Trad Gang

I am about to head out for my evening hunt. I am dressing in dirty clothes from last Saturday, libberly sprayed down with insect repellent.

The wind is in my favor for where I am going and the late down draft will be flowing away from the trail and 4 whiteoaks I will be hunting over.

"Forget the wind, just hunt", a monumental BS statement if there ever was one.

Personally, I don't think it makes a big difference what you do to your clothes or what scent free clothing you wear. If the wind is wrong, whether you're chewing leaf flavored gum and wearing scent free clothing, the animals is STILL going to smell you. IMO you have to have the wind right!  ;)   :thumbsup:

I just returned from a 3week elk hunt in Montana and I can tell you that Scent crap is worthless.
 As many of you know the wind in the mountains has a mind all of its own and it seems to never cooperate.  The funny thing is two of the guys were fanatical about their scent control and wore all the latest and greatest Scent suites and they got winded just as much as I did when I wore my woolies.  During our 25hr ride out there I tried to explain to them why the Scent suites do not work as advertised and they said I must be smokin crack.  It was funny to listen to them at night complain about being winded and could not understand why. When the wind switches and swirls there is absolutly nothing you can do except beat feet to get it back in your favor. If anyone is thinking about wasting their money to buy a new scent suite just send me your money and I will put it to good use.

Well, I generally smoke my pipe while I stalk. Guess that tells you where I come down on the side of scent control. If they can smell my pipe they can smell me; no matter what I do. Besides, with my pipe lit I can see precisely which way even the most ethereal of air currents are moving. I'd be hard pressed to guess how many times I've had to remove the pipe from my mouth to take my shot - and can usually be puffing on it again long before it's had time to go out.

One interesting method of scent control I encountered during the years I worked on the Indian reservations was this. They would stand in the exhaust fumes from their car for several minutes before going out to hunt. They maintained that, today, all animals are totally accustomed to that smell, and that anything that didn't smell of petrochemicals was probably a suspect scent to them! The Indians probably aren't wrong about that either.    :biglaugh:  

Ed
TGMM Family of the Bow

Is Scent Control Over-rated?  If that's the question, then NO it's not over-rate.  Do the Scent "Killer" sprays work? Well, in the 15 or so years that I have bow hunted here in S.Tx I would have to say yes.  When I began to get really the serious about bow hunting I did not use the stuff and thought it was a gimmick but that all changed after I was consistently bust by deer and hogs coming to me from down wind.  As a hunter you try your best to play the wind and guess what the animals are going to do but we all know things don't always work in our favor.  

Therefore, I decided to give the scent free detergent and spray a trial run.  Simply put after that first season of using it I don't hunt without it and I have taken many deer (bucks and does) and hogs (mature boars) that came from down wind of my location.  

I guess my point is this.  No you cannot be completely free of human scent and you should always hunt with the wind in your favor but I firmly believe, based on my and hunting partner's experience that it absolutely helps.

To each his own.

Isn't there a large class action against the "charcoal suit"??  Anyway I've quit wearing mine. Clean body, clothes and watch the wind... Gets it done everytime.

Good luck this season.

"One interesting method of scent control I encountered during the years I worked on the Indian reservations was this. They would stand in the exhaust fumes from their car for several minutes before going out to hunt. They maintained that, today, all animals are totally accustomed to that smell, and that anything that didn't smell of petrochemicals was probably a suspect scent to them! The Indians probably aren't wrong about that either. [biglaugh]"

LOL My bud that works for the highway would go out right after doing blacktop which happened to be where he was hunting too

said if deer where afraid of blacktop ya wouldn,t see any hit in the road    :biglaugh:

Funniest thing I saw was a bowhunting movie from the '80s, where the chap hunting in Africa started squirting his guide and his trackers with magic spray from a bottle.

In Australia, I don't think anyone uses scent-cover, save for the wind.

I have often wondered if you could use your favorite after shave as a cover scent ????? ................. a deers natural curiosity would probably compell it to investigate  ....... may be worth a try  .... 8^)

I've also heard that putting a radio 20 yards from your stand with the volume loud enough that you can listen to it !!!!  ........... I know for a fact many times deer will approach a working chainsaw  ........... hmmm ...... go figure  ............... did ya ever think we make this game too hard at times ????? ..... lol

Sent control is the most important thing ,always play the wind and clean cloes rubber boots and sent elimator spray.Big bucks are hard to fool.

Sorry but I don't buy the Big Bucks are hard to fool idea. I've been busted by mature "lead" does with a few hunting seasons under thier belly,more times than I've been busted by a Big Buck that is all alone.I've hunted Big Bucks in the Adirondack Mountains and the cedar swamps and mountains of Maine by tracking them in the snow with a rifle in my hands. The 232# Maine buck I shot in a cedar swamp in Maine KNEW I was behind him.I'd jumped him from his bed 2 times,the 3rd time he stood up and I shot him through the heart at 30 yards. It was snowing like hell and the wind was blowing right at him.He KNEW I was there,He was just laying in his bed waiting to "see" if I would see him.

It has nothing to do with "scents" but with SENSE.....What about the woman walking her dog on the trail. Humans and Dogs are a threat to deer.However.....The old does decided that her and her dog were not "threatening".

QuoteOriginally posted by woodchucker:


It has nothing to do with "scents" but with SENSE.....The old does decided that ..... were not "threatening".

Must be why I always see animals.  They must know how good of a shot I am (not)....  :biglaugh:

Chuck, now you are really onto something! It is amazing how often animals seen to KNOW when you're out to cause them harm. How many times have you just walked right up on game when doing preseason scouting, or simply out for a casual stroll? Come season and those same animal seem to know, and they become totally unapproachable.    :scared:  

Heck, this spooky ability of animals to know when one means them harm, and when one doesn't is so common that the Old Derelict did a whole article on animal ESP - their Eerie Sense of Persecution; and his not very serious recommendations on how best to deal with it.    ;)  

Ed
TGMM Family of the Bow

Yes mature does are smart.And i was stationed in maine and hunted the big woods  i think most of those deer have had little interaction with man.But they are hard to find.I have never had a mature deer smell me and not turn and run or back out.

well me i use tea tree to cover my sent as where i hunt it is covered in the stuff so why not smell like your hunting spot or i will cover myself with smoke. but most of all i use mother nature.THE WIND  :archer:

Ed:  Think a cigar will work as well as a pipe?  I usually do a pack-in western hunt each year.  By pack-in, I mean I carry the pack on my back.  I might start the trip fresh as a daisy, but after a couple of days in, if not after the strenuous pack in, I'm usually pretty ripe.  I just try to always be cognizant of the wind.  I do find that my woolies are pretty good at not holding human scent, at least not so I can smell it, compared to the layer I wear closest to my skin, for example.  In short, folks practice a lot less scent control on western hunts, yet they manage to kill quite a few critters.

the 2 most inportant thing's
1 watch your approach to your stand.
2 hunt with the wind only in your face.

doug77

Jerry, I can confirm that. I also like the occasional 'good' cigar, and have at times used them just like I use my pipe - as a wind indicator.

Doug is spot on to. I always stalk with the wind in my favor; not always into my face, but never at my back. If I'm stand hunting (which isn't all that often any more) I stalk into my stand. If it wasn't a likely spot to find an animal, I wouldn't have put my stand there. I approach it expecting an animal to already be there.

Ed
TGMM Family of the Bow

Do whatever makes you feel confident. I for one stay as scent free as possible and watch my entrance and exit routes to make sure I spread very little scent and I still carry my clothes in a dress under my tree or in it, I have proof it works for me. I will continue to be as scent free as possible and hunt with the wind in my favor. Shawn

I definitely agree with being careful of your travel route when stand hunting.  I've seen does come across my approach trail from a couple hours before, look around, and trot off alerted to my prescence.  
With that said I have tried the sprays and such and have found them to be too much trouble for me, personally. They help, but are not a failsafe against detection.  I try to simplify my hunting as much as possible. In my area, if the deer are downwind they will smell you, period. I play the wind, try to wear clean clothes, and not smell too ripe, but I go hunting regardless. I do think some effort to minimize scent is worthwhile. Come to think of it, I think Fred Bear used to sit in campfire smoke before his hunts didn't he?

At the same time I think it's easy to get caught up in the advertising for scent control products and their effectiveness.("over 99% effective at eliminating replicated human odor"...I guess if I smelled like a replicated human that might work;)    They'd almost make you believe you couldn't shoot a big deer without this suit or that spray, etc.  What a bunch of bahooee!  Success in a bottle?...I don't think so! Unfortunately, I think this is an example of how many are tempted to trade woodsmanship for technology.  
  Now, let's all just get out there and get after 'em whether that be with stinky pits or not!   ;)    Happy hunting fellas, Matt

Only if you spend money on it! Wind Direction and knowing that you are "not" scent free.

I can understand guys worrying about scent control,even though I don't believe in it personaly.

What I really can't understand is guys crashing through the woods like a bulldozer in the dark to get to thier stand before daylight.

I head into the woods when it's light enough to see small tree branches(pencil size).I stillhunt my way in to my stand as quietly as possible.MANY times I have killed deer on my way in,before I even get to my stand.     :thumbsup:  

(Again, Just one Old Fart's opinion)

Just a follow-up to Dr. Ed's cigar and pipe theory.  A few years ago I was invited to hunt an awsome chunk of land that is know for big deer.  The only stipulation was that I had to hunt with the owners cousin who smoked like a haystack.  He told me he would switch to smoking hi Swisher Sweets while we were on stand.  I said, "You can't do that! You will scare all the deer!"  He said don't worry son, the deer love the cigars.  Well, he was right we had several deer walk within yards of us to investigate what the smell was.  I would not have believed it had I not witnessed it first hand.  Its funny, sometimes deer come in when the wind is blowing right at em other times you hear snorting and stomping way off in the woods when you think the wind is in your favor.  It is a game and the deer make up the rules as they go.  Thats what makes it sooooo fun.  Happy "scent free" hunting to all.

I was a Police K-9 officer for years! Made a point to a guy i work with that i din't believe that the clothing would make any difference much in him hiding from my K-9s nose. He walked out in woods (me not knowing where he was going)Wearing his (scent holding clothes and scent holding boots) and we tracked him 30min. later to his stand and dog looked up at him in tree.(just as any other guy) Not saying might help in scent dispersal. But eliminate ,well not that day!! (There are alot of things i found out about scenting by being a K-9 handler).

Well, I don't believe you can hide or eliminate your sent, just like Ka, said with his K9 dog.

I believe Deer, Bear, & hogs can smell down to 1000Th of a micron molecule ( I don't know what that is, but it sounded good to me )LOL

The only way to control your scent is to know which way it's going and go the other way.

(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w27/kingwouldbe/DSCN0349-1.jpg)

David,    :clapper:    :clapper:    :clapper:    

Ed
TGMM Family of the Bow