There was a show on the discovery channel or learning channel or something like that maybe 2-3 years ago. They were talking about just this thing. They went to quite a bit of detail to explain how the deers eyes are different. Their rods and cones are different than some other animals. It has to do with their red/blue color perception. They have very sharp vision, and excellent night vision, but their perception of certain colors is different somehow. I cant remember what all they said. It is sorta like they are color blind, but what they see, they see sharp. They can see and smell the M&M's, just dont ask them to sort them by color........
They also have exceptional distance vision and can detect the slightest movement...I wish I could get a tape on that show, cause it would be worth a lot in the hunting season. They talked about what a big joke that camo is, because the deer can detect and individually identify something like 26 odors at the same time, their hearing is phenominal. They can smell your presence there even though they may not be able to see you.
One thing that they were talking about was that the hunter orange is not percieved by the deer as a bright, unusual color. However, they can detect UV radiation. So even the camo that is on certain kinds of materials that reflect UV radiation, glows in the deers sight. They did say that using those UV blocker chemicals in your wash water was worth more than the camo.
In nature stuff doesnt flash. If your stainless is polished and shines, it will catch their attention. If you take it down and have gunny bead blast it so it doesnt shine, then the light color doesnt cause them any alarm as nature is a mix of lights and darks anyway.
I always got a laugh about the guys I hunt with. They spend hundreds of dollars on camo clothing and then wear a hunter orange jacket over the top of it all. Nothing funnier than human nature.
Bill