What Can A Duck See While Working Your Decoy Spread

Duck hunters will look for any excuse as to why inbound waterfowl destined for the decoy spread flare before coming into range. The dog. The calling. The blind. The wind. The decoys. And maybe the most frequent culprit, someone in the hunting party was spotted.

Despite the technological advancements in duck-hunting apparel, it’s important to note that no camouflage pattern on the market can conceal a hunter who is openly staring at ducks or fidgeting to get the first shot on a group descending upon the decoys. Everyone who has ever duck hunted has made that eager beaver move out of excitement — many more than once.

Meanwhile, well-hid, still hunters can go undetected wearing anything ranging from solid earth-tone colored gear to the latest and greatest camo pattern. During the early to mid-1900s, army surplus in plain olive drab and everyday wear in shades of brown worked like a champ. “Duck camo” came around during World War II and was the camouflage of choice up until the Trebarks, Mossy Oaks and Realtrees of the world started making more lifelike patterns in the 1980s. Digital camo hit the scene in the early 2000s, eventually leading to patterns like Gore Optifade seen on Sitka’s waterfowl apparel.

When you choose your next bit of hunting apparel, arming yourself with the knowledge of how waterfowl see camouflage patterns can empower you and cause you to reevaluate what you look for in a jacket, a pair of waders or even decoys, and ultimately enhance your hunting experience.

What we see as humans drastically differs from how a duck or a goose sees their surroundings. This is due to their highly developed retinas and remarkable long-range vision. While human eyes can adjust the eye’s lens to focus, waterfowl can adjust their lens and cornea due to the mighty muscles in their eyes. The advanced ability to control the curvature of their cornea and lens allows them to see any drastic movement from well off in the distance, usually followed by a hunter proclaiming, “There’s no way they saw me move behind this tree.” If they flared, odds are they did. Birds can see two to three times farther than humans.

A duck’s eyes also produce more vibrant colors, and they are progressive in their ability to see ultraviolet radiation. Due to an extra set of cones, the UV vision component makes glare an essential factor to avoid. If any gear glares at a human, it can flare a duck.

A flaw in waterfowl’s vision is their limited ability to see straight ahead. Ducks and geese have much better vision out either side, but only with one eye due to the positioning of the sockets on the side of their head. According to Ducks Unlimited, mallards have 360-degree lateral viewing windows, allowing them to always see in complete circles. Can you move once the ducks have swung through the hole? Very subtly, if at all. Especially with wary, battle-tested ducks.

Regarding two-dimensional camouflage on apparel, Gore Optifade and similar camo patterns were designed to make a hunter look like nothing. They blend into the habitat by confusing a duck’s keen vision. Jeff Watt, one of the developers of the Optifade timber pattern, shares, “A large part of the process was taking large swatches of printed material and draping around tree trunks, clusters of tree trunks, buckbrush, driftwood and other natural items that might be used to make up a blind.”

Rest assured, there are a variety of effective camo patterns, like Mossy Oak’s Bottomland, that provide similar results, focusing on breaking up the hunter’s outline. This variety allows hunters to choose the pattern that best suits the hunting environment and gives confidence of being well-camouflaged.

Is any camo pattern superior to another? As far as a duck is concerned, the choice is more personal preference. The rising popularity of solid-colored waders and coats proves that out – as long as the hunter is concealed and still. That is the key and will allow one to blame any of the other excuses why the ducks didn’t like a decoy spread on a particular day.