break up the blobs, and it makes your movement less noticeable, and everybody moves….

Got busted by a buck in 2018 while sitting in a treestand because I stiffened up a bit when I heard him in the bushes about 50 yards away. I was in camo, but I had the quiver attached to my xbow, and I think he saw the bright fletching, small as it was, against the otherwise dark surrounding stuff. Their eyes, of course, are designed to pick up movement more than detail.

Camo is a waste of money. Never wear it.
Just need to be appropriate for the temperature. Killed alot of coyotes and deer wearing a hoodie and jeans. Some of those deer were with a traditional bow as well.

Don't know how true it is, but I read that the worst color to wear for most animals is blue as it's at the opposite end of the spectrum to orange. If true, that would mean blue jeans are not advisable.

I have killed many deer wearing blue jeans.

Ben Lurkin has it right. Most nocturnal types of animal's eyes, such as cats, dogs, deer, coons, owls, etc., are designed differently from humans and other day time animal's eyes. It's so that they can see in the dark. That's why their eyes shine back at you when you hit them with a light. Although they can't see the red part of the spectrum, they see way more of the blue part of the spectrum than we can see.

Here's another example of what Ben is showing.

Get your eyes checked, they weren't deer if they were wearing blue jeans.

I killed a coyote today wearing blaze orange deer hunting. He crossed 20 yards in front of me. never saw me. He stopped about 40 yards away and posed for me. He messed up.

What I tell everyone who wants to hunt with me: "Stillness is the best camouflage."