Well, I am pretty new to the forum and this is my first real question here.
I have been shooting a longbow for about 5 years now and I am feeling comfortable that I could take a whitetail deer with it if I can get close enough (within 20 meters).
I have never shot a big game animal before ... ( only a couple of grouse) ... so this is all new to me.
I was wondering what you guys are doing for scent control. What is your "system"?
- Do you take a shower before going out .... ?
- Do you wash you clothes with some special product ... ?
- Do you use cover scents ....?
- Carbon clothing ?
- Do you spray yourself with scent eliminators?
- etc.
Also, hunting with a traditional bow is bit like hunting the old/traditional way ... right?
So, if you have any traditional scent tricks to share I would appreciate it.
By this I mean, tricks or products that could have been used 50 to 100 years ago (or even further back). I know there are thousands of commercial scent products (carbon clothing included) on the market that one can buy, but I would like to stay with simple, time proven methods. Tricks or products that match the spirit of the longbow ....
Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge & experience ...
---------
Faustus
They had a post about cover scents a couple of days ago and they had a mix you could use for helping to de-scent that I am going to try, look a couple of days back for the post.And yes to the shower,yes to clothes wash(baking soda and hang outside),yes to cov.scen.(natural only),No 2 carbon(X-scent under garment only 4 me),Yes to scent elim.(but there is controversy about if they work,spray on bottom of the boots for sure),and keep on this site you will learn a lot like I have.most of what you need to know you will learn on your own by trial and error and that's hunting! Good Luck
Don't have a 'system'....but I do smoke cigars before, during, and after hunting.
I use to 'jump' through hoops' to be scent free, but then I wintessed something over and over stalking hogs in south GA that debunked all my efforts....so I concentrait on my set up more for wind directions.
You aint gonna beat a deer's, bear's, or hog's nose at 30 yards no matter how 'scent free' you 'think' you are. Least that's my take.
stay clean and use wind
The wind makes or breaks ya
Use the wind... it's your best defense.
Play the wind!! I do shower and my hunting gear stays in our tipi, so it all smell like smoke. Deer and other game don't seem to mind.
Good luck!
Raven
>>>>------->
Wash all my clothes in baking soda. Hang them outside to dry. Keep them in a separate container. In the container I add some pieces of rotted log and leaves.
I use non-secented Arm and Hammer deoderant.
But, most importantly I hunt the wind!! At least a quartering wind, but preferably straight on wind, and if possible the sun at my back!
chris <><
Mr. Faustus,
We use the simplest (and least expensive) system of all: Stay down wind of your prey.
Best Wishes
All of the senseless, scent-less products you can buy will be no better than working the wind, and maybe some home gathered stuff.
The shirt pocket makes a handy holder for crushed mint or allspice. I've had them downwind at fifteen yards this year and they didn't spook.
But you may have already been hooked by the mindless zealots that push the stuff all over television land, so feel free to ignore me 8^).
play the wind ..it's that simple...you cannot fool a whitetails nose.... obviously treestand hunting helps to keep your scent high...but on the ground play the wind period...dont waste your money on these products and take your wife out to the movies...that will provide additonal hunting time.
An old timer taught me this simple,cheap and timeless method of scent control... stick your forefinger in your mouth up to the first knuckle and wet it well with saliva. Take it out and hold it up in the air over your head.
The cold side is where the wind is coming from.
:D
Back in the day when I went to extremes with scent control I used this regimine.
Clothes washed in UV, scent free detergent. Kept in bag with local fragrant foliage... sage, sassafras, cedar, etc. Depending on locale.
Bathe with scent free soap... Phisoderm, H.S. Scents, Scent Away. Ivory is not a fragrence free soap.
No scent spray on boots and clothes... especially pant legs.
Daily use of Chlorophyl capsules... could go for days without noticable body odor.
PHILOSOPHY AND OBSERVATIONS... no product will keep you from getting busted if the wind is wrong.
Attention to scent control will minimize your impact on your hunting area... be careless with your scent and every deer in your hunting area will know when you hunt and where you hunt after a few days.
When using the chlorophyl deer seemed to pay less attention to my scent from long range and were less upset by it at closer range.
Just hunt the wind? I want to hunt where some of you hunt where the wind never varies and thermals never switch.
Fact is you cannot eliminate or cover your scent.
But you can reduce it a bit to where you are percieved as a more distant threat then you actually are.
Therefore I shower with ivory or a nuetralscent soap, wash my cloths with the same, and spray liberally with the homemade scent killer (again - NOT COVER as it is impossible to do). I truly believe this helps me in the field. And as Charlie said, it helps reduce your scent "impact" in your area.
Steve
Hunt the wind or you can do like they say on tv.
FORGET THE WIND . . .GO BOWLING!!
Mike
QuoteOriginally posted by Charlie Lamb:
Daily use of Chlorophyl capsules... could go for days without noticable body odor.
Went that route this year...thought I was dying within a month. Never had a day where my stomach wasn't killing me. When I finally swore off 'em, that's when I started seeing deer. Not saying they don't work, or work well. Just irony for you...
Wash bod and clothes with scent free soap, spray everything with my homemade scent killer and wear knee high rubber boots. Still won't hunt a stand if I believe wind is wrong.
What T.J. said and keep the wind in your face. As many others have said, it doesn't hurt to be as scent free as you can but don't break the bank trying to do it because keeping the wind right is the most important. Remember when deer smell a foreign scent they don't think that's a human or that's a fire, they associate with dangerous or safe. As for the carbon suits they're just an overpriced gimmick in my oppinion, and I'm sure many others here will agree.
I've never tried to become "scentless". That always seemed an impossible goal.
You can smell like a lot of things and look like a lot of things and if those things are not in the animal's vocabulary for concern most of the time they will treat you like a curiosity or just another unaccountable "thing" out there in the woods already full of weird stuff like old cars, trash, falling down structures balloons, ladies under-garments and etc.
Blend in. Blend in your scent too.
Joshua
i belive in scent controll but like terry green i smoke also.but i wash my cloth in baking soda let hang outside or cover scent bag diffently shower i think body funk will get you frist and your friend will like you better also.i think it about being in the right place at the right time. have fun and dont get discouraged
I tried clorophyl once, but I kept having this urge to shed my leaves and sleep for the winter, so I stopped. :banghead:
Some of those rituals are just mind-boggling. Oooops....I did say to ignore me 8^).
Don't remember now where I saw it, but there was a story going around about a guy who decided to check his charcoal "scent free" stuff to see if it really was, so he washed it as directed, etc. put one of his dog's favorite treats in a pants pocket, rolled the whole thing, pants, base layer, coat, etc. up with the pants inside the roll and put them in the scent proof bag just as directed, then put the bag among a bunch of other stuff laying around in his garage. The dog wandered in, sniffed for a minute, went over to the bag and started pawing at it.
So the moral of the story is stay reasonably clean, keep your body odor to a minimum but mostly figure that if the wind is with you, you'll be OK and if it's not and you can't move to accommodate it, just relax and enjoy the woods. Maybe you'll encounter a dumb one who doesn't know that human scent is not good news.
My answer to all the original questions is "No!". I just need to invent a product that will make the wind blow in my face all the time. Don
Hey Don,
If you took one of those small battery operated fans and held it up to your face! Would that work? LOL!!
chris <><
Replied to another post a few days ago with this. Applies here also.
What has been successful for me is to bath and wash my clothes with no scent soap. Most of the ones on the market now are pretty good. The last few years I have used Dead Down Wind soaps and shampoos. Not trying to push their products I just like them. I hang my cloths outside to dry and seal them in plastic bags until ready to put on. The only cover scent and/or attractant I have used the last few years has been the smoke sticks that burn like the old firecracker punks. I have had deer so close I could literaly reach out and touch them if I had chose to, and if they knew I was there they certainly did not act like it. I have also used red fox or racoon urine in conjunction with the smoke sticks, but not always. I never spray it on my cloths, but on the bark and leaves of the trees I am sitting in. I have had bucks nibble on branches and make scrapes at cedar trees I was hiding in only four feet away. Will it work every time on every deer? Probably not, because deer are different. Some are jumpy and skittish all the time and others seam always relaxed. I have hunted whitetail deer with bow and arrow since the 60's and have tried everything imaginable and it seams I am more successful with this method than any other I have used. It has been the best when I find myself up wind of deer. As others have said though, whenever at all possible play the wind.
Considering that scent free detergent can be found on the same shelf as the smelly stuff, I figure I might as well use it. But sometimes my wife buys the other stuff, so whatever. That, and meticulous attention to the wind, is my system. I know, it's mind numbingly complicated.
Oh, and what if the wind shifts??? It usually does. That's life. Again, very complicated, I know.
I've deer hunted for 40 years.Builted and hunted selfbows for 20 and totally off the ground for the last 5.
I hunt every day and to go through the sent free routine that the TV hunters say they go through on each hunt would be unreal and useless.Remember there just selling there products.
I learned to totally hunt the wind period.Theres nothing you can do to cover up your sent.Put to hunt the wind deer will always smell you.
I have different stand sites on different farms that I only hunt when the winds right to walk in by and in my favor while im there.The winds always in my favor as soon as in get out of the truck in my favor while im there and still in my favor when I get back in the truck.
Everyone,
thanks for the replies. I guess most of you are confirming my suspicion that all these scent eliminator products and carbon clothing are just a commercial hype.
Up to now I have tried to stay clean, take my shower before I head out, and air my clothes during the day. And of course play the wind .... I have set up several ground blinds for different wind directions.
This morning I had my first real encounter with a buck. (remember I am a newbie with respect to hunting large game animals) He walked by my ground blind at 15 meters and never realized I am there. Uhhhh, ... that was exciting! Unfortunately it was still to dark to shoot, I guess maybe next time .... I only hope I can manage my heart beating next time ... I have no clue how I could perform a decent shot with my heart pounding like this .....
... oh well, at least the scent control seems to work .....
Thanks again everyone ....
Faustus
How could anybody have the wind just right all the time? must be flater than a pancake where some of you guys live!! Jason
Keep your boots clean and stay down wind. the rest of that stuff ain't worth the trouble
Charlie Lamb must of hung around some smart oldtimers but just remember one thing...Before wetting your finger to the nuckle make sure it isn't the one you used to "wipe your backside" before you go out checking the wind! :thumbsup:
Use rubber-bottomed boots and keep them clean. Walk in mud and coat the boot bottoms if possible.
Like others, in my 45 years of bowhunting I tried most everything that was available, but the only thing that works for me is hiding my walking trail by using the rubber boots, and staying downwind. I don't hunt a stand if the wind is wrong.
If the woods are noisy, I stalk the last hundred yards to my stand, even if it makes me late getting there. A quiet downwind approach to your stand is better than any of the commercial scent products.
Keep yourself as clean as you can. Sometimes, especially out here in the West during back country hunts, it impossible to take showers, as there are no showers. I use body wipes then. But, as the others have all said, you cannot forget the wind. Just minimize your scent impact and hunt the wind at all times. If you have to back track and go around to get the wind in your favor, do so, or if you are on stand make sure the wind is favorable for where you are expecting the deer to come from. I have had success minimizing my clothes scent with scent killers or campfire smoke, but using body wipes or taking showers to keep your body clean is also minimizing your scent impact.
I have at times rubbed deer crap on my clothes and that will help you get close to deer(just not your wife)and it does cover some of your odor.I have a friend that is a K-9 handler and he said that his blood hound hits on the scent from your breath and that you shed skin and particles of yourself by the millions every step and you will never be able to stop that and that's what they smell.So the wind is the best option.
When I'm off work hunting - either around home or on a trip - I generally take a shower every 3 or 4 days (whether I need it or not) and make sure the wind is blowing from the critter to me. When I'm hunting after work I'm forced to shower daily - makes getting along with the coworkers easier. The deer don't care - they can smell you a half mile away regardless.
You want to try out your carbon suit just put on the pants, duct tape the ankles shut and wear a tight belt, eat a big bowl of chili and lock yourself in the closet with your wife about 6 hours later. She'll let you know how well charcoal "absorbs" the scent.
Take it FWIW...R
And for the folks asking how to make sure the wind is right all the time - simple - hang more stands! I generally have around 20 stands up and a dozen more places cleared and ready to hang at a moment's notice and I still find myself trying to figure out where to hunt where the wind will be right when we get a couple days of unusual wind direction.
R
I tried something last week that worked great!
But I guess I should first preface this by saying that there are a lot of guys out there who know a whole lot more about deer hunting than I do...
I bought a plant-sprayer water bottle, poured in what was left of a couple of old bottles of various super-hum-dinger deer urine (diluting it with water) that I found leftover from seasons past. I sprayed it every 30-40-50 feet as I walked in, and made sure to step in it while walking. I hung a low portable stand that day, and sprayed the mix all over all the branches around me. I have seen very few deer all year. That day I saw 6 at different times, and all within 60 yards at the most. 4 of them saw me, and 2 walked right at me, clearly smelling the air and trying to figure out what I was. None spooked until I shot. I was using a small can call, and the deer were coming to it. I had deer approach me from all directions, including directly downwind. The only thing that might be skewing my results is that I was on a ridge, about 10 feet above a marshy area where the deer were coming from downwind. Perhaps my scent was going over them... but I really don't think so.
I am absolutely convinced that they were confused by the scent cloud that was emanating from the mix I'd sprayed on the trees and shrubs around me. Sort of a homemade "buck bomb".
I'm going to try it again tomorrow.
I have 10 ladder stands in my 20 acre woods. The wind is always right somewhere.
Well I'll be the odd man out here and go out on the limb here and say it is entirely possible to fool a whitetails nose. I do it all the time. I've done it all from the extreme scent control measures to "trying" to hunt the wind etc with limited to no success. I live in WV and IF I waited till I had perfect wind to hunt I'd stay at home 99.9% of time. Between the mountains valleys, benches and switchbacks if you don't like the direction the wind blows here wait five minutes it will change three times! I could give a rats a$$ how the wind blows now adays. I can honestly say I've not had a deer wind me and spook or show any alarm in the last 6 years since I've been using it. I don't use scent loc clothing or buy or sell any scent masking stuff so don't ask or PM. What I use anyone can buy over the counter for next to nothing. There actually is a commercial formula but it's too dang expensive and it's a hard sell no one uses it as it needs to be used and for the price they sell it you couldn't afford it. Just saying it is possible.I've actually seen the formula on this forum with no responses! lol And no it's NOT baking soda etc.
LC, why keep it a secret?
I go along with what Terry G. said, except I smoke the smaller one's.
Actually it's no secret Don like I said I've seen the formula on this very site before with nary a response and there actually is a commercial version of my homebrew. I love to bow hunt, been hunting the last month chasing whitetails cross two states and have only worked four days in the last month with not a single deer ever winding me and showing little more than a curious half second motion to confirm they had smelled something just not a "human" smell. Simply put they do smell me they just don't accosiate my smell with human.
I can remember bow hunting deer before they all walked around scanning the skyline of trees looking for hunters. Heck even I've got accustomed to hearing "fighting bucks" buck growls, doe bleats etc which they all use to work for me regularly before they became popular and the horn porn masters marketed them. I'm sure if enough folks used my scent measures the deer would soon learn to associate it with hunters just like everything else. So for now I'll just enjoy and listen to those who say it can't be done. But trust me you can fool a whitetails nose.
chlorophyll?
LC, Help us all out and post a link to this magic formula.
I always try to hunt with the wind in my face but sometimes of course that just cant always be done. I have found a system that i believe can fool a deers nose, not every time but sometimes. I pack all my clothes in a scent free container with a lot of earth wafers and they stay in there year round. When you take your clothes out of your container they smell just like a handful of dirt.
I always wait till i get to my hunting area before i take my clothes out of my containers. After i put my clothes on i spray my clothes down with a LOT of the earth scent spray.
I wear scent lock clothing and it may or may not work but i love the way the outfit fits me and it has plenty of pockets and was made for the bowhunter in mind.
Since i started using this system about 10 yrs ago i can only remember being winded by a deer 2 times. The kind when the deer blows and stomps and alerts every deer in the area.
Other times i have had deer smell me and not blow out of the area but just seemed curious about what they were smelling. I have killed a lot of deer when this has happened. I live in Alabama so i get to spend a lot of time in the woods field testing items that i normally hunt with.
I will say this that since i started using this system i started killing a lot more deer with my bow and buck sightings increased dramaticaly.
LC ?
LC that hurts you won't share,don't you remember what we learned in kindergarten.I won't hunt in W.V. I promise come on what would Fred Bear think of holding out on the boy's.
lpcjon2 I have shared, I've told you it IS possible to fool a whitetails nose. Sorry didn't have kindergarten when I started school and who knows maybe someday I'll hunt NJ! lol As for Fred Bear heck I'm positive he had access to the same ingrediants I do but not sure if he used them though too busy making and selling great bows.
gobbler10ga?
kevgsp- nope not chlorophyll.
I will go on to say it's way easier to fool a whitetails nose while on stand rather than fooling them for tracking abilities. If you think you can fool a deer EVERYTIME while emitting human smells while walking to your stand you've got another think coming. When I first starting using my system I was a little smug one day after watching a "OLD" doe and her two fawns cross my trai followed by a 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 yr old buck doing the same and never once picking up on my approach trail. Later what turned out to be a lost coon hound came through and hit my walk in trail. It followed my trail straight to my tree but kept going right on by. The hound made three large circles in my hunting area only to return to my trail and finally come to the base of my tree, stop and look up! Then she just layed down there knowing she had found me! She obviously WASN'T fooled and associated my trail as a human smell ( knee high rubber boots?) I eventually had to get down and walk the bitch back and notify the owner! lol I've had similar experiences with deer. Approximately 90% of the time they walk right on by, 5% of the time they smell it and even track it few yards but show no concern only curious but a few times they have smelt "human" and showed it. I rate a whitetails deer nose for tracking purposes somewhere between a full bloodied bloodhound and a beagle/poodle mix! It's a toss up. But once on stand I feel confident they never suspect a human is there as for wind driven or thermal driven scent.
I am in total agreement with hunting the wind. The biggest problem I have is that the wind often - more often than not - changes direction many times. Just last Saturday I had the wind come from 3 different directions for a considerable length of time, not just an occasional swirl. About the only time the wind seems to be really consistent is when a front is coming through. This is very frustrating and there really isn't too much that can be done about it. Sometimes it seems that luck is a major player in the wind game. If he approaches while the wind is favorable, a shot may be likely. If he comes when the wind shifts, you get busted.
LC, we are all curious and you are still withholding your secret formula?
Why post here if you do not want to share it?
That's what this post was about ....
No secret - it get posted every year on numerous forums. A mix of distalled water, hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and a bit of nuetral soap. Extremely effective at killing most orders. I've taken skunk off a dog and gas off my hands with it.
Steve
No LC said earlier theres no baking soda in his secret magic formula
If there is one day that some of you invent something magicall to hunt without the wind, I will stop bowhunting, I don´t want to find my stupid neighbor in the woods......
Good Hunt.