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

[Knawbone]

Dan and Overspined, Thank you for sharing your experience and insight on scent control. If you have read my writings here, you know that I, as well as everyone, knows that the best way to hunt Deer is down wind of them. My personal findings have convinced me beyond any reasonable dought, that even some scent output reduction is better than none.We will just have to agree to respectfully disagree. Dan, If you hunt in Ms, I know you hunt pressured Deer. You better get yourself a good scent control plan so you can kill even more Deer!      

 PS. I don't wear scent lock products and never will.

[Knawbone]

Overspined, I have and do use wood smoke as a mask scent, and I believe the natural carbon content put off by the wood also neutralizes odors. When I camp and hunt, smoking my self and my clothes is the only method of scent control I use for the most part. Iv' watched deer stand and sniff the air while looking for the source of the smell. Haven't seen one out and out spook, but it seems to make them cautious at times when the source is so pinpoint and not from an area they normally smell
it. I do need to experiment with it's possibilities more than I have.

Good post

[Knawbone]

Troutguide, I believe you to be correct. You will get closer to Deer more often and it can give you that split second you need if nothing else.

    Thanks for posting

[thrifytexan]

I wash my hunting clothes baking soda ,shower with unsented soap.I only wear my hunting boots in the woods, also pull off  pieces of cedar brush and other local vegetation  and rub it on my clothes. I aways keep wind feather tied to my bow.

[huronhunter]

I hunt with the wind in my face. I wash before I go too stand . When at camp,  my clothes are hanging in a balsom  tree away from camp and camp smells. If the weather is wet,the clothes go into a tote with balsom lims . My hunting clothes never goes threw the dryer .

[Dan Bonner]

Ok now we are getting somewhere. So sitting by a campfire is a good thing from an SC prospective!? Excellent! What about having an adult beverage while sitting around said campfire? Its my version of breath camouflage. I only do this at night after the hunt though BTW.  Just sayin....

[Knawbone]

Dan, I'm getting somewhere, camp fire good, beer breath bad.

 Dan, you really need to read this whole thread if you haven't!

[Dan Bonner]

I have read every word David. Very interesting and entertaining.

Bonner

[Overspined]

Michigan has the most deer hunters, millions of tiny parcels of private land amongst public land, and a season from mid Sept to Jan1 now.  They don't get much more pressure than that. All weapons are good to go now too. I have had really good success going out of state to get after the big ones.  It's easy compared to MI to get opportunities at mature animals.

Smoke scent can almost be considered neutral. Forest fires, campers, wood stoves, and so on make it a reasonable cover scent, it's common, and unalarming.  Maybe avoid mixing it with bacon scent from the same fire! I prefer no scent, but would opt for smoke vs the 100000 scents on the market.

Once I used a drag line ( I realize not for cover scent) and watched a deer act like it ran into a wall nose first as he "hit" it. He actually made about 3 attempts to cross that scent line before deciding otherwise. Deer can react unpredictably to scents.

I also watched a deer follow a scent drag for 400 yds across a dirt field on a windy day, without ever putting his nose to the ground.  I'm telling you their noses are really quite good.  A friend was there and witnessed it. We dragged it by riding a bike about an hour before he followed it. We reeled that one right in!  My point, wow they can smell.

Once I attempted to place my climber in a tree too big around. I decided on another tree close by. I watched a deer smell where I had touched and hugged the tree with wool. He literally tried to climb the tree to suck up as much scent as he could, back feet scraping the bark for grip to climb higher for more scent! He then bedded 6 paces from my tree for the afternoon.  

I don't have much experience with scents/cover scents.  I just try to stay clean and downwind.  Overall, I quit using them when I decided they hindered my hunts more than helped. I can't imagine a synthetic dirt scent or whatever really smells like the real thing to a deer...I'll never know.  I would guess attempts at scent elimination would be best, although I'm unsure how effective extreme measures would be.

[RC]

When I`m pig hunting I of course take a bath before going but hunt the wind. The wind swirls badly here so I try to hunt in the wind as best as I can but don`t worry that much about it till I spot pigs then I move with the wind and try to get to the pigs quick.On deer again I shower with baking soda. My clothes are washed in baking soda as well. I put my rubber boots on when I`m out of the truck or after I`ve stepped from the porch. I always spray them down with HS scent away spray. I`ve had a bunch of deer come by that crossed my walk in trail since using this stuff. It works in my opinion to help de -scent rubber boots. If I brush against stuff with my clothes though I am busted.again from a stand I setup for the wind.My stand hunting is mostly done over feed trees and I climb very close to them if not in the feed tree itself.Most of the places I hunt deer can come from anywhere so setting over the tree I feel purty good. If I am hunting a crossing or funnel where deer are gonna come from one or two ways it makes it much easier. Once I`ve hunted a funnel a few times the wind usually behaves the same unless there is some kind of front so I know what to do in most wind conditions.
   Personally I believe you cannot eliminate your scent. You can stay clean as possible mostly for the walk in and climb as high as you feel comfortable. If you are hunting a trail from the ground you can move if you need to.
  Several of the small bottoms I hunt will hold a wind direction till about 30 minutes before dark and then will reverse when the sun gets lower than the trees and the quick temp drop happens. you`ll sit thinking this is gonna be good then at prime time when the deer are headed to the oak you are sitting on you get busted. From experience I`ve learned to set in a crosswind or sit with a bad wind knowing that at feeding time the wind will reverse and be right. Happens right most of the time.I prefer to sit in the swamp bottom crossings and funnels in the morning so the sun will draw the scent up and I hunt the Oak ridges or Islands in the evening.

    Main thing is spend as much time in the stand as you can and some of the time ....you wont get busted.RC

[Hummer3T]

Eat a large rare onion every morning before you hunt and you'll sweat the smell for days!  My Dad's old timer technique for scent control for moose and elk hunting.

I wear merino wool and real watch how I set up.

[Knawbone]

Thanks for your input Overspined and Rc, I agree you can not totally eliminate your scent, and like so many I don't go to any extremes on scent control other than on my own land. I have however learned that you can LOWER your scent level using great care in procedure. I have been using my land as a test lab so to speak. Without definitive proof, I do believe you can fool a deers nose WHERE WIND BLOWN SCENT IS CONCERNED. Scent you leave by touching the ground with your feet, or touching anything with any part of your body is or can be a totally different issue.
Basically I try to create this scenario: Hypothetical, You have a one piece rubber suit made and seal up your body odor( think of a wet suit,) You wash away or/and spray a quality scent eliminator on your boots and wet suit and go hunting. Rubber gloves and rubber head cover sealed tight around the face also. The only unsealed exposed skin is around the eyes of your face. This skin is also treated.

 Now, with a careful approach to a tree stand, and low ground and air moisture, do you still not think you could fool a deers nose? Even if that deer is down wind?

 In essence, this is what I have done. I'm being busted way, way, less. Iv' even had deer surround my stand with a dropping thermal and didn't get busted. Believe it or not! Even with that event, I'm not saying the deer did not smell me, but they did not spook.

RC, HS scent away is also what I use, and I am going to try the new Carbon synergy product.

Again, Don't get me wrong guys, I love to just go out and play the wind, but Iv' had a lot of fun experimenting and practicing scent control on my land.

[Dan Bonner]

I'm with TXag.....dang!

No wetsuit for me. I just don't hate em that bad.

Bonner

[Sam McMichael]

Like so many others, I feel it matters little what we do to reduce odor. We stink up the woods no matter how careful we are. Hunting the wind is the only effective way to defeat a deer's sense of smell.

[Hoyt]

Besides holding your breath for 3 or 4 hrs. has anybody figured a way to deal with breath odor?

[Overspined]

I spoke with a friend about this today. He made a couple good points as well. Leaving stands in the dark, going in in the AM...it's easy to push deer right off your property without spooking them.  They just watch you and learn to move out.  Then guess who kills them? The neighbors in early gun season because you unknowingly pushed them off your property.

Over the years I've learned to do as stated earlier, move around a lot, use common sense scent precautions, and keep out of your best stand sites until Oct 30 ish.  My favorite days are Oct 30,31, then Nov 7-9.  Then I just hunt the wind as the animals are on the move.

After years of trying different things, if you're after big ones patience is key before getting right into them.  I've never hunted a state where gun season opens really late, but I've heard the bow hunting can remain really good right through Nov.

[Knawbone]

Good points Overspined, That's why I go in late and come out early, I only start hunting it toward the late seek phase of the rut. My trail camera tells me when their there and all pictures of mature bucks are taken between sunset and 7:00. The only time I can catch a mature buck on my land during day light is when they are looking for a hot doe or with a hot doe. There is only about a fifteen day window for me to catch a good buck on my land. the rest of the season finds me back on the state land closer to bedding areas. I generally only hunt this 500 acre parcel of solid forest from the ground. I use makeshift ground blinds and hunt the deer in front of my nose with little regard for sc. I like to hunt light and comfortable and wear light weight wools or fleece.

[Knawbone]

Well, to the degree that the hunter can do anything to better his chances against the keen nose of the whitetail, or other sharp nosed quarry, remains pondered by some and fixated by others. Always an interesting subject that I hope everyone has enjoyed ( probably at my expense) and perhaps learned from. I very much appreciate the respectful responses and thoughtful posts once again. Personally, somewhere between my zeal for the sport and the realities of it, there's an answer!

[Wolfshead]

Thank you for this thread!
It holds a treasure chest full of knowledge even though it might be contrasting.
I have been able to get a lot out of this and I am sure it will give many food for thought at the very least.
I learned a long time ago, if you can come away with one good point/idea then it was worth it and this thread has many of those!

[Stripstrike1]

Oh and BTW the deer in MS are as pressurized as anywhere I have ever seen or heard about.

Pressurized?