Cover scents & Scent killers

[tooln]

It's that time of years again. We all know the nose knows. Do you use a cover scent or a scent killer? If so what do you find that works the best. I've used fox & coon urine as covers and scent a-way as a killer. I also got an E-mail today with this link, anyone ever use or try it?

http://www.coveruphunting.com/originalformula.

I also ran across this today and have never seem it advertised before.

http://www.getmebucked.com/

 

[dipper]

I've given up on that garbage. I've gone back to keeping my clothes in the barn with the steers. The deer still smell you but they aren't nearly as alarmed.
I do still shower with unscented antibacterial soaps (non hunting stuff from box stores or wherever) and minimize foreign odors.

 

[gwm]

I don't use anything, but like Dipper, I do shower with unscented soaps, use unscented deodorant and minimize foreign odors the best I can. I use totes to put my clothes in.

 

[Jordan Selsor]

I use scent away spray, detergent an deodorant. My uncle is sales rep and used to rep for hunters specialties but his group lost that line last yr, used to get the stuff for free so it really sucks having to buy it now!

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Yep. Unscented, anti-bacterial soap, scent away deod., autumn scent spray, keep clothes in separate tote for only archery use, high rubber boots. Before going out, I hang my clothes outside on hooks ( under roof ) to air out for an hour or more. I hang them outside overnight between hunting days. Rubber boots kept outside and never worn anywhere but in the field. I take a couple apples w/ me when in tree stand to eat and make my breathing smell like an apple. I've had good luck with these precautions.

 

[bat man]

Say what you will, I love my NoseJammer. Seen it work way too many times.

 

[foggy]

Say what you will, I love my NoseJammer. Seen it work way too many times.

A likely story Batman. I want to see some statistics to back up those claims. ;) I have not been much of a believer in cover scents.....but apply a few scent "eliminators" and use unscented soaps etc. The vanillin idea sounds interesting.....may give it a try.

 

[bat man]

The NoseJammer is most effective on deer w/o wind rain or corn as a factor.

In all seriousness I do use it. Religiously. Tell you stories some day.

 

[Jim Timber]

I've used real vanilla as a cover scent, carried/eaten apples for lunch in the tree, and have been using scent eliminator of some kind for 6 years. I've proven the veggie enzyme spray works by using it on the inside of surplus ammo cans to cut the stink. Say what you will, but if it can make one of those unoffensive in 2 applications, it's going to make me smell, uh, not there. :)

I've also eaten peanut butter out of the jar in the tree (on crackers or Hershey bars :D ). Deer love peanuts. Down side of the food for you being an attractant is if they do get wind of it, they're sniffing you out and can visibly bust you while they're sniffing. The other problem has been head on encounters - no shot options without hitting guts.

 

[j-bird]

Regardless of if what I use works or not I still play the wind. I use scent lock clothes (well worm out by now and yes I saw the reports), I use scent-killer spray and the soaps as well. I am not religious about it. Knowing I am not religous about it is why I still play the wind. Does it work -I don't know. Have I been busted - yes, have I had deer come from the wrong directon that ended up in the back of my truck or on the wall - yes. I figure as scent free as possible is the way to go - but I'm not going to get all worked up about it.

 

[SD51555]

I'm plain jane on this one. I air out my clothes if I can. Leave the artificial stink off for the day. If the wind ain't right, not sitting there tonight. Dogs are not deer, but Mythbusters did a show on scent where they used every gadget and spray available. They could not shake a blood hound.

 

[shawnv]

Nose jammer science works but I always wonder how easy it is to get enough spray to shut down a deer's nose.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Is there a product called " Nose Jammer " or is it a term for any cover scent?
Jim Timber - Where I hunt, peanut butter crackers & Hershey bars might cause the black fuzzy things to join me in the tree! Last year I finished eating an apple in the tree stand & tossed the core down below my stand. Within 15 minutes, a bear of about 250 lbs. was eating it directly below me. No deer came near me that night. Now I carry a zip-lock bag to put the cores in. I'll still eat apples as a breath freshener & snack - but no more cores on the ground.

 

[Steve Bartylla]

It's a product named Nose Jammer that comes in a spray can and smells exactly like vanilla. I used it a couple years. Most deer didn't mind it. some did.

I'm a fanatic about odor control. I won't bore you guys with everything I do, as few would willingly go through it all on a religious basis, and that's the only way I've found to consistently beat a whitetail's nose up until late season. Late season, I still do everything I did before, but now I'm getting picked up by around 50% of the deer that get downwind. Around half of those pick me up quickly dismiss me as nothing, while the other half react like I'd expect them to if I'd done nothing at all to combat odors.

I try everything, as being able to hunt stands with "bad" winds is a huge advantage that has resulted in a lot of the bucks on the wall. I keep hoping to find a short cut, as I'd rather not do all the junk I do to combat odors. In my honest opinion, both Ozonics and Nose Jammer are better than nothing, but neither are as effective as going absolutely nuts on odor control and treating every single item you bring in the woods with you.

I sort of hunt the wind in that I look at the pool of stands that I believe give me the best odds of scoring for that day. If I have 2 that I believe are the best and offer equal chances, I'll hunt the one that works best with the wind. If I have 2 that I believe offer good odds that work for the wind and 1 that offers better odds, but the wind couldn't be worse, I'll still hunt that 1 with the better odds and not think twice about it. I very rarely get winded (before late season) and can almost always trace it back to something I didn't treat.

The reason I believe it all falls apart late season is because there just aren't the natural cover scents, as everything is frozen, and that the deer are now hyper sensitive to hunting, having almost made it through the war. I am under no delusions that I'm destroying all my odors or stopping new ones from forming. I believe either the deer are picking me up, but it's so faint that they think I'm 500 yards away instead of 20 or that it is so weak that it diffuses to being undetectable by the time it reaches them. I have no clue which, but I do believe it is impossible to completely eliminate human scent. frankly, so long as that buck has no clue I'm there, I don't care which is the case or why it works.

 

[McLovin]

The biggest advantage I've noticed since using these products is deer no longer smelling my scent where I walked in. I've seen them stop and linger, sniff around a bit, then continue towards me. Years ago deer would turn themselves inside out when they hit my trail. I still get winded if they are downwind and/or the thermals are heading their way. Perhaps nose jammer or an ozononics machine would help, I haven't tried either yet.

 

[Fall guy]

Qoute :The reason I believe it all falls apart late season is because there just aren't the natural cover scents, as everything is frozen.

Steve your statement rings true. I worked with detector dogs and tracking dogs. So I was around quite a bit of research measuring odor strengths etc. and training, for years. I also had used dogs for deer recovery here in WI for some time. In a nut shell VOC,S ( volatile organic compounds) It is something we would measure in testing, without them would pretty much live in a odor free world. Volatile compounds include you breath , boots. clothing etc. Higher temp equals more odor vapor. So come late season everything around you is at colder temp and you now stands out considerably more to deer. My self I don't get to fancy keep clean clothing attempt to play wind but always wear disposable carbon mask to and from area and while hunting. It helps. Your breath In my experience collects over everything and really hangs around for some time do to moisture. Both dogs and deer are sensitive to odor intensity that is why they have no problem after only few steps being able to determine direction.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

I keep it simple and save my money for better things. My clothes hang in a timber frame barn with windows always open. I shower with scent free soaps. Hunt the wind. Occasionally I will grab a fallen apple off the ground and smash it onto the tree before I climb up. I'll wipe some on my clothing a bit. Kick the ground up and grab a handful of dirt and leaves and again rake them across my clothing a bit.

 

[Steve Bartylla]

Very interesting, Fall Guy....thanks. Also, couldn't agree more with your breath being the biggest issue. I get Scent Lok stuff for free. I always asked for 3 hoods for every 1 suit. If I had to buy them myself, I'd strongly consider just buying the hoods. I'm sure I'd still buy the entire suits, as I am convinced that they help, but I have 0 doubt that the hood/face mask is by far the most important/beneficial piece.


MO, there are 2 easy solutions I've found to covering tracks...Either use straight, non-estrus doe urine on boot pads. I know deer can still smell the rubber and other odors from each steps, but I've consistently found the smell of doe pee puts them completely at ease instantaneously.

Otherwise, pick up a can of that Nose Jammer Brooks mentioned and spray it on the bottom of your boots. I don't like doing that, as I mentioned a % of the deer don't seem to like the smell, but it's a way lesser % than if I wouldn't be doing the other odor control stuff. Since you aren't, I wouldn't hesitate to spray the bottoms of my boots with it.

 

[Steve Bartylla]

All that said, if I didn't go nuts on all this stuff, I'd do exactly what Dipper does (if I had a barn/cattle). Hanging your clothes in the barn creates a great and free saturation of about the bet cover scent there is in farm country.

Before the Scent Lok days, what I used to do is store my clothes with pine and then "wash" myself on the way to the stand with whatever was on the forest floor. I did the same when setting fox traps.

 

[phil@thesidehill]

I take all my hunting clothes and gear and air it all out for a few days close to season....then i wash all clothing in scent free/eliminating detergent...then store them in totes that i have aired out and sprayed with scent killing spray. before i hunt i shower in scent free/eliminating soap. When I get out of the truck, i get my totes out and get my boots out and spray them down profusely and then get my hunting clothes on...which sucks on really cold days....then i get my gear out and spray it all down with scent killing spray. Once i have everything geared up and sprayed down, i then give my boots a light spray down to keep any odors from hands tying the laces etc down. On top of all of this i play the wind....until the last week of archery season which is usually the second week of November. My primary stand on my land is set up just above the ridge line...with morning thermals rising and a wind anywhere from S to NW my wind rises up first and then gets caught by the prevailing and blown out off the ridge way above the valley below...effectively giving me no downwind area of significance. The biggest opportunity to get busted is ground scent from my walk in. I take great precautions to keep my boots as scent free as possible, I also mow and spray my entry trail in september and i cut all the brushy stuff along the sides of the trail way back. basically I minimize the amount of contact i can have with anything at a deer's nose level....only the soles of my boots touch the ground, versus parts of my clothing and gear as well as my boots. Last season was the first season in a few that i had a deer even slightly react to crossing my trail...all she did was stop and put her nose to the ground where i walked then she lifted her head and looked around....then she just went back to doing what she was doing. About an hour later a buck came through on her trail and never even broke stride as he crossed my trail....about 20 yds later i put an arrow through his heart.

I am sure that my method has flaws, but so far it has worked for me way more often than not. Unless its the rut i always play the wind, so that is a major part of it as well. once the chasing really gets going the bucks are preoccupied with the ladies and the ladies are preoccupied with being harassed by bucks so my very limited scent profile seems to not be enough for the deer to react with flight if they get downwind.

i agree with Steve...you cant be 100% scent free, 100% of the time, but i think you can keep your scent profile so low that the deer think you are either far enough away not to be a treat or that the scent is much older than it really is.