Baking soda does not eliminate scent it absorbs it. Once the baking soda has reached maximum saturation it not only will not absorb anymore scent it will start dispersing some as well.
Most chemical scent eliminators on the market when they say they eliminate human scent they are referring to the same odor we wear deordorant to prevent. In field trials and training exercises for tracking dogs, the type sent after escaped prisoners and lost people, not one commercial scent eliminator worked. All subjects were found. Cover scents had only a little better record.
I don't know if a deer's sense of smell is as good or better than a bloodhounds. I'd say however that if they don't work on dogs they won't work on deer. Especially when you consider that what spooks deer most is the immission from the human body and ALL predators of the hormones and enzymes that are in the body for the digestion of meat. Scents that take a mass spectrometer to detect.
Rubber boots will always smell like rubber, You can use turpentine as a cover scent on them if you hunt near pine trees. I have never seen the smell of rubber spook an animal that was in an area that had a lot of people near by on farms, or small towns. Where the smell has never been encountered by deer it might even be a curiosity lure.
Don't walk right on a deer trail, but to the down wind side of it.Actually to the down wind side of the buck trail that will be to the downwind side of the main trail. Keep the wind in your face and hunt smart.
Oh and by the by Onions, "unscented" soap is only unscented to us.We humans have a relatively lousey sense of smell. Oh and one more thing, most humans can not smell themselves. Because your own scent is always around you your olfactory center(s) in your brain eliminate it from the data they process. Unless you have extreme B.O. from hard work in the heat and servere lack of personal hygiene. And if you stink so bad you offend yourself you will have been reeking to other humans for a long while before it gets to you.
