Tuesday, October 28, 2008

More on UV-Killers-- The plot continues

Here is a series of comments that amounts to a conversation between myself and Dan Gutting at Atsko, the makers of UV Killers. As you can see, Dan is a bit peeved at the less than glowing comments I made of his product:



Blogger Dan said...

Dear Shaman,
If you believe your readers would be interested in a two sided discussion of U-V-Killer and the science of deer vision, I will try to engage in a conversation.
In any case it would be only fair to direct them to Atsko.com where the dvd and book and hundreds of references in juried periodicals are all available at no cost.
Sincerely,
Dan Gutting, Atsko Inc.

Mon Sep 22, 03:48:00 PM 2008
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Blogger shaman said...

Dan:

I'd love to have that discussion. I've already been on Atsko.com I did what your demo video suggested and took a bunch of my camo and put it under a UV light. Zip. Nada.

Some of this stuff is 20 years old. Some is fairly recent. None of it fluoresced the way the camo your video suggested. What am I doing wrong?

I also tried a bunch of my other clothing, and only a small number of white and light blue shirts had the glow under my UV light.

Normally, I only use Sodium Bicarbonate to wash my hunting clothes. Could that have something to do with it?

Write soon. Write often.

Mon Sep 22, 04:07:00 PM 2008
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Blogger Dan of Atsko said...

Dear Shaman,
Thanks for the invitation.
So you're not seeing much glow on your camo. Maybe that's a good thing.
How about your blacklight. Is it a screw in bulb like a std 60 watt incandescent bulb? If so, it makes very little UV light and a lot of short blue light. It will light those psychodelic posters from the 70s , but only a small percentage of the 200 compounds used in cloth, paper, and laundry products.
If you have a dark purple fluorescent tube that is marked 350BLB or an LED from Atsko you may have a lot of good camo reguardless of the pattern.
I check back,
Dan of Atsko

Tue Sep 23, 01:38:00 PM 2008
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Blogger shaman said...

Dan,

I've got the 60 watt incandescent bulb. I've had it for years over the laundry, because I read an article years ago. The detergent the wife uses glows like all get out, but not the hunting clothes. Never has.

None of my camo, old or new glows. What's up with that?

Could it be the way I wash the clothes?

Tue Sep 23, 07:10:00 PM 2008
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Anonymous Dan at Atsko said...

Dear Shaman,
Nothing is conclusive because you are using an incondescent bulb.If nothing glows at all you may have "selected" clothing over the years that you were successful with. I would suggest that the reason why you were successful with these pieces may be that they don't glow. If you have any interest in evaluating your need for U-V-Killer or the effectiveness of it you will need to get a 350BLB flourescent light.
Sincerely, Dan

Tue Oct 28, 12:27:00 PM 2008
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Blogger shaman said...

Dan, it just so happens that I've been hitting Hancock fabrics for 20 years, picking up swatches of this and that when their camo remnants go on sale. Some are name brand camo patterns , some are no-name stuff. I just found it handy to have camo fabric around for making blinds,etc. My collection goes back to Crumley's earliest Tre-Bark in 1986.

I tried everything. Not only the fabric, but all my clothes. I mean EVERYTHING, and could not get a glow. On the other hand, the white bed sheets glow, the laundry detergent glows. Some of my wife's clothes glow.

If you want to send me your 350BLB light, some UV Killer, and whatever else you want, I'll be happy to review it for my weblog, and I will also submit the review for publication in all the venues where I am currently being published.

I'm also perfectly happy to let this whole thing drop. You can color me an unrepentant skeptic-- live and let live. For my part, I just wrote a review of Dave Samuel and Roger Zaiglin's book, White tail Advantage and politely left out any comment on their glowing endorsements of your product line.(pun intended)

On the other hand, you can send me a day-glow UV-radioactive clown suit, and a big day-glo UV painted sign that says "DANGER: HUNTER" and I'll wear the suit and sit in my treestand under the sign all during season as long as you agree to publish all my kill photos in full page ads wherever you are currently advertising. Frankly, I do not think the clown suit or the sign will make much difference to my success as long as I can treat them with a little baking soda to get the stink off.

I'm not the Myth Busters. In fact, I am a practicing shaman; we live for myths and rituals. This all looks like a hunter doing some arcane cleansing ritual to get rid of the unseen evil spirits to me. I dig that. I would not want to see UV Killer go away anymore than I would like to hunt under a sky devoid of Orion.

Write soon. Write often.

Tue Oct 28, 02:35:00 PM 2008
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