Cover scent
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Shanghai McCoy
Member
My experience has been underwhelming. Seems like the deer can pick out human scent pretty well no matter what.
Plus, I had the cap on a bottle of raccoon pee scent cover come off in my hunting pack once.
Yeah, not fun...
Plus, I had the cap on a bottle of raccoon pee scent cover come off in my hunting pack once.
Yeah, not fun...
I’ve always just rolled around in leaves. Put some in my pockets Works for me and worked for my paw paw and his people. I wouldn’t do this until after a few hard freezes. Don’t want creepy crawlers all over while hunting. Never used scent blockers. Also don’t use scented soaps or deodorant.
Breed worthy I'm sure
buck460XVR
Member
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2007
- Messages
- 10,079
Cover scent does little or nothing. Similar to saying adding mustard to your hamburger is going to make it smell like mustard and nuttin' else. While you can smell the mustard, you can still smell the burger, onions, pickles and anything else that is on it. They may distract a deer for a brief amount of time if they enter that scent cone before they enter yours and allow you to get a shot, but they ain't going to "cover" your scent. Pay attention to the wind and your scent cone along with your hygiene. The use of scent eliminators(soap, sprays) is better than cover scents. Attractant scents are a different thing if used correctly.
WisBorn
Contributing Member
I work hard to stay scent and UV free. You can spend your money on high tech camo that looks good to you. But if the dyes used for the camo is full of UV brightener, the deer will see you. Check your clothing with a black light. Does it glow? That's what the deer see. You would be better off wearing a green and black wool shirt.
I do use sent free detergent or baking soda when I wash my clothes and sent killing dryer sheets. I also use scent killing body wash...
Cover sent? I leave that to the farmer next to my hunting land and his spreading of manure
I do use sent free detergent or baking soda when I wash my clothes and sent killing dryer sheets. I also use scent killing body wash...
Cover sent? I leave that to the farmer next to my hunting land and his spreading of manure
Aletheia
Member
I don't believe you can fool a deer's nose with anything added to your own odour. Attractants may be another story, and may make a deer want to investigate the attractive smell, but there is no way to eliminate your personal smell no matter what the marketers want you to believe, and making yourself smell like you carrying a skunk in your pocket won't change anything.
Kingcreek
Member
My clothing and myself as scent free as possible. Hunt the wind and get above them if possible. It all helps but nothing is magic.
jmorris
Member
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2005
- Messages
- 24,172
I almost always will pick position or the way I approach a position by wind. It not only helps with scent but sound as well.
I don’t spray anything on me but the deer have followed us around, they know the sounds of the machines that haul the feed around.
I don’t spray anything on me but the deer have followed us around, they know the sounds of the machines that haul the feed around.
My clothing is washed w scent and UV brightener free detergent.
They go right into tote after drying. Toss in a couple walnuts early bow season.
IMHO your jacket and pants don't mean diddly if your head and mouth isn't covered.
Think of it as a human candle burning scent- the top is where the smoke is comin from.
Do not wear boots to gas station or fuel up car w hunting clothes on.
I hate the smell of gasoline anyway.
Don't even allow anybody hunting w me to open a coffee in my truck.
I do that and seem to do OK in general deer hunting.
HOWEVER...........
Guys that kill big bucks on pressured ground w bow are religious about scent control.
youtu.be
Just killing deer, such scent control efforts may not be required. Killing BIG deer, repeatedly, w a bow, on public land..........hard to argue with the guy's success.
Hunt however ya want.
Being OCD about this stuff can increase success, but also lead to a lot of stress.
Am washing my First Lite stuff next, have run 2 reg cycles of other stuff to cleanse my dryer/washer. Eh, jeans n T shirts the scent free stuff works on em too LOL
They go right into tote after drying. Toss in a couple walnuts early bow season.
IMHO your jacket and pants don't mean diddly if your head and mouth isn't covered.
Think of it as a human candle burning scent- the top is where the smoke is comin from.
Do not wear boots to gas station or fuel up car w hunting clothes on.
I hate the smell of gasoline anyway.
Don't even allow anybody hunting w me to open a coffee in my truck.
I do that and seem to do OK in general deer hunting.
HOWEVER...........
Guys that kill big bucks on pressured ground w bow are religious about scent control.
61. Scent control - Hands-on showing all processes - Part 3
If you would like John to email you his 12 documents (they are printable) pertaining to everything concerning a proper scent control regimen, technology, sug...
youtu.be
Just killing deer, such scent control efforts may not be required. Killing BIG deer, repeatedly, w a bow, on public land..........hard to argue with the guy's success.
Hunt however ya want.
Being OCD about this stuff can increase success, but also lead to a lot of stress.
Am washing my First Lite stuff next, have run 2 reg cycles of other stuff to cleanse my dryer/washer. Eh, jeans n T shirts the scent free stuff works on em too LOL
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Funny, we hunt one place thats got houses nearby. Their dryer sheets stink up the woods.
I don't think human and other scents spook deer like some think.
They come across all sorts of those scents.
My thinking is..........they alert then those scents weren't there the day before.
Even if its a natural scent, the CHANGE from before can be what alerts them.
Its too easy to attribute success to an attractant or method, when outside variable are unknown.
Do my scent control, use this product, this call and holy cow, I just shot a nice buck.
Yeah, coulda been spooked by kid on ATV 2 farms over and he just wanted to duck into the spot where I was.
Read: I didn't do anything but be at right time/right place.
HOWEVER.............I do think scent control does help in making that more of a chance.
I don't use any attractant scents. DO take a grunt call and doe can call. You bet.
I don't think human and other scents spook deer like some think.
They come across all sorts of those scents.
My thinking is..........they alert then those scents weren't there the day before.
Even if its a natural scent, the CHANGE from before can be what alerts them.
Its too easy to attribute success to an attractant or method, when outside variable are unknown.
Do my scent control, use this product, this call and holy cow, I just shot a nice buck.
Yeah, coulda been spooked by kid on ATV 2 farms over and he just wanted to duck into the spot where I was.
Read: I didn't do anything but be at right time/right place.
HOWEVER.............I do think scent control does help in making that more of a chance.
I don't use any attractant scents. DO take a grunt call and doe can call. You bet.
Gotta agree. When I hunted my paw paws place when I was young. I was always in the woods. And the deer like other animals wouldn’t run until I was practically on top of them. My scent didn’t bother them. Seeing me walk towards them or close to them would spook them. Had fox’s get within 10 yards of me while squirrel hunting. Same with deer.
nettlle
Contributing Member
If you breathe the deer can smell you.
entropy
Member
My experience has been underwhelming. Seems like the deer can pick out human scent pretty well no matter what.
Plus, I had the cap on a bottle of raccoon pee scent cover come off in my hunting pack once.
Yeah, not fun...
I stuck one of those doe eustrus "wafers" in the heater of a friend's truck. Before you think I'm the jerk, he had sent in for info on bed wetting solutions to my address.
Captcurt
Member
I have hunted deer in neighborhoods where you could hear the heat pump kick on and the yorkies yapping. The laundry flapping in the breeze almost assured the smell of tide in the air. Deer were conditioned to it and paid little attention to it. Same thing on the farm where I hunt now. It is a working cattle farm and the deer are used to machinery noise and farm scent. The deer actually go into the commodity barn where the cattle feed is and pigout. They tried parking the tractors and trucks in them, but the deer didn't care.
But, and it is a big but, the deer in the 150,000acre National Forest near home are a completely different breed. This area has few people and the few deer. Some may live and die without ever seeing a human. They get one whiff of human stink and they move to the next county. I hunted it for several years and finally found easier places to hunt and dumber deer.
I will say that I have used many different methods of scent control and am currently testing ozonics. No conclusion yet. Started using scents 55 years ago and have tried dozens of brands. I have had my best results with Buck Stop 200 proof. By putting a few drops in a trail and on scrapes I have had deer stop to investigate long enough to get a shot. Even had a friend's disbelieving son try it and put some on his boots. He had a buck trail him to his ladderstand and lick the bottom rung. I have to order it for friends now. Can't buy it locally.
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earlthegoat2
Member
IME cover scent works better than “scent eliminators”
Both still leave your scent in the wind but the cover scent at least gives them something to think about and/or hesitate over before running off.
That said, I don’t use either anymore and just hunt the wind.
Both still leave your scent in the wind but the cover scent at least gives them something to think about and/or hesitate over before running off.
That said, I don’t use either anymore and just hunt the wind.
Fine Figure of a Man
Member
Cover scents, uv eliminating detergents and all the rest of it are all very effective, if you are the seller.
Deer smell in 3D; you and I smell a pot of chili, a deer smells every individual ingredient, plus the pot
Cover yourself with "Super Buck Hunter Fresh Acorn Scent" and deer will just wonder where you got the artificial acorns.
As has been said, most of us breathe when we hunt.
This is interesting;
youtu.be
Deer smell in 3D; you and I smell a pot of chili, a deer smells every individual ingredient, plus the pot
Cover yourself with "Super Buck Hunter Fresh Acorn Scent" and deer will just wonder where you got the artificial acorns.
As has been said, most of us breathe when we hunt.
This is interesting;
Does Human Urine Scare Deer?? Experiment with a Scent Dripper
You asked...I thought I would put it to the test...draw your own conclusions. I will summarize my observations about mock scrapes in a future video. #deer #...
youtu.be
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nettlle
Contributing Member
For those of us that trap or have trapped we have a pretty good understanding of scents.
Double Naught Spy
Sus Venator
I have no doubt that scent control provides some help (maybe 10% or maybe 0.05% or less, LOL), but for my kind of hunting, it just isn't worth the time and expense of the preparation and products or it to be cost/hunt effective. I have been busted by down wind animals and up wind animals. I have made plenty of successful stalks on down wind animals and up wind. Scent control is not something I have seen to actually improve my hunting success in a notable manner. I have done the shampoo/soap, detergent for my clothing and even have not one, but TWO ozone machines. I saw no improvement in my hunting success using these products over time as compared to not using them over the same period of time.
I do get busted less when the wind is in my favor. Some folks would argue that is proof that scent control is necessary. On the face, I would agree, but when you are upwind your sound also carries towards your prey. Wind is both a scent and sound issue and we have no way to know whether they smelled or heard me, first, or which one was the determining factor that caused them to run or not run.
Actually, it isn't, not if the argument of his success is due to his scent control regime. This is far from the only thing that he is doing to be successful. I noticed he has a lot of camo. Maybe being invisible to deer is the key? I bet he is good at noise control and is very good at limiting his movements and moving slowly and smoothly. My guess is that he is a very good shooter and knows when he should shoot. He probably does a good bit of scouting ahead of time, as well.
So if scent control is making a difference (and I do believe that it must have some impact), then you would think that this could be quantifiable somehow and it isn't, I think because of all of the other factors that can't be known or accounted for. As such, it has near religion-like qualities about its control. You can't put a number on it because so much is just unknown. You don't know if a downwind buck stopped and turned its head and looked "right at you" because it smelled you, heard you, spotted you, OR maybe smelled, heard, or spotted something else of interest from your direction, but not you. You don't know if your scent control totally hid you from the deer or made the deer think you were farther away and hence not a threat. You don't know if the scent control did nothing or bought you 1, 2, 3, ...30...90 seconds more to make your shot before the deer was apt to bolt. If the buck did bolt, we don't get to later ask it why it ran when it ran.
Maybe your scent control worked well enough to buy you 4 seconds of broadside, stationary, confusion on the part of a nice buck before it ran away, only as a hunter, you don't know any more than what you are witnessing in real time. Was scent control a success or failure? For most folks, that would depend if they managed to take and make the shot before the buck bolted.
I do get busted less when the wind is in my favor. Some folks would argue that is proof that scent control is necessary. On the face, I would agree, but when you are upwind your sound also carries towards your prey. Wind is both a scent and sound issue and we have no way to know whether they smelled or heard me, first, or which one was the determining factor that caused them to run or not run.
Actually, it isn't, not if the argument of his success is due to his scent control regime. This is far from the only thing that he is doing to be successful. I noticed he has a lot of camo. Maybe being invisible to deer is the key? I bet he is good at noise control and is very good at limiting his movements and moving slowly and smoothly. My guess is that he is a very good shooter and knows when he should shoot. He probably does a good bit of scouting ahead of time, as well.
So if scent control is making a difference (and I do believe that it must have some impact), then you would think that this could be quantifiable somehow and it isn't, I think because of all of the other factors that can't be known or accounted for. As such, it has near religion-like qualities about its control. You can't put a number on it because so much is just unknown. You don't know if a downwind buck stopped and turned its head and looked "right at you" because it smelled you, heard you, spotted you, OR maybe smelled, heard, or spotted something else of interest from your direction, but not you. You don't know if your scent control totally hid you from the deer or made the deer think you were farther away and hence not a threat. You don't know if the scent control did nothing or bought you 1, 2, 3, ...30...90 seconds more to make your shot before the deer was apt to bolt. If the buck did bolt, we don't get to later ask it why it ran when it ran.
Maybe your scent control worked well enough to buy you 4 seconds of broadside, stationary, confusion on the part of a nice buck before it ran away, only as a hunter, you don't know any more than what you are witnessing in real time. Was scent control a success or failure? For most folks, that would depend if they managed to take and make the shot before the buck bolted.
nettlle
Contributing Member
One can somewhat trick a deer's eyes but not their sense of smell or hearing. There are no gadgets for that.
I had five Doe within 20 yards of me yesterday evening.
I was wearing my woolies which hadn’t been washed since the beginning of the season in mid October.
I’ve been out 8 times so far this year for reference.
I was fine until the big Doe worked her way down wind of me, and then I was busted.
She blew and the four of them bounded off. I let out a Meh, and they stopped about 80 yards to see what that was.
Earlier, I was busted by a Doe that was either bedded down next to where I was setting up, or she came in to investigate what I was doing, but movement got me busted then.
a lot of people believe that their scent control stops them from getting busted. They believe that the deer can’t smell them.
The fact is, they have no idea what deer they’ve moved off with their scent, that they didn’t see, because they were winded and didn’t even know it.
I was watching a 60 minutes episode on Drug sniffing dogs. The handler made a description like this; someone is making beef stew. A person walks in the room and they smell beef stew. A dog walks in the room and smells the peas, carrots, flour, beef, etc….
Deer have much better noses than Dogs.
I was wearing my woolies which hadn’t been washed since the beginning of the season in mid October.
I’ve been out 8 times so far this year for reference.
I was fine until the big Doe worked her way down wind of me, and then I was busted.
She blew and the four of them bounded off. I let out a Meh, and they stopped about 80 yards to see what that was.
Earlier, I was busted by a Doe that was either bedded down next to where I was setting up, or she came in to investigate what I was doing, but movement got me busted then.
a lot of people believe that their scent control stops them from getting busted. They believe that the deer can’t smell them.
The fact is, they have no idea what deer they’ve moved off with their scent, that they didn’t see, because they were winded and didn’t even know it.
I was watching a 60 minutes episode on Drug sniffing dogs. The handler made a description like this; someone is making beef stew. A person walks in the room and they smell beef stew. A dog walks in the room and smells the peas, carrots, flour, beef, etc….
Deer have much better noses than Dogs.
bigpower491
Member
^^^^^^^^^^^^ This^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I didn't do bad with a scent lok suit and some fox whiz, but ive always had my closest encounters with the wind in my face. I m a ground hunter, and with the wind ive had deer walk up to within a few feet of me looking and trying to figure out what i was. Of course, staying still as a rock is absolutely a must for that
I didn't do bad with a scent lok suit and some fox whiz, but ive always had my closest encounters with the wind in my face. I m a ground hunter, and with the wind ive had deer walk up to within a few feet of me looking and trying to figure out what i was. Of course, staying still as a rock is absolutely a must for that
