Scent Control

[627PCFan]

Im making a serious push for deer this year (mainly hunt waterfowl) and am buying into the scent control to helpfully maximize my hunts. Clothes, boots, soap, the whole 9 yards but does anyone address possible scent given off by new treestands? It might be OCD but is it a valid concern? How do you mitigate?

 

[CoRoMo]

I use the wind. I've found that going to all the effort to cover, conceal, or control my scent, isn't worth it. I simply try and control the direction that my scent travels. I use the wind.

My experience is that they can smell me when I'm clean, covered, and concealed. Just a couple weeks ago, I was set up at sunset at the edge of some dark woods, and a bull elk came out to graze for the evening. He was too close for me to move at all, and he made his way to a spot that was directly down my wind stream. Once he hit my scent, he jumped and flailed about as if he'd peed on an electric fence. He then made his way out of the area, but not too quickly. The smell spooked him, but he didn't have any other sensory data (sight, hearing) associated with the smell, so he wasn't outrageously panicked. He was just uncomfortable.

But I've also stood directly upwind of an animal that was staring directly at me, not 40 feet away. I stood perfectly still, and he craned his neck from side to side, trying to get a look around me, to see what it was that he could smell. He then just slowly continued doing what he was doing. He wasn't really spooked at all.

 

[FLAvalanche]

If the stand is going to be out in the weather for a while before I use it I normally won't use a scent remover. If it's coming out of the box and directly on a hunt then I'll usually spray a scent remover on it the night prior, let it sit outside on my lanai, then use a dirt scent cover on it in the morning.

I sprayed my hub blind down when I first set it up the same way.

 

[R.W.Dale]

Interestingly enough Mythbusters most recent episode had them using some pretty extreme scent blocking techniques and products to fool a bloodhound..None of which worked in the slightest and by all indications I've read a deer can smell darn near as well as a dog

if downwind deer can ALWAYS smell you, the deciding factor is how pressured they are and if they perceive you as a threat. IME some deer are just plain curious too and will actually check you and your smell out.


My advice is to spend the $$$ you would have wasted on scent concealment on delicious beef jerky and more ammo for target practice

 

[FLAvalanche]

Yes, deer can always smell you. As long as you are exhaling you'll never be scent free.

However, my equipment doesn't breathe. And most equipment fresh out of the package usually has a chemical smell of one sort or another that will spook game. I don't think spraying down equipment is a bad idea or a waste of money.

Using it on myself is another story. I use it, but I don't buy into the 99% effective crap. I think it can buy you a little extra time when the wind isn't perfect but it still comes down to hunting the wind being the most important.

I don't buy into, nor will I ever purchase scent lok or carbon activated clothing and I have a proposal for anyone that does. I'm going to eat at Taco Bell, put on Scent Lok clothing and we're going to spend the night in a closet together. You'll quickly find that those clothes aren't holding ANYTHING in.

And I'm almost positive that a bloodhounds sense of smell is far beyond a deer. I think it may even be beyond a hog but I'm not sure. They're impressive animals when it comes to scent.

 

[Rugby8]

I know people that smoke in their treestand and always get nicer deer than I do. It is more about location, and wind. I usually think more about masking than hiding. Fox urine seems to present an image of something different than a big ugly mean guy.

 

[HGUNHNTR]

It depends on what the deer have been conditioned to. Deer will wind you most of the time that they are downwind no matter what you do to fool them. You are constantly giving off scent. Treestand smell isn't going to make a lick of difference. I like to play the wind, and if I'm feeling really techy I grind up some juniper berries and smear them on my clothes.

 

[FLAvalanche]

Another one that I've heard of is people making tea from hickory or mesquite trees. They basically turn it into saw dust then boil it in water, wait for the water to cool and then put it in a spray bottle.

I sprayed my blind down when I first put it out because it had a very heavy plasticy-chemical smell. Basically, that new tent smell. If I could smell it even a retarded deer upwind could.

 

[WTBguns10kOK]

Scent control is overrated. No real reason to use it, just a money making industry. Treestand hunting, which I can't even do, makes it less of a concern, so I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[TreeDoc]

I've tried the scentlock when it first came out and scent killing soaps and potions, never really made a difference if the wind is blowing the wrong direction. There is some merit to cover scents I believe, some cedar oil (crushed cedar berris mixed with water) in a spray bottle seems to do the trick. ( I hunt lower to the ground 4' box blind). About 4-5 days before season, I take my hunting clothes and put them in a plastic bag with fresh cedar branches.

 

[blackops]

I use the wind. I've found that going to all the effort to cover, conceal, or control my scent, isn't worth it. I simply try and control the direction that my scent travels. I use the wind.

This is the real deal. Wind will make you or break you no matter how many layers of scent lok you have on. Don't get me wrong, I don't think scent lok can "hurt" your chances and might even improve scent control, but if your directly down wind you're pretty much toast for a mature bull/buck. It wouldn't surprise me if I have spooked a lot of game I never even saw due to random changes in wind direction.

 

[caribou]

I Hunt ALOT....and I never use scent control, ever. During skin freezing winter and summer because of misquitos, basic hygene is a challenge. Often 3 days is my limit, but circumstance can interfere a few days more .......

Use the wind, as many have suggested, and you will do fine.

 

[Roughneck08]

On a previous hunt say 4 years ago I did not wash my clothes in a scent blocker or baking soda. Mistake you learn from which you knew to do in the first place. I was hunting from a tree stand with my bow in archery season and a nice mature doe walks up so I decide to draw on her.

Once I am up in full draw with my Martin, whoop there goes the white flag and she caught on to me and took off. Ruined the hunt and she was a goner. It is always the mature doe who ruins the hunt they can pick you out! Anyways like i said you learn from stupid mistakes. Use scent blocker if you are out in the open.

 

[Roughneck08]

By the way store your dedicated hunting clothes in a air tight container of trash bags. I sometimes keep my camo in a trash bag with leaves from around my hunting location if I am not in a box blind. I wash my hunting clothes in baking soda...eliminates odor. I see no need to buy scentlok or those several hundred dollar systems. I do use the simple/cheap spray that blocks scent from walmart or cabelas.

 

[timney t]

so far i have yet to really worry about the wind .... cause it's raining cats and dogs every weekend i go out, lol.

 

[336A]

Like a lot of you folks here I've always maintained that scent control this that and the other has always been way over rated. But as the saying goes fools and there money always part.

 

[courtgreene]

last year the only deer that gave me a shot was on the day that I forgot my scent stuff, my hunting clothes and most importantly my hunting boots. im sure my feet were putting off quite a fragrance because i was wearing my every day shoes. I have to agree with everyone else here... the wind is the biggest factor, but that doesn't mean you can't be smart and control the scent you broadcast as much as possible.

 

[d2wing]

Scent control does help but it's not magic. It only works for a couple hours and only if done right. If you make mistakes like oiling your rifle, or otherwise spook the deer it won't help at all. Unless your are willing to put in the effort
of going whole hog and work with it's limitations it won't help. But it can and does work. I've successfully used scent control it many times but have also failed to fool deer. It doesn't make you invisible or quiet or scentfree. It just very temporarily can greatly reduce your scent if done completely.

 

[Lou McGopher]

I can't speak for the efficacy of scent control solution.
But if a deer's sense of smell is anything like a dog's simply masking the scent with a stronger scent won't work. The animal will simply smell both scents.

 

[desidog]

You're never going to be entirely scentless; so go the other route: Leave some dirty laundry in your blind.

But i wouldn't start this technique in the week before opening day...

 

[wankerjake]

My advice is to spend the $$$ you would have wasted on scent concealment on delicious beef jerky and more ammo for target practice

Uh-huh. Playing the wind is your best bet. The scent control products may help a little (though I doubt very much) but I wouldn't waste the money.

 

[Freedom_fighter_in_IL]

Scent Lock Suit-$275... Scent Lock Gloves-$24.99...Scent Lock Face Mask-$37.99...The art of not wasting your money and learning to hunt with the wind-PRICELESS

 

[mongo4567]

I don't buy into the scent free clothes(scentblocker charcoal suits), but I do control my scent. Baking soda when washing clothes, scent free soap for showers, careful storage of hunting clothes with local cover scent (juniper branches), not filling gas tank in hunting clothes, etc. I bow hunt and have known when I'm busted on scent. I also play the wind...every bit helps. We have a 3.5 month deer season and can get some very wary animals.

 

[avs11054]

I've never used scent control, but I have a question about it. Is the scent control everyone on this thread is talking about things that mask human scent? What about the products that claim to make you smell like doe or cow urine? Does that work?

I was once at an art show, and a guy there had tons of close up shots of elk, wolves, deer, etc. I asked him how he got so close to the animals. His answer: "cow elk urine."

 

[blackops]

What about the products that claim to make you smell like doe or cow urine? Does that work?

Good question. I never went that route. I imagine, mature wild animals can tell a distinct difference between chemically induced products and real wild animal passings. I could be wrong though. You just need to put in for unit 12 A every year avs. Your lucky to live in Arizona.