In the previous blog post I discussed the health reasons why it’s important for us to apply sunscreen when exposed to the power of the sun. Those reason alone should require us to wear it at all times. Yet, even though most of us understand this, we don’t apply sunscreen when entering the field. Until now, I myself included.
But, did you know?!? It’s not just for health reasons we should apply sunscreen while in the field. The benefits of wearing the RIGHT sunscreen while in pursuit of your trophy game can/will play a significant and important role for the hunter in their quest to be concealed. That’s right, by applying sunscreen you can effectively conceal yourself to your background much more efficiently. The key is to understand which sunscreens to use and when.
Let’s go deeper.
The first thing to know is that there are two types of sunscreens. Sunscreens that are Absorb UV and sunscreens that Reflective UV. Also, it’s important to understand that objects that absorb UV appear dark (black) and objects that reflect UV appear light (white) in the UV spectrum.
This video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRD-xvlhGMc from Physics Girl Dianne Cowern does a great job of explaining this. It’s a great video in its entirety, but you’ll get the jest of it if you watch the first 2:45mins of the video.
Here’s the important think to note, that many animals, (actually most animals) use their ability to see into the UV spectrum as a means of survival. The best illustration of this that I could find is this video on how the Caribou spots a Wolf in the wild. It’s fascinating.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nke5c7Nml_8
So how does this affect you/us.
If you are in the woods pursing animals such as a Wild Turkey or Waterfowl (all types of Duck and Geese) you could be concealing yourself much better by applying the appropriate sunscreen. These two-animal species for example not only see into the UV spectrum, but are tetra chromatic, meaning that they possess Four Cone Cells in their eyes, with one of them in the UV spectrum. This not only allows them to see into UV but, to use it.
When in purist of these species the obvious goal is to blend into the background as much as you can. If the field conditions are dark, say against a water or tree edge then by applying an absorbing sunscreen, you will not just be protecting your skin from the harmful rays of the sun but also the UV absorption will function like a masking agent, concealing you better into your back ground. However, if your back drop is light or white, say from snow then much like the wolf in the video you’ll be exposed. In that situation it would be more appropriate and important that you would apply a UV reflective sunscreen to better blend into your background.
Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s no joke, ultraviolet needs to be taking seriously. It obviously will take a toll on our skin and led to many scary and often deadly results. But the reflection of UV from your glasses, your skin and your clothing can play a devastating role in our ability to harvest your next trophy. But what’s awesome, is that by better understanding how sunscreens work and when used in the right conditions it can play a significate roll in our ability to successful and protect you from damaging your skin. It’s just another tool for you to use in your purist of the next trophy.
Thanks for reading, until next time – Abandon Everything and Be RLVNT
- Adam Winkelman January 2019