can you really stay scent free???

[Lost Arra]

Impossible.

Deer don't care about arm pits, sweat, deodorant, baking soda, bad breath or smelly socks. If the prevailing wind blows from human to deer, they know it. They may not always react in terror but if you are up wind they know it.   :D

[gvdocholiday]

Don't really think you can be 100% scent free...you can however take the steps to smell like your 100yds away when your really only 10.

[S.C. Hunter]

Nope just ask the wives here they will tell you.  

[Looper]

Well, you can bathe in scent free soap, wash your clothes in baking soda, spray yourself down with scent killer, keep your clothes in trash bag, and dress in the field, but one moment of windiness and it's all for naught.

[Mr.Vic]

Look into liquid Chlorophyll brother, found this thread  http://tradgang.com/noncgi  ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=087738;p=2 and if you research it on the net it also has many other benefits. It does help.  This is a subject that has it's far share of Pros and Cons,(Like Religion and Politics)and one will never convince the other of what works for each of them. One may have a wall full of Mounts using the wind and another may have a wall of heads using products or formulas. Like life, one must take in all information and experiment until he finds what works for them. I'd give you my two scents(cents) what has worked for my family, but critics are we all.    

[adkmountainken]

thanks big brother, going to order some liquid chlorophyll and try that as well as a few other things.

[dave19113]

Def NO!!!!!.... Use the wind.... I try to keep my cloths separate and do use scent spray... But spending excessive $$$$ on carbon and stuff... to me anyway ... is a waste of $$$$$... I have stalked up to mature does and bucks in regular street wear, by using the wind....

Trust me, it makes you a better hunter....

[SteveB]

I'd like to hunt where some of you do where the wind always blows in a constant direction.  :D  

 

I know I cannot fool a whitetails noise but I can make him have his doubts!  Shawn

 

Tha't my goal. Scent free is impossible, but some scent reduction to maybe lower the threat level is what I try. I'm told being a little less smelly can be a very good thing.   :D

[MikeS]

They had a good episode of Mythbusters a couple of weeks ago.  They tried to fool a bloodhounds nose by using scent lock suits, sprays and such and also by showering before donning all the "magical gear"!
Guess what....they could not fool the bloodhound's nose.  If you can't fool the bloodhound with all that crap, you can't fool a deer!
It is all a huge waste of your money.  If you ain't got the wind right, you ain't got nothing!
Mike

[Bowwild]

No.

However, you can hold the human stink down and certainly prevent other foreign odors from going with you on the hunt.

I get a kick out of the TV hunters quick spraying themselves down before they walk in. If that stuff worked (and I don't think it's worth a nickel)you'd have to dip your entire outfit in the stuff.  A little aerosol here and there is going to leave so many "gaps" what good would it do.

I think strange or dangerous odors spook some deer. Some deer don't spook at my odor. Some do. Some deer might be attracted to foreign odors while others will bolt at a new smell.

[Mick]

I wear rubber boots to my stand and try to keep them away from anything that doesn't smell like the woods.  
Last week I must have stepped in something.  I got to my stand and watched a family group of does and fawns pass by upwind.  The lead doe must have crossed my tracks at some point and remembered me from last year.  She hound-dogged my foot steps right to just out side my bow range and stood there stomping and weaving.  She's got my number!
To answer the OP's question I have to agree with most that replied.  Try to keep it clean and play the wind - or hunt nekkid!  

[eidsvolling]

Having hunted your species for nearly two decades with dogs, I can tell you the answer is no.  Regardless of what you're wearing or what you bathed with (and whether any of that could survive a lawsuit on that point), if you're breathing, you can be detected.  (If you ain't breathing, you can be detected as well.  It might take a couple days in cold weather, depending on how long it takes for the bacteria to start working on your organs and skin.      :D   )

A SAR dog colleague put one of the early "scent blocking" suits to the test when they first appeared in MN back in the 90's.  The dog went to the suit wearer like a fly on you-know-what.

If you're not wearing a closed-loop breathing system, it doesn't matter what you're wearing, or what you ate.  You're pumping out massive amounts of moist, human-odor laden air and skin cells from your breathing passages.  It's up to the deer to decide whether they object to that odor.  They most assuredly know it's there and usually know where it's coming from.  Being elevated helps disperse it -- isn't it odd how the advent of tree stands coincided with early user reports swearing by their various "scent blocker" suits . . .

[RAU]

I do the best i can i used to be ridiculous with it and i got caught as many times as now. When the winds wrong its over! That said i cant remeber a stand i ever sat here in NE pa where the wind stayed continuosly perfect. It seems to be in a constant state of change. I use the soap and keep my hunting clothes as clean as i can with the idea that if the wind is wrong for a minute or two it may buy me a few seconds at crunch time. Is it really worth the trouble? Probably not but I need all the help i can get.

[Real Buckmaster]

NO! its in the wind and wind currents. The marketeers are having a field day.

[bolong]

No

When my little cocker spaniel was less than a year old, I took him with me deer hunting and left him in the van.  My wife was wearing rubber boots.  She doused her boots with scent shield about 50 yards from where we parked.  When I got back to the car later after sun set and I left the dog out.  he took off and followed the exact circular route my wife took to her blind a half mile away and then caught up with her when she was taking different route back to the van.  It was a typical bone dry October evening and he could trail her every place she stepped.  I can imagine the scent coming off a person's head is more than those rubber boots that my dog had no trouble following on a run.  we have not used any cover sprays or scents since then and it has made no difference in our hunting success.

[OkKeith]

Ken,

I am a serious sweat-er as well! I wear a sweat shirt or long sleeve t-shirt in and pack my other stuff in my daypack. When I get to my hunting spot I dry off with my shirt and swab off with a scent free wipe (like a baby-butt wipe, but made for hunters). Then I put on my hunting clothes. I have a 2 gallon zip lock I stuff the sweaty shirt in and seal it up.

For the walk out I change back or bring a spare. In cold weather I do the same but just put on heavier stuff. When it's REALLY cold, I have been known to walk in with nothing but my base layer and boots on, packing my wools and midlayer along.

I don't think you can ever be TOTALLY scent free unless you bundle up in Saran wrap. I think efforts to be "scent limited" results in close shots at game. They either smell ya too late or think you are farther away.

I know that I would sweat less if I was in better shape. Or I could lay down and take a rest every 15 min or so. It would take 3 or 4 hours to get in there if I did that, so... I do the shirt/clothes swap.

Good luck with your hunting!

OkKeith

[Thumper Dunker]

Im out here in Kalifornia and theres way too many people . So I do not even try to stay scent free . Theres human scent all over the place. Plus I sweat more than a rain cloud. Play the wind.

[Biggie Hoffman]

No.

[Hoyt]

I don't bother with trying anymore. It don't matter how cold it is I'm soaked in sweat when I get to where I hunt. Even just wearing a tee shirt and walking slow....steep hills and meds. I guess. Only thing I do is wear as little as I can and pack my clothes in, then dry off, sack up and put on dry clothes. Every now and then I'll see something between wind shifts.