Methods for lowering your level of scent output and other such stuff

[kuch]

David, great thread . Sc  helps , no doubt. can you kill a deer without it? sure , but you'll kill more with certain procedures help

[Knawbone]

Iv' been wanting to add a few things about how I prepare my hunting cloths. Also a few dos and dont's for those interested.

Washing: I don't like to use a washing machine, and unless your going to hang your clothes outside for a good spell, I suggest you don't either. Dryers are an even bigger no no. These machines are loaded with scent and you are contaminating your hunting cloths by using them. Just one reason why some say scent control doesn't work.
I prefer to wash my cloths by soaking them in a large tub of cold water with Sport Wash and baking soda. If they are just bought items then you really need to wash the bajeepers out of them.
Drying: Again, unless you have no other way to dry your clothes, don't use a clothes dryer. Wash and hang outside if at all possible. I live in the country side, so I wash, ring and hang my clothes in the trees behind my house. The clothes are well away from house smells like dryer exhaust, car exhaust, pet smells, or anything the deer I hunt would find offensive to their natural surroundings.
My favorite method: I like to take my hand washed clothes and hang them out in my hemlock trees on clean (scent free) plastic clothes hangers. Early fall is ( for temperature reasons) the best time to do this, and just before a good rain is the best. I don't rinse the clothes in clean water, but instead let them get rinsed by the rain. Continue to let them hang and dry by the wind and air.
A little Tip: Keep your hands clean whenever you handle your clothes. Or use clean rubber gloves. Wash your hands with a good scent killer.
storage: Once cleaned, dryed and aired out, store your clothes where they will stay dry and free of foreign odors. I use a metal storage building with doors kept open and a panel taken off the back to allow air to travel threw. I also cover the floor with fresh fallen leaves thick enough to impart some natural smell.I also use clean plastic totes with tops,  filled with leaves or hemlock boughs for the same reason.

More later.......

[kuch]

couple other thoughts: I spray my bow ,safety harness ,and portable climber regularly with the homemade mix(H2O2,baking soda, soap and distilled H2o)  those articles often get overlooked during the the season. Especially after gutting a deer and pics.....hands stink and I handle all my equipment....so wash  it after.

[kbetts]

I'm going against my previous thought that urine doesn't spook a wise deer.  Last night I climbed down, dug a hole with my boot, and peed in the hole before recovering it.  A button buck stood over that spot in the process of eating acorns.  15 minutes later a big, mature doe was just about to get the shaft when she abruptly stopped and stared at the base of my tree.  She didn't freak out, but it altered her course of travel.  Back to carrying a bottle I guess.

Overall scent control has been going well.  A handful of sassafras leaves crushed up and wiped on the clothes goes a long way.

[Knawbone]

Later in the season with dropping temps of below freezing, drying clothes outside becomes difficult or impossible. I try to keep enough hunting clothes washed ahead in light of this, but sometimes you just have to use a clothes dryer. This is how I prepare my dryer: I spray the inside of the dryer with scent killer and run the dryer for a while. While that's going on, I have an old pillow case that I fill with wet leaves, acorns, hemlock needles,pine cones and/or needles, and tie it up good and tight with string.I spray my wet clothes with scent killer and throw them and the pillow case in the dryer and set it on a low to medium heat setting.Put clothes in a clean basket or container and immediately hang up outside. Allow these clothes to air as long as possible.

[Knawbone]

Not only are scentless hunting clothes important, but how and what you wear is just as important for a complete scent reducing system to work.

The head: Other than your feet, the head is a key scent disperser. Most of the air born scent you generate is produced by your head. Not only do you want to keep it covered, like the rest of your body, you want to cover it with something (material) that the wind and air cannot blow threw or penetrate.I use an appropriate size plastic bag (not garbage bags) to cover my head and neck. With a gaiter and trappers hat over it, it seals the scent in and keeps the wind from picking up scent molicules from head and neck.Whatever you use, the key is not letting that scent escape your body.

[Knawbone]

Feet:     As with as anything else on your body, the feet and the footwear you use for bow hunting is of extreme importance. I wash my feet and apply scent killing deodorant along with clean socks for every hunt.I also sprinkle the inside of my boots with baking soda or carbon powder.I often carry the boots I want to hunt in to my stand. Remember, keeping cool is the first rule. Try not to let your feet and legs get hot while walking to your stand. If you get a little warm, all is not lost, wipe your feet down with a good scent killer, change into clean socks, and put on those other boots you carried up the hill!

     I like rubber boots, but they have to be well seasoned. New rubber boots are-in my opinion, much too smelly to be of any use.
    Keep your boots clean of odor by washing them and allowing them to dry and air
   You should have at least two pair, that way, you can keep a clean pair for the next hunt.

[kuch]

David, nice tricks for the dryer. Where do you get carbon powder?

I prefer "regular leather hunting" boots over rubber boots beacuse of pure comfort when walking. I only use the boots for hunting and repeat the scent contolr and wash them throughout the season.

[Knawbone]

Chad, How do you wash your leather boots? You can get carbon powder at- Carbonsynergy.net 855-356-4868 I believe they are a sponsor here.

[kuch]

I spray inside and out and scrub soles with sc stuff. I have not had problems with my ground scent. Anecdotes yes, but had enough deer follow my trail with no visible signs of smelling my trail. I also try to approach stand from a non-trail direction but not always feasible.....again why sc is warranted. My feet dont sweat terrible and dont especially stink to me , so I think my methods seem to be Ok . i have tried rubber boots but the damn things are uncomfortable for me , seem to make me sweat then freeze me in stand and dont seem to hold up...I've torn/cut a few. maybe haven't done an extenive search to find the "perfect rubber boot " for me.

[far rider]

This is a tough one, especially for me. I do all the usual stuff like keep my cloths clean and in airtight containers. I air them outside at night, and try to wash with scent free soaps etc. I used to take it a few steps further. I haven't done this in a while, but I used to go off meat of any kind starting a few weeks ahead of the season, and maintain a meat free diet through the season. THAT IS HARD TO DO!!! I also used to do the sweat lodge type cleansing, which probably did more than my diet. I can say I saw and killed more deer then than I do now.
I just can't do that anymore, except the sweat lodge thing.
These days I just do the cloths thing, sweat out in a sauna, and use the wind.

I believe ancient ancestors used to do a similar sweet lodge purification prior to big hunts, but have heard nothing to substantiate a meat free diet. That was just something I heard of. Eat like a predator, smell like a predator concept I guess. Kinda ridiculous to kill for food while not eating the food your going after. That sets up it's own thought loop.

[xtrema312]

I am into scent control quite a bit having hunted very high-pressure small parcels of land my whole life other than the occasional time of hunting somewhere outside my area.  I got into it when I was a very young hunter, and have seen the benefits way too many times to stop.  I saw changes as soon as I started being more careful with my clothing, wearing rubber boots and avoiding strong smells I can smell myself. I also started seeing and killing more deer than others hunting the same area.  I had read some articles on it in some hunting magazine back in the 70’s.  This was before the internet, cable tv, scent control clothing, and all the stuff on the market now. It was before I had ever seen a compound bow.
   
I do a lot with clothing and have some scent-loc type stuff, but mostly because I got them on clearance or used and liked everything about them.  I figure the scent control will not hurt if it works, but I don’t depend on it.  I keep everything as sealed and scent free as possible.  Us the air tight containers, wash with the soaps, use the spray, rubber boots, dress in the field, pack in top layers, trim stuff so I don't touch it, and so on. It takes a little time and prep, but cost is not that big a deal.  

I hunt the wind as best as I can.  I approach stands with the least possible impact.  But, I often have one access point to a property and limited ways to get through it.  If I always waited for the best wind and approach to a stand, I would hunt about 3 days a year. Having more small parcels to hunt does help make best choices, but sometime I have to hunt where I can when you can. If I don’t take care of my scent, I will not be seeing much for long.

When I have a spot I can get to with very little impact on deer due to where I walk and wind direction, I will cut back a bit on my scent control.  Last hunts in a spot for the year before gun season opens often finds me not bothering with being too careful as long as I am hunting the wind. If I had a big track of land with lots of options for where to hunt and how to get there, I would do less, but still try and not stink up the area unnecessarily. You can walk right into a great spot and screw it up before you get a chance to hunt it if you are reckless with scent.

I think scent control matters a lot in the areas I hunt.  It is not total eliminate of scent I am after.  It is fooling them into thinking you are a safe distance away or that you passed through a long time ago.   That makes a huge difference. In less pressured area I think even trace smells send animals a long way off.  They tolerate very little if any human scent.  I guess it matters little if you bother much with scent control and hunt different spots all the time in those kinds of areas.  

Deer smell people all the time in high-pressure populated areas.  Where I hunt, they smell someone most days with hunters all around our perimeter. Animals figure out how much smell is trouble and develop some tolerance. They sniff everyone out in the dark to see what they are doing.  They then change travel paths to work around everyone and stay away from hot zones, blinds and stands in daylight. As long as they have areas they feel are reasonably safe, they will move in day light at least a little. The lower the concentration of smell in an area the less likely they will be to spook or stop using it.   I have shot deer that smelled me, but were not alarmed thinking I was a long way off or had passed a while back.

I see exactly what happens when other people hunt the same land I do and hunt the wind only.  I have had them make comments about my process thinking I am crazy to  bother with that stuff.  The result is the place shuts down, and we all see nothing after they hunt a couple days. They are hunting the wind, but leaving too much scent behind.  I have to work like crazy to kill something and they get zip.  They see the deer where I hunt so move in there the next year.  No deer to be found.  I move to where they used to hunt and see deer.  On my own hunting the same place without others with me, I see deer keep moving through the season.  They are more cautious due to the pressure around the area and my traces of scent, but I see them still moving in daylight if I am carful.  

Two years ago I had a search party looking for a deer come searching through the small properly I hunted after work.  They went through the area touching stuff walking around in the cover.  I did not see another deer the rest of the season there.  It doesn’t take much to trash a small area for a long time in pressured areas.

I have forgotten to spray my boots off or walked ground with human activity smells on a driveway or yard area and had deer pick right up on my track and track me to my stand and spook. I have done all the right things and had them notice I had passed sometimes, but not be alarmed about it.   They pick up something and track me a little, but figure it is old scent and relax.  I have seen it many times.  

Last week I had coon walk up to the base of my tree and pick up my scent where I sat my bow on the ground.  He was scared and circled very cautious. Then he calmed down and walked out on the trail I walked in on with no concern whatsoever. I think he smelled me on the trail, but much less scent than at the base of my tree so figured he was heeding away from any threat.  The same thing happened this week with a house cat.  It walked in on my trail fine and then right away noticed where I had set my bow on the ground.  It almost jumped with surprise. Sniffed around, looked around, and walked off.

I have pulled off a head cover while watching a deer I was not going to shoot and had them explode out of there because it was a little downwind with some light swirling of air in the area.  The scent level came up and that spelled trouble.  The same for opening a top layer to cool off.  I have seen it too many times no to firmly believe that there is a tolerance deer in populated high pressure areas have for human scent. Stay in the acceptable level and you are good to go, but put out a little more scent and they are gone.  

The best one ever was one time I had deer feeding in field corner.  I was about 75 yd down the tree line with some flooded timber behind me with the wind hitting square to the tree line in my face.  I did not think they were down wind at all with no chance to smell me.  This spot, wind and deer location happens a lot.  I have hunted the spot for over 30 years, and I was just hunting it yesterday so I know how the spot works out in the same conditions with deer in the same place.  I don’t get busted.  This time I had a cough going, and was having hard time muffling it.  I decided to slip in a cough drop I had sealed in a plastic zip lock in my pack.  I pulled it out of the bag, opened it and just as I got it in my mouth her nose went in the air, she looked my way, and exploded out of there.  I could see a long way and there was no one in the area but me.  Obviously, the air currents in the trees and pond area were drifting to her, but not enough for her to notice or care until I hit her with a strong smell.  All those smelly chemicals we are around and put on our bodies have the exact same impact. I think they can be worse than small amount of human odor because they are so strong and travel so far without diluting. Put a bunch of that stuff on you, add some cooking smells, the dog, and you without a bath recently, and you can really smell up an area when you are there and long after you are gone.

I believe that those who think scent control is a waste of time either have not done it, or have not done it to a level to see what a difference it makes in populated areas.  And, I do think the populated areas are a different thing than more remote areas. I suspect that the success of scent control is harder to realize where human scent is more out of place. Just like loud noises, motor vehicles and so on. I watch deer feed calmly as I listen to kids fighting, doors slamming, the quad going down the trail on the net property and so on.  Makes me crazy to listening to it all, but the deer don't even seem to notice.

[Knawbone]

Tod,Thank you for that great write up.It is a great testament to the benefits and attributes of scent control. I greatly appreciate the contribution to this thread and the clarity it brings to the subject.    

[xtrema312]

I think Bill Winke did a sealed up rubber scent suit.  Not sure if he still does one and how it evolved.  I know a guy that will do about anything legal to kill a big buck. He got one, and I think was miserable wearing it.

[Knawbone]

Todd, I have thought of the wet suit idea in theory, but that's a little too nontraditional for me.  

[Gdpolk]

I try to keep clean first and foremost.

In the woods, I only hunt into the wind.

I try to use that dirt spray when hunting from the truck or smoke when not hunting from the truck.  I haven't a clue if it works but it's cheap and easy so why not?

I layer clean clothing so that I don't get hot and sweat.

[tarponnut]

We hunt hogs here in Florida year round(on private land),scent control can be a major issue in the warmer months.
There is basically no way to eliminate odor for summer afternoon hunts. Just walking to the stand will have most guys sweating profusely.
What I recommend to hunters is to wear a shirt they will sweat through on the way in and then switch to a clean shirt to wear on stand(I put my sweaty one in a zip-lock in my backpack).
I can tell you that, for hogs at least, cover/elimination scent sprays really work especially on boots. I also spray my hat down really well.
Hogs, being rooters, often have their noses to the ground and will easily pick up where someone has walked and blow out of there. Spraying down rubber boots(which is what we recommend over leather) makes a HUGE difference.

[tarponnut]

One other thing, we do a lot of our hunting over feeders. Sometimes I will put a hunter in a stand that has the wind blowing right at the feeder(which seems counter-intuitive). What I am concerned about is where the human scent is blowing as it relates to the hogs APPROACH not where they are going to end up.
In other words, if the hogs nearly always come from the west, an east wind would be bad. But if it's a south wind that's blowing right at the feeder it doesn't matter because the scent is blowing right over the feeder(and hogs). That sometimes confuses hunters(I can see why), but trust me, it works. We've gone 7 for 8 on our last 8 hunts with several guys killing multiple pigs.

[Knawbone]

Thanks for sharing your perspectives and professional expertise with your scent control applications Jim. There appears to be a growing consensus that SC sprays work well on rubber boots.I'm wondering if it's because rubber is un-penetrable and therefore doesn't suck up odors like more porous surfaces such as clothing and skin, ect. What scent molecules are on the surface of the rubber is therefore easily neutralized by the spray.

 I believe that that theory shows SC sprays do work when used within a sphere of their effectiveness. In other words........don't expect them to kill three day old body odor emulating form your very porous wool hunting jacket!

 There is a definite learning curve to the proper use and application of sc products and techniques.
 
 Simply spraying one's self with scent eliminator doesn't cut it!

[NOMAD88]

Yup great thread here guys.
 I am struggling with keeping my scent under control in these earlier weeks of the season here in SC.
 I keep getting busted.
 I can't wear the clothes I need to wear because it's too hot and can't get to the stand without breaking a sweat.
 I guess I wait till it cools off