Scent control - what is your system?

[dragon rider]

Don't remember now where I saw it, but there was a story going around about a guy who decided to check his charcoal "scent free" stuff to see if it really was, so he washed it as directed, etc. put one of his dog's favorite treats in a pants pocket, rolled the whole thing, pants, base layer, coat, etc. up with the pants inside the roll and put them in the scent proof bag just as directed, then put the bag among a bunch of other stuff laying around in his garage.  The dog wandered in, sniffed for a minute, went over to the bag and started pawing at it.  

So the moral of the story is stay reasonably clean, keep your body odor to a minimum but mostly figure that if the wind is with you, you'll be OK and if it's not and you can't move to accommodate it, just relax and enjoy the woods.  Maybe you'll encounter a dumb one who doesn't know that human scent is not good news.

[Don Thomas]

My answer to all the original questions is "No!". I just need to invent a product that will make the wind blow in my face all the time. Don

[Onions]

Hey Don,
If you took one of those small battery operated fans and held it up to your face! Would that work? LOL!!

chris <><

[Straitshot]

Replied to another post a few days ago with this. Applies here also.
What has been successful for me is to bath and wash my clothes with no scent soap. Most of the ones on the market now are pretty good. The last few years I have used Dead Down Wind soaps and shampoos. Not trying to push their products I just like them. I hang my cloths outside to dry and seal them in plastic bags until ready to put on. The only cover scent and/or attractant I have used the last few years has been the smoke sticks that burn like the old firecracker punks. I have had deer so close I could literaly reach out and touch them if I had chose to, and if they knew I was there they certainly did not act like it. I have also used red fox or racoon urine in conjunction with the smoke sticks, but not always. I never spray it on my cloths, but on the bark and leaves of the trees I am sitting in. I have had bucks nibble on branches and make scrapes at cedar trees I was hiding in only four feet away. Will it work every time on every deer? Probably not, because deer are different. Some are jumpy and skittish all the time and others seam always relaxed. I have hunted whitetail deer with bow and arrow since the 60's and have tried everything imaginable and it seams I am more successful with this method than any other I have used. It has been the best when I find myself up wind of deer. As others have said though, whenever at all possible play the wind.

[Bear]

Considering that scent free detergent can be found on the same shelf as the smelly stuff, I figure I might as well use it. But sometimes my wife buys the other stuff, so whatever. That, and meticulous attention to the wind, is my system. I know, it's mind numbingly complicated.

Oh, and what if the wind shifts??? It usually does. That's life. Again, very complicated, I know.

[Roy Steele]

I've deer hunted for 40 years.Builted and hunted selfbows for 20 and totally off the ground for the last 5.
 I hunt every day and to go through the sent free routine that the TV hunters say they go through on each hunt would be unreal and useless.Remember there just selling there products.
  I learned to totally hunt the wind period.Theres nothing you can do to cover up your sent.Put to hunt the wind deer will always smell you.
  I have different stand sites on different farms that I only hunt when the winds right to walk in by and in my favor while im there.The winds always in my favor as soon as in get out of the truck in my favor while im there and still in my favor when I get back in the truck.

[faustus]

Everyone,

thanks for the replies. I guess most of you are confirming my suspicion that all these scent eliminator products and carbon clothing are just a commercial hype.

Up to now I have tried to stay clean, take my shower before I head out, and air my clothes during the day. And of course play the wind …. I have set up several ground blinds for different wind directions.

This morning I had my first real encounter with a buck. (remember I am a newbie with respect to hunting large game animals) He walked by my ground blind at 15 meters and never realized I am there. Uhhhh, … that was exciting! Unfortunately it was still to dark to shoot, I guess maybe next time …. I only hope I can manage my heart beating next time … I have no clue how I could perform a decent shot with my heart pounding like this …..

… oh well, at least the scent control seems to work …..

Thanks again everyone ….
Faustus

[Covey]

How could anybody have the wind just right all the time? must be flater than a pancake where some of you guys live!! Jason

[Earl Jeff]

Keep your boots clean and stay down wind. the rest of that stuff ain't worth the trouble

[Keefer]

Charlie Lamb must of hung around some smart oldtimers but just remember one thing...Before wetting your finger to the nuckle make sure it isn't the one you used to "wipe your backside" before you go out checking the wind!  

[Don Stokes]

Use rubber-bottomed boots and keep them clean. Walk in mud and coat the boot bottoms if possible.

Like others, in my 45 years of bowhunting I tried most everything that was available, but the only thing that works for me is hiding my walking trail by using the rubber boots, and staying downwind. I don't hunt a stand if the wind is wrong.

If the woods are noisy, I stalk the last hundred yards to my stand, even if it makes me late getting there. A quiet downwind approach to your stand is better than any of the commercial scent products.

[BTH]

Keep yourself as clean as you can. Sometimes, especially out here in the West during back country hunts, it impossible to take showers, as there are no showers. I use body wipes then. But, as the others have all said, you cannot forget the wind. Just minimize your scent impact and hunt the wind at all times. If you have to back track and go around to get the wind in your favor, do so, or if you are on stand make sure the wind is favorable for where you are expecting the deer to come from. I have had success minimizing my clothes scent with scent killers or campfire smoke, but using body wipes or taking showers to keep your body clean is also minimizing your scent impact.

[lpcjon2]

I have at times rubbed deer crap on my clothes and that will help you get close to deer(just not your wife)and it does cover some of your odor.I have a friend that is a K-9 handler and he said that his blood hound hits on the scent from your breath and that you shed skin and particles of yourself by the millions every step and you will never be able to stop that and that's what they smell.So the wind is the best option.

[Ryan Rothhaar]

When I'm off work hunting - either around home or on a trip - I generally take a shower every 3 or 4 days (whether I need it or not) and make sure the wind is blowing from the critter to me.  When I'm hunting after work I'm forced to shower daily - makes getting along with the coworkers easier.  The deer don't care - they can smell you a half mile away regardless.

You want to try out your carbon suit just put on the pants, duct tape the ankles shut and wear a tight belt, eat a big bowl of chili and lock yourself in the closet with your wife about 6 hours later.  She'll let you know how well charcoal "absorbs" the scent.

Take it FWIW...R

[Ryan Rothhaar]

And for the folks asking how to make sure the wind is right all the time - simple - hang more stands!  I generally have around 20 stands up and a dozen more places cleared and ready to hang at a moment's notice and I still find myself trying to figure out where to hunt where the wind will be right when we get a couple days of unusual wind direction.

R

[Archie]

I tried something last week that worked great!

But I guess I should first preface this by saying that there are a lot of guys out there who know a whole lot more about deer hunting than I do...

I bought a plant-sprayer water bottle, poured in what was left of a couple of old bottles of various super-hum-dinger deer urine (diluting it with water) that I found leftover from seasons past.  I sprayed it every 30-40-50 feet as I walked in, and made sure to step in it while walking.  I hung a low portable stand that day, and sprayed the mix all over all the branches around me.    I have seen very few deer all year.  That day I saw 6 at different times, and all within 60 yards at the most.  4 of them saw me, and 2 walked right at me, clearly smelling the air and trying to figure out what I was.  None spooked until I shot.  I was using a small can call, and the deer were coming to it.  I had deer approach me from all directions, including directly downwind.  The only thing that might be skewing my results is that I was on a ridge, about 10 feet above a marshy area where the deer were coming from downwind.  Perhaps my scent was going over them... but I really don't think so.  

I am absolutely convinced that they were confused by the scent cloud that was emanating from the mix I'd sprayed on the trees and shrubs around me.  Sort of a homemade "buck bomb".

I'm going to try it again tomorrow.

[Don Stokes]

I have 10 ladder stands in my 20 acre woods. The wind is always right somewhere.

[LC]

Well I'll be the odd man out here and go out on the limb here and say it is entirely possible to fool a whitetails nose. I do it all the time. I've done it all from the extreme scent control measures to "trying" to hunt the wind etc with limited to no success. I live in WV and IF I waited till I had perfect wind to hunt I'd stay at home 99.9% of time. Between the mountains valleys, benches and switchbacks if you don't like the direction the wind blows here wait five minutes it will change three times! I could give a rats a$$ how the wind blows now adays. I can honestly say I've not had a deer wind me and spook or show any alarm in the last 6 years since I've been using it. I don't use scent loc clothing or buy or sell any scent masking stuff so don't ask or PM. What I use anyone can buy over the counter for next to nothing. There actually is a commercial formula but it's too dang expensive and it's a hard sell no one uses it as it needs to be used and for the price they sell it you couldn't afford it. Just saying it is possible.I've actually seen the formula on this forum with no responses! lol And no it's NOT baking soda etc.

[Don Stokes]

LC, why keep it a secret?

[lilbobby]

I go along with what Terry G. said, except I smoke the smaller one's.