laser sight for bow hunting?

Hi all,

I have a bunch of red lasers and toyed with the idea of using one as a sight for a bow used to hunt deer with.

I have a high powered red laser, but even in subdued lighting, it is not very visible outdoors. The good news is that the deer don't care about it. They either don't see it or they don't think it's dangerous and they stand around as if it wasn't there.

I began to wonder about green lasers. Although they are much more expensive, they are much more 'visible' to the human eye and should be very visible in any kind of subdued lighting.

Has anyone tried a green laser as a sight for a bow and do the deer react to it when it is pointed towards them???

Thanks,

I guess that deer cannot see in the far red or infrared spectrum. I just bought one of those head lamps with a red led that is not supposed to spook deer. Your observation would confirm this. On the other hand, green is in the center of our visible spectrum and I would think much more likely to be seen by deer.

Before I went any further with this experiment, I'd check local hunting regulations to see if it's even legal. Here in Wisconsin, it is illegal to hunt with anything that projects a dot onto the target.

Ditto for Nebraska. Actually, it is anyuthing electronic, with the exception of something to illuminate the cross-hairs in a scope.

Steve brought up a very valid concern- 'Is it legal?'. If it is, there are 'red glasses' available to accentuate the laser dot. These are available through construction supply houses, where lasers are used for leveling, etc.

noah

Courtesy of Lee Yeaton, See the boats of rec.boats

I'm surprised to hear that the red color does not bother the deer. I grew up being told never look a deer straight in the eyes as it would spook them. Many years later the 'science' of that old hunters' tale was said to be that predators would of course stare directly at their prey (deer) and that light reflected off the back of the eye would display red and cause a flight reaction by the deer. There is no doubt that the eye will reflect a red color from direct light, as evidenced by what photographers call 'red eye' which is the result of their flash being too close to the lens and being pointed directly into the eyes of their subject(s). I've always avoided using any red LED's or such for approaching a stand in early darkness and when leaving the woods at/after sunset, fearing that doing so would cause a predator alert in any deer nearby. I'm anxious to hear the consensus of others who frequent this NG.

As in Wisconsin & Nebraska (and I'm sure many other states), in NY it is illegal to use a sight that projects a beam. Before you go invest the time and effort to build a sight like that, better check local

If I remember right it is also illegal in Texas and Louisiana.

Colorado prohibits ANY electrical devices on bows.

Am I missing the point here ?

If you're going to fit a bow with a laser you might as well use a gun, or just bomb the area.

If you're going to kill something and let machinery take all the skill out of it why use a bow ?

A definitive answer can be found here: http://www.fieldandstream.com/fieldstream/hunting/ article/0,13199,459...

In a nutshell, deer do see color, but no where near as well as humans, due to the mix of rods & cones in their retina. Deer have many more rods, and can see very well in low light conditions, but sacrifice color sensitivity some. At that, their sensitivity is shifted up towards the UV end of the spectrum, with limited sensitivity to yellow. Apparently red, green and orange appear as shades of gray.

That jives with some of the conventional wisdom I've heard as well about never wearing blue when hunting. Besides the whole turkey head thing, deer are more sensitive to blue colors and would probably notice something blue perched in a tree full of red, orange & yellow