It’s Not Easy Seeing Green: The Colorblind Outdoorsman

If any of those look the same to you, I have bad news for you, my friend …

Did you know that there’s such a thing as International Color Blindness Awareness Month? Did you know that colorblindness is about as common as left-handedness (among men) and nearly as rare as being an identical twin (among women)? Did you know that people with red-green color vision deficiency — the most common type of color blindness — only see about 10% of the 1 million hues and shades visible to those with regular color vision?

Color blindness is considered a “variation on normal,” meaning that it’s both pretty common and fairly benign — it doesn’t affect your chances of survival. One exception to that is hunting. Color blind hunters simply aren’t seeing the same things as the rest of us. If you look at the chart above, green is the toughest color to see for color blind folks. And, uh, what do we cover ourselves in before we head out in the woods?

The good news is that, according to colorblind people, blaze orange and high-vis yellow are easy to see. This is part of why it is so, so important to wear blaze orange in the field even if your locale doesn’t require it! At the very minimum, wear a blaze orange hat while you are on the move. If you’re worried about big game seeing it, don’t be–deer are even more color blind than people and blaze orange does not disturb them.

Here’s another fun fact: This year, Nebraska Game and Parks is launching a campaign to make the outdoors more enjoyable for the color blind. To help them experience more vibrant, enhanced color outdoors, Game and Parks is working to bring EnChroma color-blindness kits to parks across the state. The kits costs about $850 and include glasses for the most common types of color deficiency.

Donations are being accepted for the Parks in Full Color Campaign at OutdoorNebraska.gov. Once enough funding is received, Wildcat Hills Nature Center, Schramm Education Center and Ponca State Park will receive kits, with additional parks added as funding becomes available. Guests will be able to check out the glasses to enhance their park visit.

The first two individuals or organizations to sponsor a kit will receive a complimentary pair of EnChroma Outdoor Deutan Lens glasses, valued at $379, courtesy of EnChroma as a part of the campaign launch. Donate, learn more or take the EnChroma colorblindness test at OutdoorNebraska.gov; search “EnChroma.”