They can smell you !!!

[Hummer3T]

eating rare onions like apples for a day or two before your hunt.

[Rob W.]

A couple weeks in the mountains lugging a backpack around with no shower kinda throws scent control out the window for me. Elk hunting has even changed how I approach deer hunting and scent control. I still wash clothes in scent free soap and don't put on smelly deodorant but that's about it. Numbers of game taken has went up leaving me wondering why I ever bothered.

[BWallace10327]

Originally posted by Jake Scott:
Smoke, no smoke, scent products, none.  Doesn't matter, you will not beat the nose of any animal we hunt.  NONE.  There is nothing you can do.  Going to hurt some feelings here probably, smoke doesn't help either.  There have been scientific studies done one this.  A Whitetails deet has thousands upon thousands of extra scent receptors, over canines, let alone humans.  You can't fool them.  You can only hunt the wind.  There is NO substitute.

Jake

My feelings aren't hurt.  Speaking as an avid pipe smoker, smoke does in fact help; nothing ties a fall morning together like Dunhill mixture 965.  I believe this is an aspect of the hunt in which luck is the major component.

[Jake Scott]

http://www.fieldandstream.com/articles/2014/07/sniff-test-do-scent-control-measures-really-make-a-difference

Etter,
Humans can smell smoke on other humans from a couple feet away. What in the world makes you think that, a deer for example, which has millions upon millions of extra scent receptors over even canines, can't. I'll concede that it may make a hunter smell more natural, but there is no way that it covers human scent, it's been proven that that can't be done (see attached article, and a number of others).

If you feel that smoke gives you he edge, by all means go for it.  I don't mean to sound disrespectful of another tradganger, however I do respectfully disagree, this time.

Jake

[Etter]

Charcoal (which basically is what smoke is) has proven to decrease human odor and kill some bacterias. I know they can smell smoke but wood smoke is a very natural smell pretty much anywhere in north america. Native Americans used this tactic for centuries. The only time I ever get winded by deer anymore is when I forget to smoke down before walking in. It has literally never happened once.

But much like others have said, nothing is 100percent and wind is your enemy.

[Broken Arrows]

Could body temperature have anything to with it?

[Jake Scott]

It can't hurt, Etter. After reading my first post I was definitely speaking a little too definitively. I have had young animals stand directly downwind of me for a very long time and not blow out. Yearling deer especially are very curious sometimes. I used to be a scent control fanatic, and I just never saw the "return on investment".  Mature animals still winded me if the got in my scent path, regardless of any measures I took. Adult, mature animals WILL smell you if they get downwind.  I do strive to keep my hunting clothes free of things like gasoline, perfumes, etc. I'm always baffled when I see guys filling their truck or eating in the diner in their hunting clothes.  

I apologize for speaking harshly in my original post.  Each man his own.  If we all thought exactly alike Tradgang would be a very boring place. Best of luck sir,.

Jake

[Jake Scott]

I will add a quote by a hero of mine....

"If I can smell a fart through fancy charcoal hunting pants, I'm definitely sure a deer can." Gene Wensel.

[catman1]

You really need to smell like a NDN, They never had any problems. I'm 1/4.

[Terry Green]

Originally posted by Jake Scott:
I will add a quote by a hero of mine....

"If I can smell a fart through fancy charcoal hunting pants, I'm definitely sure a deer can." Gene Wensel.

Too Funny!!!.....and true.

The only thing I do is take chlorofil ...it cuts your smell.  Since I know you can't stop them from smelling you....I can make them smell less of me.

[fujimo]

http://www.fieldandstream.com/articles/hunting/2015/10/can-scent-elimination-sprays-beat-the-nose-of-a-drug-sniffing-dog

[centaur]

Find something like this and go roll around in it for a while. Then hunt the wind.

[cobullelk]

About a week or so before I hunt I pack my clothes in plastic boxes along with freshly cut pine boughs.  Also, use elk urine scent wavers pinned to the boot laces or back of the lower portion of my pants leg.