Not worrying 'bout scent control?

[beauleyse]

What Buckeye said I don't care how much scent away crap you wear if you have a steady breeze blowing to a bedding area no deer will come your way from there... I'm wanting to leave as little of a footprint behind for not only deer coming the same way I am but for deer that come by when I'm not around...I want my area to remain as natural as it can whether I'm walking in to hunt or its 2 in the morning when he walks by I don't want him to know I was there.

[Keefer]

Where I hunted last year has over 100 Black Agnus that have excess to where the deer feed/pass through and I make sure I step in cow patty's and get some of that natural scent that the deer are adjusted to and I try to smell like the Agnus and thinking of getting a job at Chick Filet so I can borrow the cow suit and "Become one with the herd"   :D

[sweeney3]

I don't get to bent on it anymore, for a few reasons.  One is that you'll never eliminate scent, just tone it down some.  Two is that in most of the places I hunt, deer are never more than a hundred or two yards from humans and dogs and cats and whatever else.  It isn't really urban, and you can't see people much, but it isn't remote either.  Human scent all over and they are used to it.  Three is that they don't have a specific pattern in these places.  They filter through almost at random, usually with little groups coming and going in different directions at the same time.  However the breeze is blowing, you'll be upwind of some and downwind of some.  That's here in Northwest Arkansas.  Now, when I get to go visit a buddy and hunt uber-rural Kansas, totally different story.  Disregard all I just said in that case.

[AkDan]

the one problem ic with not making the attempt especially if you're after a particular big deer...or any big buck, is the more you walk into the woods, the more you end up educating them.  Scent control, playing the wind, where we hang our stands, how we get to them it all plays a roll....Even with a stacked deck one screw up and you may run one nocternal...yet you can still shoot deer every year.  Growing up on a 400+ acrea farm that would make you drewl if you saw the bucks that ran the place...there was enough I could get away with a lot and still see them often!   2 months later when things were supposed to be good...they were no where to be found, atleast by me till the rut kicked off....i know better now.   After sitting for almost an hour (and it almost ruined a relationship if you can believe this) 40 yards from a nice mature buck down wind in his bed!  It made me a believer...since then I've had them down wind and not get busted...seen more deer over all in a much lower deer numbers than when I grew up, back than 15 or 20 a night in the fields was the norm not the acception.   But what i do see now is those mature bucks that I only saw driving in or out....

its one piece to a bigger puzzle.   I dont nessicarly believe you need to spend big money to do it, though you could.  It will never elimnate your scent, however you might not reak like the mens locker room after a friday night game either   !

[TooManyHobbies]

My hunting cloths get washed after a kill. Otherwise, I put the same stuff on every day. I don't wear it all day, just when hunting. Keep the wind in your face and watch the thermals.

[Rick Perry]

does it matter if a deer smells you a little bit or a whole lot ???    8^)     .......... he's gonna leave the area either way .

 if you do a poo poo in yer bathroom and then spray pine scent will the next person who walks into the bathroom think they just walked into a beautiful pine forest ? ........... naw they will think someone just crapped a christmas tree !...............  

[DayTripper]

Originally posted by Bob B.:
...  Whenever possible, I breath through my nose...

Bob.

And normally, gills?!?!?!  

[Llamma1]

I just wash my gear in water during season. Hang them out on a line. Hit the woods and keep the wind in my face.

[JEFF B]

smoke from local timber in the place that i hunt when i do go hunting

[sagebrush]

When they first started coming out with all the scent free sprays I used them for a while. It seems like it was in the eighties. One day I took a shower with scent free soap, raced up the mountain, got out of my truck with my hair barely dry, sprayed down all my scent-free detergent  washed camo to the point that it was wet with scent cover spray, then went and sat in a tree stand. About an hour later I watched a 3x3 from about 500 yards away approaching from downwind. He hit my scent stream from that far away and did an about face. Since' then I just watch where my scent is going and that is it. I don't believe you can cover it. It's just a waste of money. When hunting on the ground I use a scent checker wind feather and milk weed fluff to see where it is going.  Gary

[DaveT1963]

I am re-thinking this one on carbon suits.  Reason being is that most of what I consider the honest, public land bowhunter "celebs" that I put value in their mehtods (John Eberhart, Bobby Worthington, Pastor William Vale, etc.) ALL to a one of them uses carbon clothing.  Their track records on public, high pressured hunting lands speak for themselves.  Then the court actually through out the law suit against Scent Lok when they ordered them to send suits over to Rueters for testing and the results came back that Scent Lok was in the 95 and up% range for adsobing odors.  They also found that re-activated carbon was still effective at adsorbing odors.

Now I don't believe anything will remove 100% but I have learned from trapping and hunting that it is concentration and newness of odors that usually alert animals.  Even if scent lok only removes 25% of your released body odor that is bettern than nothing.  Same with rubber boots, I know for a fact that my trapping canines is ALWAYS better when I wear rubber boots and rubber gloves.  Is it 100% effective - probably not, but I believe it removes enough of the scent contamination that some game animals are not nearly as alert.

And I know all about tracking dogs and their abilities - but I have also seen the same dogs not be able to locate an escaped convict and I have had a few coon dogs lose a hot track on a bare footed coon.

I am going to keep an open mind on this one and retry some of these products/methods.  Yes I will always pay attention to the wind as much as I am able but even if it works on only one P&Y buck is it worth it????

I still use (year round) scent free detergent and ivory soap.  I hang my clothes to dry, smoke them with a bee smoker at times and I store them in seperate containers.... adding scent lok base layers shouldn't be much of a problem.

It has been stated repeatedly on this post that if a deer is downwind of you they will smell you no matter what....this simply is not always the case.  There are eddies, updrafts and thermals that can carry scent right above that deers nose even if he is downwind. I have seen many deer downwind of me that should have but did not pick up my scent - sorry but it happens.  And I would like to know just how it was determined that a deer detected 10 day old scent.... that also would have a lot to do with the conditions voer that 10 day period.  If this was the case a tracking dog would always locate a missing person or escapee - just doesn't happen folks.  I have scene tracking dogs that were unable to pick up, and/or follow even a 2 hour old track.

and like mentioned above - it is not only the scent left while you are there - it is the scent left behind that also alerts wary pressured bucks.  A pressured mature whitetail that knows he is being hunted, at least where I hunt, is pretty much nocturnal even during most of the rut.

[DaveT1963]

BTW - I will be happy to send the court decision to anyone that would like to see it - don't know how to attach a PDF file.

[Dave Lay]

i try to wash with ivory soap and not buy gas in my hunting clothes and use some common sense but thats about it other than hunting with the wind the best i can.. in the past i got pretty involved with keeping everything as scent free as possible and such, but anymore i just wear the same ole hat and mainly hunt the wind and do about as good as i ever have...

[KentuckyTJ]

Originally posted by 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

My routine is exactly same as Robs.

[Altiman94]

I do what it sounds like most of you do.  I wash with scent free body wash and use scent free deodorant.  My clothes are washed in scent free detergent but stay in the garage during hunting season.  I use the scent killer spray and hunt the wind.  If I'm gonna be busted, its usually because they are down wind.  Hunting the wind has been more successful than anything else for me but I still try to stay as scent free as I can.

[johnnyk71]

Originally posted by KentuckyTJ:
 

Originally posted by 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

My routine is exactly same as Robs. [/b]

same here. maybe some Scent Killer spray on my boots if i have some. none if i don't.

[hickstick]

yup...I don't worry about it at all.  except for trying to stay downwind of bedding areas.   but then again...

I don't believe in carbon clothing, deer pee scents, scent killer sprays, any of it.  I use straight grocery store ammonia for my mock scrapes.  and don't treat my hunting clothes any different than any others...except maybe treating them with permethrin due to ticks being thick as thieves up here.

this buck visited and took over this mock scrape I made before the season opened, in my street close, wearing my running shoes.   not only did he visit it that same night, he's visited it several times a week....and never seems to mind my scent.  OH, BTW   I started the scrape by kicking off the leaves with my shoes and peeing in it ...well, cause I had to go, and forgot my bottle of ammonia.  lol

 

here he is again on the second night after I used ammonia to refresh it...

 

I have actually had to put down a cup of coffee to shoot a deer.  

I will add that I hunt suburban areas so the deer up here have been somewhat habituated to human activity.  but I have friends that hunt morw rural have the same results.

I do care about scent control. I wash all my clothes in scent free detergent. I make my wife use scent free detergent on the everyday wash too. I also shower in scent free soap before every hunt.

That's about it though. I don't use any cover scent (except maybe cow poop every once in a while). I rarely use scent sprays unless i'm in a situation where I can't take a shower before every hunt.

Play the wind. That is the key to success!

Bisch

[tradarcher816]

Originally posted by 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

X2 the only thing I add on occasion is a cedar cover scent I make myself.

[Diamond Paul]

I think being scent free is a lost cause.  I used to buy the expensive scent control clothing back in the day, but just because you see correlation doesn't prove causation.  You could be just getting lucky with the wind currents.  I don't think you can have the wind moving from you to the deer and be successful, no matter what you do.  I do think you can reduce the amount or strength of your scent, though.  I use unscented soap and laundry detergent, but that's about it these days.