Not worrying 'bout scent control?

[BRONZ]

Anybody not worry about scent control?  I used to wash clothes with cover scent, put them in tubs with scent wafers, spray down, use cover scents...work hard at it and spend a lot of money doing it.  I'm almost to a point that I'm tired of caring.  I just want to wake up, shower, put the clothes on and head to a tree with the wind in my favor.  Anyone else?  I see Fred Eichler wear the same sweat-stained hat to hunt in everyday.  You can't tell me it doesn't stink like human!

[Rob W.]

I use sportwash so they don't smell like flowery crap and I shower with an unscented bar soap thats about it. Gave up the full spectrum scent control routine a couple years ago and haven't noticed a difference.


Rob

[owlbait]

Besides, that stuff is HARD on lucky hats!  

[kennyb]

Guys-I feel the same way. I'm tired of all the bs and don't seem to see a difference! I will still use the unscented shower soap but that is about it! This whole scent free or scent lock is very expensive eh? Thanks for bringing this subject up!

Kenny    

[buckeye_hunter]

I wash with unscented soap and use unscented deodorant, but that is due to allergies and it is straight off the grocery store shelf. I spray my boots with scent killer and also smoke my clothes to leave less scent behind on brush etc. while I am getting to the stand. I mostly worry about the deer cutting my walk in trail. Smoking my clothes and using scent killer on the boots has done the trick more times than I can count for fooling their noses. I have seen many deer walk right in on the same path I used and never even remotely spook. I wish I would have shot better or sat still enough to not get busted at the last second!

You have to play the wind regardless once you are in the stand because you can't completely kill human scent. If they get downwind with a good thermal in their favor, you are done.

For me, it is all about leaving as little scent behind as possible walking into my hunting area. A number of African tribes people and native Americans stood in camp fire smoke prior to hunting. If it works well for them, I won't argue.

Your mileage may vary and I am sure there are other opinions.

God bless,
Charlie

[m midd]

I use unsented shower soap and laundry detergent but thats about it.  I hunt the wind and have no issues

[Brianlocal3]

I have long believed the scent lok and all the sent stuff was over rated.  I watches my dad smoke on his seat out Hunting and shoot deer year after year. My father never hunted from a tree or a pop up blind. He always sat in deadfalls or bushes.

So I never got into it myself. I chew at my set, spit on the ground and pee where I hunt. But I do play the wind. Also at deer camp in the evenings I'm around the campfire cooking, and having a merry ol time in te same clothes I'll be hunting in the next day.

Now, have I been winded?  You betcha!!!! But I think I would have been winded in a scent lock also.

[stevewills]

i found out when i did all that i ruin it every time i light a smoke up in the tree...but i have killed alot of deer that i had to put a smoke out to shoot...i killed my biggest downwind on the ground smoking,cig.was on the ground smoking when i shot him he grossed 167 5/8...

[Sam McMichael]

I have never bought into scent control. The human body just gives off odor and that's that in my opinion. I don't knock anybody for trying, its just that I don't think it can be done. Hunting the wind is the only scent control measure that I believe really works. Even with all that said, I still frequently use cover scents. Heck, it might not work but it doesn't hurt to try. Besides the scent control guys could be right.

[Hunter74]

I learned years ago using all the scent lok and sent control precautions that if your upwind your busted just as if you wernt using it all. Now I do think it may let you get away with a little, but I don't think its enough to get a shot at a big buck that you wouldn't of without it. That said I think the biggest thing sent control does is give people the confidence to hunt spots on winds they wouldn't normally hunt. The wind does a lot of different things at times and this is what I realized. I thought I was hunting the wrong wind and the deer wernt smelling me when really my wind was going over the top of them or getting pushed put by a crosswind. It takes a lot of work and time to find these spots and situations were it feels like the wind is wrong when really something is happening downwind so the deer don't get your wind.

[Orion]

I try to stay as clean as I can, and hunt the wind.  I don't buy into the scent elimination/control products. Most don't work, and if they did, I wouldn't consider it fair chase.

[ChuckC]

I worry about it a lot.  Just differently than when I was younger.  

I still try to stay clean.  I still use the kind of scent control pads that (I believe) help control bacterial growth on my body.  

But I now make religious use of a string wind indicator and hunt the wind.  Always aware of it, always.

Even if fart proof clothing worked, and I don't believe it does, wearing it, and counting on it just detracts from me having achieved something on my own, relying instead on a magic crutch.

As I get older, I get more and more set against that premise.

ChuckC

[Marc B.]

I've gotten to be the same way. I just shower with my normal soap and use the same deodorant I use everyday for work. I'm still killing as many as I did when I used all the scent control.

[bruinman]

I try to play the wind, thats it.

[reddogge]

Someone nailed it, do the scent free shower and put on your scent free clothes, plop your stinky favorite lucky hat and your smelly boots on and go hunting.

[BRONZ]

Glad I'm not the only one.  I agree, scent free soap and laundry detergent (also keeps camo away from color brighteners, which make you look like a glowworm), set up with the wind in your favor and shoot straight.  Good luck this season fellas!

[huntingarcher]

I think most of us are hunting the same way,trying to play the wind.I think alot of the scent control items are made to sell not use.
A funny story  that my brother,my dad and my self still laugh about.My brother is really in to the scent control products and we where walking in single file on a main trail before daylite one morning heading to our stands.My brother was just telling us about his new 300.00 set of scent control camo.My brother farted and about 5 seconds later my dad says in a low tone,"You need to see if you can get your money back".Makes you wonder doin't it.

[Thumper Dunker]

I realy think no matter what you do they still can smell you. you may have deer ,moose, hippo urine on you but they still smell the human in there also. I swet in the middle of winter. Keep the wind in your face. ect.  Some time Im sure they just don't care . But have been winded buy coyotes and deer way out there.

[Roy from Pa]

Play the wind and be thankful you are alive and hunting:) There is always tomorrow if it doesn't work out today:)

[Hoyt]

I don't practice scent control. Only thing I do is tie a pod of milkweed to my bow so I can tell which way the air is moving at all times.

I just take into consideration they are going to smell me if downwind..and if I do see one before the current gets to it I try to not waste time.