Changing diet before hunting?

[Brohawk]

Several years ago I heard someone say they went on a vegetarian diet a week before the start of deer season so that their scent wouldn't "smell like a predator."

Have any of you guys heard of this?

I like meat.  It's a primary reason for hunting.  If God didn't want us to eat animals, he wouldn't have made them out of meat.  Therefore, I can't see myself switching to rabbit food unless there is a very good reason for it.  

[Red Beastmaster]

I knew a guy who wouldn't eat meat the day before our PA gun season. Our families always got together that evening for a party. Hey, more deer balogna for me!

I hunt the animals that are upwind of me and don't care what I smell like downwind. It wouldn't be bowseason if I had to skip my ham sandwich at lunchtime.

[ordcorpdw]

I'd imagine if you stood over the stove cooking Bacon in your hunting clothes then went hunting you might smell like bacon. As far as consuming meat before you went. Our digestive systems do a pretty good job of breaking things down. Unless you eat meat covered in garlic you'll probably just smell like any other human out there. So avoid strong smelling foods known to cause a funk factor and don't pickle yer liver in vodka the night before. Not science just my two cents.

[Stumpkiller]

Yes, I have heard of it.  I have even seen chlorophyll pills that are supposed to make you smell unpredatorlike to the deer.  Might be something to it.  Some tribes fasted to purify themselves before a hunt.

I don't change diet but I do keep conscious of the wind and figure if a deer smells me I'm busted.

[reddogge]

For years my partner and I would meet at the local greasy spoon diner and chow down on bacon and eggs before going afield after deer. We killed our fair share of them too. Don't listen to your friend.

[wixwood]

When I first started bow hunting, 1980, I read a couple of articles about that too. They were convincing to read and as I recall they did the special(vegan?)diet for at least a week in advance to purge their system of all the predator smells. I couldn't bring myself to try it and now after all these years I am even more convinced that if the wind is wrong, no matter what you do or use, the game is over.

[Brohawk]

Originally posted by reddogge:
For years my partner and I would meet at the local greasy spoon diner and chow down on bacon and eggs before going afield after deer. We killed our fair share of them too. Don't listen to your friend.

This reply qualifies as Words of Wisdom.

[Ydanny]

I think this is mentioned in one of the Wensel books.  Maybe Come November by Gene Wensel, maybe.

[stickhorse]

Try your vegie diet, i heard that the hungry Wolf always hunted harder!!!

As for Me, I'll stay with my meat sandwiches.

[YORNOC]

I've actually
been foolish enough to suffer, try this and go veggie for a few years weeks before the season. I hate vegetables.
. And as said here, hunt smart, DOWNWIND. Whether or not you eat meat, you still give off a foreign odor that alarms deer. Period.
I can honestly say that a smart hunter using the wind on a daily basis will encounter as many and probably more deer than people with scent elimination clothing, clorophyll pills, veg diets, etc. that feel they have an edge and drop their guard.
I know, I spent the money, I suffered, and I learned. Use what you already have in your top knot, you will have your best success.

[DannyBows]

I have read that our bodies produce some type of Enzyme or such from digesting meat that animals can identify from smell.

I have also read of Special Ops in Vietnam that went into enemy areas on missions to asassinate bad guys eating a diet the same as the locals so as to not be smelled up close in the dark. I imagine after days of sweating and not being able to clean-up it would be greatly magnified.

I, myself, believe in the words in my 'Signature' and a Puffer Bottle.

[David Mitchell]

I understand that American Indians followed this practice of refraining from meat for a few days before a hunt for that very reason--so they would not have the distinct smell of a meat eating predator.  So, yes, I've heard of it....don't know if the Indians were right, just that they did.

[Blueridge]

I think its what Ishi told Dr. Pope , one of his rituals for hunt preparation. Been a long time since I read it but believe thats right.