Scent Control! What Scent Control! I Don't Need.........

[mlsthmpsn]

Every time I am in the woods...I always ponder how many deer have smelled me and skirted the other way outside of eyeshot.

Here's a  link to a similar thread ....about a recent article in Field & Stream that RE-tested a bunch of these products...that shows (again) no difference to the inferior dog nose when compared to doing nothing for scent control.

My Golden has found several bow hunters while we've been out bird/squirrel hunting...she'll get on a trail no different than game...away she goes, with me trying to keep up, until she is waggin' her tail next to some poor fellow or barking because she "tree'd" them.      

I keep a bell on her for this reason, to alert anyone of her presence long before they think about shooting.

[Michael Arnette]

I've had on rare occasions had young deer walk downwind of me or accross my trail and not spook but I've also had them spook like any ol' mossy horn. You can occasionally get away with murder with young deer...not so with the long nosed doe or mature buck.

[Yellow Dog]

Originally posted by Michael Arnette:
You can occasionally get away with murder with young deer...not so with the long nosed doe or mature buck.

Nothing harder to trick than a wise old doe. Those mature bucks drop their guard during the rut. Those old does are on guard 24/7.

[Firemandivi]

I'm a new hunter and still haven't made my first kill let alone with trad gear.  The first time I went scouting the property with the owner we were talking and a deer came out not 10 yards from us, looked at us and then slowly walked away.  Lesson learned always have your bow when scouting.  He is a dairy farmer and you can imagine how he smelt and I was working and had no scent control.  The closest chance I've had to shoot a dear to date was while going out after work, no scent control again and I got within 20 yards but it was too dark and too many branches in the way for a clean shot.  Still when I go out unless its after work I use scent control  on my clothes and on my body.  Do I think it works...kind of.  I think the idea of using regular soap on you and your clothes and such isn't going to help but I don't think its that much of a detriment but then again I still have yet to make a kill so my opinion shouldn't count nearly as much as others on this site who have decades of experience.

[7 Lakes]

Deer are very curious creatures.  I've seen them 20 yards from me, apparantly brought in by the sounds and smells of an old fat guy running a chain saw.  Other times when working at a Wilderness camp I would find them staring at the outhouse just as I left it early in the morning.  

I'm guessing some "scent control" stuff makes them curious because I know for a fact dogs can smell drugs, weapons, bombs when floating in a water tight container located down inside a full gas tank of a vehicle.  Deer can smell you and not even a full tank of gas can cover your scent.

My fellow deer hunters and I that train bird dogs have hosed down quail with different cover scents and it doesn't slow the dogs down for a second.

[JohnV]

I think scent control is very important.  I've watched too many deer react negatively to smelling me.  Just because you had a deer downwind that did not become alert does not mean that scent control is not important.  I've sat in trees and watched deer walk by unalarmed to my scent which was blowing directly at them.  Upon further investigation I realized that due to warming thermals, must scent was rising in the air and blowing over their heads.

[mlsthmpsn]

Originally posted by JohnV:
I think scent control is very important.  I've watched too many deer react negatively to smelling me.  
 

Scent "control" in the way that every single company markets it as, simply does not work. Never has, never will. Period. Deer will be able to smell you no matter what you spray on, shower in, wear or hang above your head.

Being cognizant of your scent cone and how it is traveling at any given moment, due to very local conditions, is what is important, works and is free, to boot.

The way that I think of it is that Deer can differentiate scents to a higher degree than we humans can differentiate color with our eyes. They don't just smell our clothing as "human" anymore than we see clothing as "clothing"...we see colors, patterns, shape, buttons, collars, zippers...and when we stop and study it we see thread, stitching, pockets, etc...very fine detail. Well, deer do that with smell...they smell the cloth, thread, buttons, metal zippers, detergent, baking soda, etc...and when they stop and snort and sniff, that's like us stopping to look closely at something, to get a better picture of what it is. They are trying to put all the pieces together and hopefully whatever they smell moves, so they can confirm there is something there.

[John146]

Someone said this is not about scent elimination but scent control.     then it is worth the effort and the expense in my book.

There might be a deer upwind that is heading my way but hears the deer downwind freaking out and decides not to come any closer. If that downwind deer doesn't make too much fuss maybe that upwind deer comes in for a shot.  

[mlsthmpsn]

The sprays may make a difference to your nose, but they make absolutely zero difference to a deer's nose or their ability to smell you. When I smell scent control sprays, I smell chemicals and plastic...definitely not "less" scent, just different than before. Deer smell both scents just the same.

Local conditions will have much more of a factor on a deer's ability to get a whiff of you on any given day...warm and humid with a light breeze...they got you from 1/2 mile away, and your trail stays around for a long time. Cooler and dry and howling wind and the VOCs are gone a lot quicker.


Scent control and commercial camo patterns are some of the most successful hoodwinks ever conceived by marketing firms to separate you from your money.

I think that perhaps camo is more important when calling in spring turkeys than it is in the fall.  I have shot as many deer without it as I have with it.  I have become self conscious of my whitening beard, I am going ask my wife if it would okay if I get some of that 'just for men' beard stuff.  I am predicting that I will be chasing pheasants and turkeys when there is snow on the ground and I hate having a cold chin.  Remember that apple/musk stuff from the 60s? Now that crap smelled like hunting to me, so did the old string wax that had that fishy smell, so does a good cigar and a cup of stick fire tea warming in my brass cantine.  Yes, I have shot deer while I had a stick fire going or a cigar or pipe smoldering, a favorable breeze is always a good thing.