Scent Killers

[Doc Nock]

I gotta share this:

I've worn rubber boots for 25 yrs. Never wear them but in the field. Spray down inside and out and change boots if I come back to the truck mid-day before going back out.

Early in my rubber boot era, I was doing all that meticulously.  I walked in, set up a stand in a tree and waited. A red fox came trotting along 50 yrds perpendicular to my entry trail. When the fox hit the trail, it was like it hit a glass wall! That was 4 hrs after I came in!!!

Sniffed way I came in...then way I went...looked all around and spotted me and lit outa dodge

Ruh-roh!

Watch your rubber knee highs when you walk...they buckle and "bellow".

I'm surmising now, but I surmise in rubber boots, feet sweat... (my socks come out soaked wool or not) and with each step you're pumping out foot odor to spill onto the ground!

I stood still on a cool day...just rocked back and forth to mimic a step and could feel warm air pouring out t he top of the boot with each puff of the "bellows".

I now blouse my boots airborne style and keep the foot odor tucked INSIDE the boot.

Not foolproof, but it HAS made it that I've not again had any critter cross my path and bolt like before I did that! FWIW...

[Doc Nock]

Another thought before I crawl down off da soapbox.

As 99% say, can't fool a deer's nose. Nope, but you can dilute your odor to the point where he thinks you're far away and no threat! That is my goal.

Here in the East, the farm country and public land is polluted with people near year round... they always are smelling people... but when they get a snootful, it's time to shag town!

By showering, dressing in line-dried clothing IN THE FIELD at the truck, never wearing my boots to drive, blousing them to stop foot odor pouring out, and using scent killer sprays, I firmly believe I've made my stink seem old or farther away.  

YMMV

As for hunting the wind... on small farm tracts, or pass-thru areas of only a few acres, you NEVER know which way a deer might come. That whole incredible notion of finding bedding areas, setting up enroute to food sources down wind or stalking into the wind... Wow...that must be sooooo cool!!!    

I'd have crossed 4 sets of posted ground to even TRY that!  

[LC]

I personally don't think "humans" will ever understand scent as we just can't relate to anything that compares to it in the animal kingdom. I've witnessed too many times animals, (dogs, deer, foxes etc) responding to scent trails from humans walking regardless of foot wear. Lately I've been training a "mutt" to blood trail deer, as time goes on I'm convinced you can't leave a training trail no matter what you do without human scent being dispersed also. But the good news is that the dog is  smart enough to realize what we are tracking and  it's not the rubber boot smell!

Believe me when I say it IS possible to beat a deer's nose after your in a tree stand and no not a nose bleed height.

[GREASEMAN]

try Dead Down Wind products.I've used them with great success.However,nothing beats having the wind to your face!!

[LC]

However,nothing beats having the wind to your face!!

I agree 110% but here in WV wait five minutes and it will change five times on a slow day.

[waknstak IL]

I am going to go against the grain here. I always shower with Sauve green apple shampoo before hunting. I think it makes me smell tasty to them    I have been doing it for 15+ years and it's worked for me so I'm not changing. And no there are no orchards anywhere nearby and I hunt only public land.
I try to keep the wind in my face as much as possible or at least get the stand downwind of where I hope the deer to be when I take my shot. All of that said I firmly believe no matter what you do,wear,or douse yourself in, killing a mature whitetail downwind is virtually impossible. ymmv

[TxAg]

x2 on the rubber boots and cow pies.

I also have begun "smoking out" meaning...I stand in campfire smoke with all my clothes on. It's free and it works great in my neck of the woods.

[BowHunterGA]

I'll throw in my 2 cents.

Bathe well with unscented detergent. I use whatever I find on clearance at Walmart right near the end of hunting season and save for the following year. Never really thought one was any better than the next. I do use unscented deoderant, I also keep a box of arm and hammer and will put an ounce or so in my hair.

I wash all of my hunting clothes in unscented laundry detergent, in a pinch I will use arm and hammer baking soda or extra body detergent. I also keep 3 or 4 wash cloths and towels washed in the same manner for bathing and for drying off after I shower.

With my clothes clean I keep them in ziploc bags and use various natural cover scents in the backs. Pine needles, crushed leaves of oaks, hickory and sweetgum. An old pair of the wife's panty hose works well (waashed with hunting clothes of course) to fill with forest litter for a natural "Earth Scent". Another good cheap scent is plain old pine-sol. If I am hunting in pines I will even wash my clothes in the stuff.

Wear rubber boots, use scent-away or other scent neutralizer and always hunt the wind. In all honesty I worry as much about the scent I leave behind as I do about spoiling my hunt. Spray down my stand, tree steps, and anything else I come in contact with before I leave the woods.