conditioning deer to your scent?

[maineac]

I have played around with this idea for awhile and wonder what you all think.  My area of Maine has almost no agriculture, most of which are hay fields.  The majority of land is thick woods.  Except for logging there is almost no human disturbance in most of the woods until Oct. when bird season and bow season starts.  Then November is rifle and the woods get pretty thoroughly walked over as most guys around here like to walk and rarely spend more than an hour or two on stand.  I have always tried to do my scouting in spring and mid summer hen leave the woods alone.  However I know as soon as I start to walk into the woods in Oct. I am leaving scent.  Our deer are very nocturnal anyway, and I am sure that as scent free as I try to stay, I am leaving scent trails through the woods.  As soon as the big bucks notice this I think they become even harder to see during shooting light.

My thought is if I scout on a regular basis all year that the deer become used to my scent.  It is a common part of their existence.  For most of the year no negative activity is associated with the scent.  What are your thoughts.  Will the constant human scent make them more nocturnal, or do you think they would become acclimated to my scent and tend to ignore it as a common scent and not a danger?

[KentuckyTJ]

Michael, If your deer have much more land than what you will be scouting I think you will just run them off to other places doing that.

[Stumpkiller]

I don't think it will work.  I own 20 acres and spend considerable time "futzing" throughout it all year long - mowing, harvesting lumber, skiing, snowshoeing, hunting large & small game, hiking, stump shooting, etc.  I still spook deer immediately when they get downwind of me.

Just as they likely never get "accustomed" to coyote scent.

Though I have had deer walk over where I have passed recently without seeming to cause them any concern.  It seems they recognize fresh vs. older scent.  Best you can hope for is a lower level of alarm - perhaps they will just give you s wide berth and return later that day or the next rather than bolting for a mile and staying distant.  When I go between the house and the barn I have had deer stand and watch - but as soon as I head their direction . . . tails.

[pdk25]

I agree with Tom, I doubt that it will work in the big woods. I have seen it work on small pieces of land that have a good food source, though. In those cases, it seems that  cover scent can confuse the deer between what is an old versus a new scent. They still smell you, but don't head for the hills.

Got a buddy who hunts a little over twenty acres and hunt it almost every day for several months, in addition to being all over it during the rest of the year. He always wears camo when on the lease to acclimate the deer to when he walks in. He uses cover scent when hunting and the deer always seem to smell him in his stands(all 4 of them). Wind is usually wrong. The deer still feed at his food plots at close range, even if they initially are a little agitated. He has killed a scary number of big bucks on this little piece of property. The only problem is that he thinks the cover scent is magic and can't figure out why he doesn't have the same luck everywhere else.

[Terry Green]

Don't think you will be able to acclimate them to getting use to, or comfortable with, a predator.

I know folks leave a lot of scent around bear baits, sweaty t-shirts, but bears are also predators.  Don't think it will work with the situation you are talking about.

I'm sure in suburban areas where they are kinda land locked they would tolerate it a bit more, but not in the big woods.  That's just my opinion.

Interesting thread BTW....we might learn something if we hang around...    

[Night Wing]

I don't think deer ever get used to "human scent" even if people aren't hunting them.

Where I live in Texas, if I see or if a deer smells me before I see it in the spring or summer time, the deer snorts and he/she is gone in an instant.

[gringol]

I've had wild deer eat out of my hand at camp-sites, so it can definitely work (might the the exception to the rule), but if you did that in order to hunt, it seems a little unethical.  Like shooting a panda at the zoo.

[maineac]

My biggest thought is not so much have them walk in down wind of me on stand, but not change their patterns due to my scent left as I move in and out of stand locations.  I a sure every time we walk through the woods we leave a trail of scent tat the deer come across during the night or next day or so.  Let me also add our deer don't use trails like in agricultural areas.  They can wander anywhere and seem to do so and bed almost anywhere.

[Pat B.]

I walk the woods and prairie all year long.. Some deer become accustomed to me.. During the summer and early fall there will be does and young bucks that I can walk within 15 or 20 yards, IF I don't pay any attention to them.. However, if I stop or even if I look at them more than a glance they will leave. Otherwise will stand and watch me walk by..

After a buck turns 2 1/2 or so the likely hood of this happening diminishes..

Of course, these observations pertain to my area and in other parts of the country may be pure hogwash!

Also after gun season has been open for a while all deer run the minute they see you.. I would too
if some wild nimrod in a jacked up 4x4 came to a screeching halt and jumped out firing at me !

[NBK]

I hunt "big woods" also and have pretty much the same experience as the rest of the guys have stated.  I believe your time will be best spent each year if you can #1 identify frequent travel corridors/funnels based upon last fall's sign which you find scouting in the spring.  Determine the best wind direction and then mark your trail (firetacks) in and out so that you don't cross their path.  #2 Early each fall find the first rubs of the year to hunt that buck while he's still on somewhat of a regular travel pattern.  The best rubs I've found are the cluster rubs on smaller bushes and when you find 3-4 of them together that's gold.  I wouldn't worry too much about them crossing your scent trails as twice now I've seen racked bucks follow trails that wolves had passed through only hours before.  One even bedded down just off the trail, and the deer here have plenty of fear of wolves.  Overhunting one particular stand is worse.

[Bullfrog]

One thing I have definitely noticed. I have been hunting a small residential area and can get away with much more than hunting "big" woods. I think it is an advantage when you actually have people in the vacinity cutting lawns etc.   BILL

[30coupe]

A lot of time it depends on the deer. The worst are mature does. I hunt where deer really can't get far from humans, so they are "accustomed" to human scent. The younger ones don't seem to pay as much attention. In fact they are often curious and will try to find out where the smell is coming from.

One whiff and an old doe is out of there as a rule. The same is true for mature bucks, but their reaction is often different. A mature doe make sure everybody knows something is amiss. She'll snort and bound and wave her flag like crazy. Mature bucks often just wheel, drop their head and tail, and quietly sneak out of the area. They even get their bodies lower somehow. I think they would crawl if they could do it quietly.

That said, they seem to react differently to scent trails. Often I see no reaction. They will cross or even walk right down the same place I have been and never flinch, but if they get downwind of me...game over.

We do have some big bucks in Iowa due to genetics and nutrition, but in my area they have to be pretty darn smart to live that long once shotgun season opens. Any semblance of antlers makes them fair game to a lot of guys.

I have heard of guys hanging their dirty socks around in the woods for a month or so before season to "condition" deer to their scent. Never heard how well it worked though.

[Craig]

I can hunt on the side of my house as long as I'm in my tree stand.  My sent is blown through the woods from our bed room windows, which the deer are use to it. The deer will still walk by even when the wind is blowing into them. I told a friend to come over and hunt out of my stand that the deer are coming by every day. He gets up in the stand and doesn't see a deer. They are not use to his scent. I can't see this working in the big woods.

[maineac]

Like I said, not trying to get them to walk in downwind, but just not change habits when they start to smell my walk and exit trails.  The deer do not use any set trails (or very few around some minor pinch points) and are likely to cross my entrance and exit trails at night when they move around.  If they become used to smelling my scent on trails fairly regularly, once a week or so, will they not go more nocturnal?

[Covey]

We have a park close to my house and we do alot of hiking and walking on the trails. I have seen alot of deer there and they dont seem to be near as spooky as the deer in the woods I hunt in. I guess due to all the human traffic they dont see people as much of a threat. I've had deer stand 20 yards from me and just stare. I dont know,  just a thought but seems to go along with what your saying. They are still spooky but not as spooky.
JMHO,  Jason

[Bill Carlsen]

I think that if you lived on a farm that had deer on it they might get used to your scent and not pay much attention to you. We had about 300 acres behind our house that is now a development. Before the houses went in the deer that did come too our 6 acres got used to me. I could mow the grass, work in the garden, etc. and they would let me get really close (bow range) but once in the woods it was a completely different ball game. Their tolerance went with the wind. I think if you spent a lot of time in the woods  you would be the one that got patterned and if they didn't run from you they would probably just hold tight, let you go by and you would be none the wiser as to their even being there. You might be tolerated by them to a degree but they will never let you inside their comfort zone.

[tim roberts]

Not a expert by any means, seems I am always learning something about whitetails.  With that said though, I have seen them come up and smell the ladder that I just climbed 5-10 minutes ago and not be alarmed, yet it they cross through my sent stream, when the wind swirls it is game over.  In an area that has a lot of human traffic the doesn't seem to bother them the way our sent blowing on the wind does.
I also know that can deer pattern us, simular to the way we pattern them.  Having multple stands can help avoid this problem.
Sometimes while out, I will push things further than I should, just to see what I can get away with, that there can make for great learning experiences.
Thanks,

[KHALVERSON]

Originally posted by Bill Carlsen:
I think that if you lived on a farm that had deer on it they might get used to your scent and not pay much attention to you. We had about 300 acres behind our house that is now a development. Before the houses went in the deer that did come too our 6 acres got used to me. I could mow the grass, work in the garden, etc. and they would let me get really close (bow range) but once in the woods it was a completely different ball game. Their tolerance went with the wind. I think if you spent a lot of time in the woods  you would be the one that got patterned and if they didn't run from you they would probably just hold tight, let you go by and you would be none the wiser as to their even being there. You might be tolerated by them to a degree but they will never let you inside their comfort zone.

ditto
i found the same thing  growning up on the farm
if the deer were in an area frequented by us they didnt pay us much mind
but go to there turf and it was a different story all together

[Catskill Longbow]

I don't know about deep woods, but when food is involved I have seen does and young bucks within 5 feet of someone I know who feeds every night. When she starts the 4-wheeler they come out of the woodwork. She had twin 8-points 10-15 yards away following her. She had does eating from the end of the bale of hay as she walked to the feeding area. When they noticed me watching from 30 yards they shyed away. Not saying I condone feeding, just an observation.

[kestimator]

I don't know about your "Big Woods" part of the country.  Here in Central Texas on private land where feeders are tended and ranchers/farmers are frequently, if not constantly in the field, some of the deer population does seem to let down there guard to a certain extent from my perspective.  Some deer also seem to be able to read body language or tell if it is a hiker, rancher tending cattle, or a hunter on the prowl.  I've only been bowhunting in earnest for a handful of years now and it seems that scent is still pretty important at times once deer season rolls around and the deer "realize" that things have changed.  To me the reason that it seems so important is that our quarry has to be very close where I guess that our smell is stronger.  I've seen lots of deer come to feeders or cross areas that I've walked across while rifle hunting just minutes or hours before, but I would be hiding 70 to 100 yds. away.  While bowhunting, I've had deer "bust" me when I was concealed in a pop-up blind and the wind was in my favor.  I think you can "trick" or aclimate some of the deer, but not all of them.  Just like people, some deer are smarter and more wary than others.  Bowhunting "Big Woods" sounds to me like a very Big Challenge!!