Chewing Gum while hunting

[Steve Chappell]

I am a gum chewer and am interested to know what gum others use when hunting that the smell does not spook game and holds its flavor. Cinnamon gum holds its flavor but does it spook game?

[Whip]

I'm not a gum chewer in the stand, but I'll go out on a limb and guess that it doesn't matter.  If they can smell the gum, they can smell you and it won't matter what's in your mouth. Even if they did somehow smell the gum without even a faint whiff of human odor attached I doubt they would equate the strange new odor to danger.

[Pete McMiller]

Ditto what Joe said but if you really want something different look for Gum-O-Flage.  Yep, there really is camo gum, at least it's supposed to mask your breath.  Don't use it myself but had the owner of the company come into our Elk camp a few years ago and drop off a case of it.  I gave most of it away to a friend who is a scent freak.

[Tajue17]

I eat cereal bars and cliff bars and have the occasional cup of coffee if I don't forget my thermos.

if the wind is right what are they going to smell?

[ron w]

I have a friend that has killed a ton off deer, and every time he had a Smith's Brothers Licorice cough drop in his mouth. He says deer like it....who am I to argue.......lol! Maybe the old Blackjack gum?  

[Steve Chappell]

I get the wind part and yes is makes sense!  However, there are times when you can have human odor under control (as best as possible) and the gum is the predominate odor carried in the wind. When I tree stand hunt I use a hospital grade odor eliminator I buy in bulk (concentrate) that is safe to spray on skin and clothes that works really good.

[ChuckC]

Blowing big bubbles might give you away though !

CHuckC  

[Doug_K]

I would guess that the act of chewing would be more prone to spook a nearby deer than the scent would

[TradBrewSC]

Play the wind and you will be fine!

[Pat B]

If a deer smells your gum he smells you!

[dirtguy]

Heck I can't even walk and chew gum!  Hunting and chewing gum is out of the question!

[Cavscout9753]

This is along the same lines as smoking or dipping while hunting. I dip copenhagen and it's never been a problem for me. Oh I have problems! But not related to that. For all those who smoke and hunt I can't imagine how possible it is to eliminate the smell of cigarette smoke completely, but to the degree that a deer could smell it I would imagine impossible. Also depends on where you hunt, I wonder if residential area hunters experience less issue with scent as those deer are more used to human scent and noise? No idea. As for the gum, any would be as bad or as tolerable as another. If I had a gun to my head I would say mint is the safest since mint is an actual common plant that has a strong odor. If you're chewing pine gum I don't imagine you'd like it much, haha. Play the wind as always and you'll be fine in my opinion.

[Jake Scott]

I'm a Copenhagen dipper as well, never noticed any negative affects.  If they smell that they've smelled every other scent you have as well.

Jake

[Red Beastmaster]

If I have to start worrying about gum now I might as well hang it up.

[trubltrubl]

if you are upwind it doesn't matter what you are using for scent cover...imho ....marketing is what sells scent covering products...not actual field results......if you are successful using scent cover likely you would have been successful otherwise....

attractant smells are a different thing...sometimes critters will ignore other smells if the attractant
is what they are lookin for ....again imho

good luck and chew away

[Stump73]

I would rather chew on some deer jerky while deer hunting.

[Charlie3]

Breath might be the largest conduit of scent, especially if you are taking steps to mask you B.O. This has long been believed to be true- Ishi would not eat for a day in preparation for a hunt to help reduce bad breath.

In the past I have eaten apples while hunting. They are "nature's toothbrush"...keep your breath fresh and tast good too lol. I happened to be chewing Trident Spearmint gum the last time I shot a whitetail. He approached from downwind without detecting me. I also used a top-secret odor masking formula that I will not divulge...well since you asked so nicely haha...I bathe without soap, store my hunting clothes in a trash bag stuffed full of pine needles, and wear alpaqua socks.

All joking aside, it surely cannot hurt to chew gum while hunting, and may in fact help you. Helps me pass time sitting still anyway.

[Leland]

I have always used breath mints when hunting.Deer are curious animals,so I believe a little minty odor will not bother them,compared to predator breath.

Leland

[KyRidgeRunner]

Had a buddy that was sucking on a piece of orange hard candy.  There was a little button buck under the stand, so he wallowed it around in his mouth and worked up a bunch of juice(you see where this is going).  Leaned out over the stand and spit a blob of the juice on it's hind end.  The little buck jumped about 3' high and bolted out about 20 yards.  He stopped looked around, sniffed the new fruity liquid on his hind end and proceeded to lap it up!  So Ive never hesitated to chew gum or eat hard candy while hunting.

[greg fields]

Ive had a piece of gum in my mouth for every deer I ever killed...  Smell me or not, I am not stopping....  I dont think deer can smell it.  I even spit it out every once in a while and deer walk under me without spooking.  Like I said, Im nt stopping even if the new research says deer can smell gum a mile away..