Hoyt_Viper

To put an end to my input on this subject, I am going to use it this year on my gear. As much as I spend on boot spray and scent wafers another few dollars on UV killer will not break me.

I have seen a TV show on the Outdoor Channel about hunting in ground blinds, and they did, in fact, spray half of the blind in UV killer and left the other half unsprayed...and then turned on a black light. It did glow like a christmas tree. The guy actually covered up the brand name on the UV killer spray and sidenoted that he was not selling a particular brand...but the concept.

It was convincing enough for me to at least try this in my attempt to deceive the whitetail in its environment. I guess if I didnt believe in attempting to conceal myself, I would go hunting in my work clothes and favorite baseball cap.

Anyhoo...I will keep a journal of the success (for my own knowledge).

Arthur P

Just to add another thing to consider. Don't forget that your clothes are not the only thing in the woods that reflect UV, in varying degrees. So does foliage, tree bark, grass... Instead of looking like a glowing specter, you might wind up looking like a dark human shaped blob amongst the glow of the woods.

But good luck with it.

TG78

Arthur I think you bring up a very good point with the natural ambient glow and I think I will do a little research with that and maybe conduct a little on my own. I do agree that the index will show where it my be more of a concern from one area to the next but I still think it is a concern in all; I live in an area of what might be considered lower U.V but I have had issues with it.

Early in--my mistake on the baking soda reference, I do agree it is a great cleaner (especially for hunting), hell I actually do most my house cleaning with borax, vinegar and hydrogen peroxide.

To all, thank you for not jumping on my opposition with witty attacks, I am only trying to get to the bottom of this as well and like to have constructive discussions. In will do a little checking on the glow of natural surrounding and let everyone know what I find out. You know, here again overseas manufacturing has given us a problem as years ago during some of the early generations of camo they did not add U.V brighteners and it was not an issue. I also thought I would drop a little note that my military buddies say that certain U.S military forces insist that their uniforms are U.V brightener free, I don't really know why but this subject was not new to them.

Hoyt Viper-- good post, and I think you are making the right move by treating your items; honestly in the grand scheme of things it is really cheap and once you do it if taken care of properly you don't have to "kill" the U.V again. The bottle I was looking at was only 10 bucks and does something like 10 garments.

Cougar Mag

I'll bet more deer have spotted more hunters in low light conditions due to the ultra violet spectrum than in braod daylight. Washing clothes in non-scented detergent with non-brighteners helps and I do believe in the UV wash and spray.

valor10

Maybe. But I'd bet the back forty that most, if not all hunters are busted by movement as oposed to UV signatures. Might sound like BS, but I've actually haddeer come under my stand, stare straight up at me, and look. When I was sitting, motionless, they just moved on. Sometimes after a few minutes, sometimes up to several minutes. The times I've been standing, I'd swear they saw my eyes blink as we made eye contact. Maybe I swayed a little. Whatever the reason, they picked up movement, darted 20 or 30 yards away, then played the head bob game trying to figure out what the heck I was. Then went about the business again as if I was never there. Every now and then though, they'd dart a look back at me. Take it for what it's worth. Maybe they were stupid deer. Maybe they were immature deer. Can't say. But if this UV signature thing was such an issue, why wouldn't they bolt for cover when they saw "Preditor" in a tree?As Arnold said, "He didn't see me".

kevin1

Deer have no natural UV blocker in their corneas like we do, so yes they can see very well into the UV spectrum. Most birds can too, I saw a program one time that showed a hawk hunting rodents by wtching for the glowing UV trails of their urine, the hawk decided where to hunt based on the greatest number of trails. I've also tested UV killer for myself and the product works just as well as advertised. I also noted that of all the camo I own it's only the most recently purchased items that exibited the glow phenomenon, my clothing from a few years ago had a no glow whatsoever. Apparently the addition of brighteners to camo is a recent one.

Arthur P

Made in China?

ron3775

Two years ago I was sitting in my treestand about 22' up in my camo that was freshly washed with UV blocker. A big nine point walked up headed right at me. Ducked under a branch and look up right at me. Right before I could loose the arrow, he turned and bolted. I was already at full draw so he didn't see that, there was a slight wind blowing at me coming from his direction so I don't think he winded me. He just seen that something wasn't right (Thinking about it now, I think I may have been silhouetted). Prior to using the UV blocker and only being in a tree about 15' up I had a five point within 10 yards of me for about 10-15 minutes. Looking in my direction a few times with out spooking.

Born 2 Bow Hunt

Ok....OK Now you have done it....got my curiosity up...way up. I bought a black light and I will be testing all my hunting apparel shortly....old, new, borrowed and blue....I will share my result in a few days.

I don't know about the national UV index and don't know for sure if the exposure is stronger during sunlight or in dim light, but I will do my own highly scientific country boy testing in my own lavatory (dark basement.) To make it more interesting I have ask my wife to model the apparel for me....

I guess if I do or can have all the UV eliminated it would increase my chances of being seen by deer.....Anyway I look forward to the complexity of this experiment.

kevin1

Only the one that glowed. I was very disappointed since it was a tee shirt I bought to complete a suite of Natural Gear, one of my favorite patterns. I had previously purchased a jacket and BDU style cargo pants from Sportsman's Guide(which were OEM and didn't glow), so I found this surprising until I remembered where I bought the shirt, Bass Pro Shops. Oh well, I suppose I can always use it to dress fashionably when not hunting...