??? UV- Paints - Watched a show that had that stuff on it this AM

Dave Shady Larsen

Dave Shady Larsen

Well-known member
And it really did make sense that the white on a decoy is seen as gray to the bird and this new paint makes the white..... white

Anyone want to chime in on truth on this topic or snake oil?
I hunt with buffies and GE decoys only for diver season and wondered if top coating the white on my blocks would be
worth it if this is infact true?
 
Dave,

When I was the national sales manager for Flambeau Outdoors, I learned more about it than anyone should. I spent a good deal of time with one of the principals of Twilight Labs, the folks who developed, patented, and market the UVision line of paints. If you saw photos showing a gray decoy versus a white decoy on TV, it is merely an illustration or representation of the difference, not actually what a bird sees. At the SHOT Show in 2008, we set up a "Dark Room" with a UV light source and a camera that filtered out all available light except UV light. Most likely that is what you saw photos of; that type of photo. There is no way for a human to actually comprehend what the birds see, as their eye structure is different. We have red, blue, and green cone receptors in our retinas. They those three plus they have an additional cone that is sensitive to light from the UV wavelength, which we simply cannot see. The idea is that while ducks and geese do not have the ability to reason and deduce that if a decoy doesn't have the correct UV reflectiveness it is not a live bird, the response to correct UV reflectance is conditioning. If they live through decoying to incorrect reflectance decoys enough, they will learn to go only to live birds/decoys that exhibit the correct UV reflectance. To my knowledge, there has been no scientific testing of the results using UV painted and non-UV painted decoys. Getting an objective result, given all the other variables with waterfowl hunting, would be difficult at best.
 
I'm no expert, but take the #1 duck killed in this county, a mallard neither the drake nor hen has much white that can be seen by approching flocks. So how much UV can darker colored feathers really put off.
 
Thanks much for that info. Since im speaking in sense of Divers lots of white similar to what they
were talking about with snow geese it might make a differance. I might buy a QT and try it
and see I guess you never know.

Thanks again thats way more that I expected for sure :)
 
I'm no expert, but take the #1 duck killed in this county, a mallard neither the drake nor hen has much white that can be seen by approching flocks. So how much UV can darker colored feathers really put off.
Click to expand...

The easiest way to think about it is: the lighter the color, the more UV reflectance. So lighter colors on mallards, like the gray on the drakes, especially the side pockets, and the lighter part of the feather on hens, reflects more. Part of UVision's patent is that they "adjust" the level of UV reflectance based on the color. As an interesting aside, snow is one of the most UV reflective surfaces, well over 90%. That's p[art of why you can get sunburn in the winter, or the classic "snowblindness", or sunburn of the retina. Tyvek almost exactly matches snow's UV reflectance, which is probably why tyvek suits and layout blind snow covers are so effective for waterfowl hunting.

Dave, you are welcome. Like I said, I learned more than any non-squint should about it. Let me know if you have any other questions.
 
There is no way for a human to actually comprehend what the birds see.... The idea is that while ducks and geese do not have the ability to reason and deduce that if a decoy doesn't have the correct UV reflectiveness it is not a live bird, the response to correct UV reflectance is conditioning. If they live through decoying to incorrect reflectance decoys enough, they will learn to go only to live birds/decoys that exhibit the correct UV reflectance. ...there has been no scientific testing of the results using UV painted and non-UV painted decoys. Getting an objective result, given all the other variables with waterfowl hunting, would be difficult at best. A very fair & objective analysis DeWayne. Still leads me to believe that marketing is a wonderful thing!
Click to expand...
 
Might as well try it, Dave.

But we all know that regardless of how they're painted, it's the smell of fully cured Val-Oil under all that paint that really pulls 'em in! ;-)
 
I bought a selection of the Parker paints (including the UV white) last year to paint up a dozen canvasbacks I had cast and burlapped. Parkers idea of colors for a canvas back is a cream colored body and a brown head. the flat black had a brown tone to it and never set up even after adding some Japan drier. Thats the last time I buy Parker paints.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top