Odor control

[MoBuckChaser]

What are you guys all worried about, all you need to do is buy a Hecs suit and the deer won't even know you are there! LOL

 

[4wanderingeyes]

I take about the same practices as MoBuckChaser. About a week before hunting season, I throw my hunting close outside to hang up, sometimes I spray myself with noscent, but I rarely think about it.

I hunt the middle of a woods, where deer like to roam, they have trails, but the trails are throughout the woods. I never really know where the deer will come from, so it is impossible to play the wind.

My hunting land has human scent on it a throughout the year, and deer arent really concerned with my scent. I may not shoot monster bucks, but that isnt my goal either. I can be out working the food plots, and have a deer walk into the other end of the ~1 acre food plot. I can drive through the food plot with my ATV, and usually the deer will just jump 10 feet out of the food plot, and wait for me to go by, then walk back into it. I have had deer come check on me, as I was building my deer stand, within 50 yards away. In the winter after doing TSI work, I get deer pictures within an hour eating the tree tops. I have had deer wind me, and have seen the bolt the other direction, but I have also seen deer follow my exact tracks right to my deer stand shortly after getting to stand. I guess what I am saying is, I personally dont stress about scent to much.

 

[MoBuckChaser]

I take about the same practices as MoBuckChaser. About a week before hunting season, I throw my hunting close outside to hang up, sometimes I spray myself with noscent, but I rarely think about it.

I hunt the middle of a woods, where deer like to roam, they have trails, but the trails are throughout the woods. I never really know where the deer will come from, so it is impossible to play the wind.

My hunting land has human scent on it a throughout the year, and deer arent really concerned with my scent. I may not shoot monster bucks, but that isnt my goal either. I can be out working the food plots, and have a deer walk into the other end of the ~1 acre food plot. I can drive through the food plot with my ATV, and usually the deer will just jump 10 feet out of the food plot, and wait for me to go by, then walk back into it. I have had deer come check on me, as I was building my deer stand, within 50 yards away. In the winter after doing TSI work, I get deer pictures within an hour eating the tree tops. I have had deer wind me, and have seen the bolt the other direction, but I have also seen deer follow my exact tracks right to my deer stand shortly after getting to stand. I guess what I am saying is, I personally dont stress about scent to much.

I have about 100 videos of bucks walking right by, upwind, down wind, swirling winds, Yes some will bust you, most won't where I hunt. But where I hunt I can have a deer bust me, another will come by, so it doesn't matter that much. For the guys that have only one deer, they may need to do everything in there arsenal. I don't worry as much, just play the wind as best as possible is all I do!

 

[j-bird]

Wash with scent free soap
Where clothes washed in scent free soap and dried outside in the farm air.
I wear scent-lock or scent blocker clothes.
I use scent killer spray in the stand if I feel the need.
I have no idea if ANY of the above make a hill of beans of difference!!!!


I ALWAYS HUNT THE WIND!!!!! I think this has the biggest impact.

Now I only hunt my farm and I am very active on that farm. The deer know what I smell like I am 100% certain of that.

 

[ALwoodsman]

Last year I went extreme with my scent control just to give it a fair try after watching some of Jim Brauker's videos along with several others. My routine was very similar to Tap's except for the vegetarian part. I don't have any hard evidence that it works but I was convinced enough to go through the same routine this year. I have hunted property where you could "hunt the wind". That was great, however on my property that is not possible 90% of the time. When I first started hunting I didn't pay attention to the wind I just sat down and hunted. Now and then I would get lucky. Later on I learned more and would try to go to a stand based on the wind direction. Guess what, after sitting for thirty minutes or so the wind had blown in 3 other directions. My 75 acres runs from north to south. My only access is from the north. The best days to hunt are generally when I cold front comes through right? Well, when that happens my only choice is to walk in and hunt with the wind to my back and hope that I get lucky. It is either that or just don't hunt. So with all of that being said I am willing to give it an honest try even if it takes a little more time and effort. I will say that in the past by the time we were 1/3 of the way through the season I would be doing good to consistently see deer. Last year I don't think that there was a day that I didn't see at least 4 or 5. And it was the first year that I didn't have a deer blow at me. Don't get me wrong, there were times that I watched deer come in downwind to about 30 yards away and smell me. The difference is that they didn't run out of there blowing the whole way. They would put their nose in the air and sniff and look in my general direction as if they thought I was on the other side of the field 100 yards away. Most of the time they would just change direction.

 

[Fall's Legend]

I shower and wash the clothes for each hunt in the scent eliminator stuff. Also use the special anti-per spirant. I do have an Ozonics, but after reading about potential health concerns I have not used it. I have always paid strict attention to the wind direction and thermals.

Natty's comments brought to mind something I have always wondered about since I have similar observations to his. Do humans emit a different odor when in a predatory mode? Or can prey animals sense that mode in some other way?

 

[yoderjac]

I shower and wash the clothes for each hunt in the scent eliminator stuff. Also use the special anti-per spirant. I do have an Ozonics, but after reading about potential health concerns I have not used it. I have always paid strict attention to the wind direction and thermals.

Natty's comments brought to mind something I have always wondered about since I have similar observations to his. Do humans emit a different odor when in a predatory mode? Or can prey animals sense that mode in some other way?

Deer don't rely on any one sense exclusively. It is a combination of factors. Deer don't likely actually smell people as much as smelling the excrement all over your skin left by the bacteria that lives on you. What you eat can affect the diet and possible composition of the bacteria and thus the odor.

One example I've used before is a project our suburban bowhunting organization got years ago. The deer were so over populated after years of neglected wildlife management that you could see 200 yards into the woods. Deer would eat ice cream cones out of folks hands with the previous use of the property. They were very accustom to humans and they presented no danger at all. Because the area was frequented by non-hunters one of the safety rules we set was that all hunting was required to be done from a treestand to ensure a downward trajectory. For the first week or so, deer were easy picking of course, but after 2 weeks we noticed a significant change. You could easily walk past a deer at 10 yards and the deer would ignore you, but once you climbed a tree, deer would take off, go on alert and watch you from a distance. Deer had quickly learned that humans on the ground were not threat but humans in a tree were a threat.

Deer use multiple senses including the demeanor of a predator. I'm sure you've seen pictures of gazelle feeding and just keeping loose eye on lions that were not in feeding mode. Once the lions start hunting, the herd behaves quite differently.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Buckly]

That's interesting how fast they adapt to that. On the diet causing different odors, all deer smell the same to me. LOL

 

[yoderjac]

That's interesting how fast they adapt to that. On the diet causing different odors, all deer smell the same to me. LOL

Yes, we have a tiny fraction of our brain dedicated to our olfactory system compared to a deer or a dog. Even with all the sophisticated equipment we have today, in an open-air environment, we still use drug and bomb sniffing dogs.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Never wear hunting clothes / boots anywhere except when hunting. Transport camo in Rubbermaid tub - boots in trash bag.
Keep hunting clothes outside, hanging under roof all bow season. Same with boots - high rubber ones. Spray clothes with Scent Killer. Spray camo knit hat inside and out also.
Shower w/ scent-free soap. Use Scent Killer deodorant. Pits and crotch.
Walk in every pile of deer droppings I see on the way to stand to put free scent on my rubber boots.
Eat an apple when I get up in tree stand. Later, chew a couple sticks of teaberry gum. ( Smells and tastes like wintergreen red berries found on forest floor in northern states ). This helps with mouth odor.

That's my usual routine, and I've had mature bucks come within 10 feet of my tree stand. FWIW.

 

[Steve Bartylla]

With that said...I still do practice moderate scent control. I take basic, common sense steps. But I don't go crazy. And I will say, having does on my land who recognize my scent and don't spook when they encounter it has proven beneficial while in the stand on many occasions.

For what it's worth, I think you are correct, in that one can train deer to fear nearly anything through negative reinforcement and train them to accept most things through positive reinforcement. In those regards, I see them as being very similar to dogs.

 

[mthompson]

I would never get out the door if I tried to follow your protocol.

Only thing I do scent related is keep my hunting clothes in a cedar chest (most of the time), wash them occasionally with baking soda/washing soda/borax....and I stopped using soaps/shampoo altogether about 3 years ago (except the nether-regions, those get some unscented baby stuff because that's what's in the shower) and I've used arm&hammer deodorant for a long while now. This is just how I simplified my day-to-day life and it also happens to limit any unnecessary fragrances.

Deer can smell you no matter what you do. I explain it like this: deer can smell like we can see....We differentiate about 10 million shades of color. We look at a tree and see the colors, the individual leaves, bark, overall size, shape, and our brain says "that's a Chokecherry" because XYZ.... well deer can smell a couple million shades of scent...they take one whiff and "see" the fabric you are wearing, AND the stitching, AND the buttons, zippers, laces; they smell what you ate for breakfast yesterday and what's under your fingernails from 3 days ago.

Makes no sense to me trying to get "scent free", when the deer can smell every chemical used in "scent free" soaps and sprays AND smell the plastic bottle it's kept in...everything we do "scent free", is only so for us...a deer smells it all and even more than we can imagine.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

For what it's worth, I think you are correct, in that one can train deer to fear nearly anything through negative reinforcement and train them to accept most things through positive reinforcement. In those regards, I see them as being very similar to dogs.

Agreed Steve. I think I also have the perfect scenario going on. That is, I live in a liberal state where not many people hunt anymore. My land is very hard to access from any public road....kind of tucked away bordering deep woods and many, many miles of walking to get to it. In 14 years of hunting the land, I have encountered 2 other hunters. Since posting the land 3 years ago I rarely even see a boot track anymore in the snow. In other words...very low hunting pressure = very few negative experiences for deer. And as you said, because I am on the land frequently doing innocuous things, I am offering more positive experiences and reinforcement.

Now if I can just get the quasi-tame does to bring in the big bucks!

 

[Tap]

I would never get out the door if I tried to follow your protocol.

Only thing I do scent related is keep my hunting clothes in a cedar chest (most of the time), wash them occasionally with baking soda/washing soda/borax....and I stopped using soaps/shampoo altogether about 3 years ago (except the nether-regions, those get some unscented baby stuff because that's what's in the shower) and I've used arm&hammer deodorant for a long while now. This is just how I simplified my day-to-day life and it also happens to limit any unnecessary fragrances.

Deer can smell you no matter what you do. I explain it like this: deer can smell like we can see....We differentiate about 10 million shades of color. We look at a tree and see the colors, the individual leaves, bark, overall size, shape, and our brain says "that's a Chokecherry" because XYZ.... well deer can smell a couple million shades of scent...they take one whiff and "see" the fabric you are wearing, AND the stitching, AND the buttons, zippers, laces; they smell what you ate for breakfast yesterday and what's under your fingernails from 3 days ago.

Makes no sense to me trying to get "scent free", when the deer can smell every chemical used in "scent free" soaps and sprays AND smell the plastic bottle it's kept in...everything we do "scent free", is only so for us...a deer smells it all and even more than we can imagine.

Why couldn't you get out the door?
My regimen probably adds one half hour to my prep time each hunt.
And if 'deer are going to smell me no matter what I do', then why worry about bathing with baking soda and borax? Why even use any deodorant? Why store your clothing in a cedar chest?
There is uno denying that there are benefits to odor reduction...read those 2 words again and let them sink in and ponder them.
Reduction. Not total elimination, because total elimination can't be achieved.
I don't have the luxury of having dozens of stands in order to hunt an unused, productive stand on every hunt. I need to REDUCE my odor so it dissipates sooner. The less residual odor I leave behind the shorter the time period that my odor could be detected where I access or hunt. Odor does dissipate...that is undeniable. The sooner the better.
Another misleading statement that a lot of hunter say is that deer will smell you if they are downwind. "downwind is not an all or nothing situation. Straight downwind, light winds, and poor odor control cannot be compared to the fringes of the scent stream of a hunter using more extensive odor control practices.
No matter how much or little odor control we practice, we've all had deer on that edge of the fringe of our scent stream. That deer may stand and pause before nervously leaving. We might even get the shot. That nervous deer may not alert other deer in the area. I contend that a clean hunter can get away with a less disturbance than the dirty hunter.
I used to not be able to cross trail because deer knew I was there. I had to avoid hunting in certain areas because of the odor disturbance I'd leave behind. Deer would hit my access trail and wouldn't put up with what they smelled. With my odor control, I can now cross trails at will. Do deer ever smell me? Probably, but they are not on full alert and they often continue to walk toward my shooting lanes. Odor control allows me to access stands that I could do in the past without control. It's opened up more possibilities for stand choices.
Hey, you guys can hunt however you want. I'm not trying to force my practices on anyone. But I KNOW, without a doubt, that my hunting has improved and my hunts are more satisfying since I got careful about odor. To each his own...

 

[mthompson]

Why couldn't you get out the door?
My regimen probably adds one half hour to my prep time each hunt.
And if 'deer are going to smell me no matter what I do', then why worry about bathing with baking soda and borax? Why even use any deodorant? Why store your clothing in a cedar chest?
There is uno denying that there are benefits to odor reduction...read those 2 words again and let them sink in and ponder them.
Reduction. Not total elimination, because total elimination can't be achieved.
I don't have the luxury of having dozens of stands in order to hunt an unused, productive stand on every hunt. I need to REDUCE my odor so it dissipates sooner. The less residual odor I leave behind the shorter the time period that my odor could be detected where I access or hunt. Odor does dissipate...that is undeniable. The sooner the better.
Another misleading statement that a lot of hunter say is that deer will smell you if they are downwind. "downwind is not an all or nothing situation. Straight downwind, light winds, and poor odor control cannot be compared to the fringes of the scent stream of a hunter using more extensive odor control practices.
No matter how much or little odor control we practice, we've all had deer on that edge of the fringe of our scent stream. That deer may stand and pause before nervously leaving. We might even get the shot. That nervous deer may not alert other deer in the area. I contend that a clean hunter can get away with a less disturbance than the dirty hunter.
I used to not be able to cross trail because deer knew I was there. I had to avoid hunting in certain areas because of the odor disturbance I'd leave behind. Deer would hit my access trail and wouldn't put up with what they smelled. With my odor control, I can now cross trails at will. Do deer ever smell me? Probably, but they are not on full alert and they often continue to walk toward my shooting lanes. Odor control allows me to access stands that I could do in the past without control. It's opened up more possibilities for stand choices.
Hey, you guys can hunt however you want. I'm not trying to force my practices on anyone. But I KNOW, without a doubt, that my hunting has improved and my hunts are more satisfying since I got careful about odor. To each his own...

ozoning everything, Pre-shower, actual-shower, post-shower, packing expensive/specialized clothes in separate tubs, undressing then re-dressing by the truck, spraying down, post-hunt un-dressing and re-dressing, re-packing, re-ozoning...Just saying, to me, that's a lot of steps for something that, in my mind, isn't going to fool a deer's nose in the end.

I don't bathe in baking soda/borax. I wash my clothes in that, and more than just my hunting clothes, I use it for everything. And the cedar chest is what I have and could be classified under "scent masking", but I would use it if it was pine or walnut or plywood. I mostly keep clothes in there during the rest of the year, and keep my usual hunting clothes out and hung up (usually in various states of drying).

My olfactory gets burned pretty easy with manufactured fragrance, so I avoid these all year long. I stopped using shampoo and soap for showering several years ago...have you ever read what's in that crap? And it's not needed anyway, water is the universal solvent. Scrub down good with a wash cloth under the running water, and you're as clean as you need to be. My skin oils are better, I'm less itchy/scratchy, and don't need to use a lot of hand cream on my elbows and knees anymore (of which I make from beeswax and coconut oil).

It's only an added bonus that these daily routines also reduce overtly human scent of chemical fragrances. And I would do these things even if I didn't hunt.



I hunt on the ground and I mostly hunt public land (and usually deeper than most will venture). I rarely hunt in the same area for more than a couple days and am usually sitting in different spots in those areas. I have dozens and dozens of little hides scattered about in the areas I roam, so I can plan ahead based on anticipated winds and then quickly change if local conditions change. I'd rather spend that extra 30 minutes you use getting ready, hiking to a new area and locating some new spots. I actually do a lot of my deer scouting while out bird hunting with my dogs....I'll go back the next day and find deer in the exact areas I found the deer sign, and I surely jumped those deer out the day prior with my dogs.

On the private land that I do hunt, deer see and hear people 5+ days week, so it's as easy as getting set up downwind of their pathways without being seen or heard, then waiting motionlessly...human smell matters very little to them. To me, this isn't so much hunting as it is harvesting. I need to help keep the herd in check for minimizing damage to the botanical garden....It's a tough job, but somebody has to do it.

 

[Catscratch]

I agree with Tap on everything he wrote above. I just have a different situation than he does and for me it's better to avoid contaminating an area all together with my "method of hunting". I will say that for me personally, when I was doing a lot for odor reduction I took more chances and got picked off more. Now that I don't do as much odor reduction I've found that I'm much more careful about controlling where my scent goes and getting trailed or picked off is extremely rare.

Do what works for you and what you enjoy. None of us hunt the exact same property, in the exact same way, and get the exact same results. I can fish elbow to elbow with my dad and he will out fish me every time. I can put friends in my best stands, guaranteed to see deer on every hunt... and they won't see anything for a week. Do what works for you and have fun!

 

[Fall's Legend]

Thanks Yoder!

 

[IkemanTx]

I would never get out the door if I tried to follow your protocol.

Only thing I do scent related is keep my hunting clothes in a cedar chest (most of the time), wash them occasionally with baking soda/washing soda/borax....and I stopped using soaps/shampoo altogether about 3 years ago (except the nether-regions, those get some unscented baby stuff because that's what's in the shower) and I've used arm&hammer deodorant for a long while now. This is just how I simplified my day-to-day life and it also happens to limit any unnecessary fragrances.

Deer can smell you no matter what you do. I explain it like this: deer can smell like we can see....We differentiate about 10 million shades of color. We look at a tree and see the colors, the individual leaves, bark, overall size, shape, and our brain says "that's a Chokecherry" because XYZ.... well deer can smell a couple million shades of scent...they take one whiff and "see" the fabric you are wearing, AND the stitching, AND the buttons, zippers, laces; they smell what you ate for breakfast yesterday and what's under your fingernails from 3 days ago.

Makes no sense to me trying to get "scent free", when the deer can smell every chemical used in "scent free" soaps and sprays AND smell the plastic bottle it's kept in...everything we do "scent free", is only so for us...a deer smells it all and even more than we can imagine.

That's probably the best description of their scent abilities I have ever heard.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Tap]

I will say that for me personally, when I was doing a lot for odor reduction I took more chances and got picked off more. Now that I don't do as much odor reduction I've found that I'm much more careful about controlling where my scent goes and getting trailed or picked off is extremely rare.

I'd venture to say that you get picked-off a lot more than you think you do. Some deer that smell you may be 2 hundred or more yards away and you never knew they were even there. Just because they don't snort doesn't mean we weren't busted.
But the most frequent "pick-off" that happens is when we aren't even in our stand. It happens hours or days after we've left. IMO, it's the residual odors that screw us the most. A clean hunter leaves less residual odor which dissipates sooner which leads to a less educated deer herd. Educated deer are a lot harder to hunt than uneducated ones.

 

[Tap]

ozoning everything, Pre-shower, actual-shower, post-shower, packing expensive/specialized clothes in separate tubs, undressing then re-dressing by the truck, spraying down, post-hunt un-dressing and re-dressing, re-packing, re-ozoning...Just saying, to me, that's a lot of steps for something that, in my mind, isn't going to fool a deer's nose in the end.

I don't bathe in baking soda/borax. I wash my clothes in that, and more than just my hunting clothes, I use it for everything. And the cedar chest is what I have and could be classified under "scent masking", but I would use it if it was pine or walnut or plywood. I mostly keep clothes in there during the rest of the year, and keep my usual hunting clothes out and hung up (usually in various states of drying).

My olfactory gets burned pretty easy with manufactured fragrance, so I avoid these all year long. I stopped using shampoo and soap for showering several years ago...have you ever read what's in that crap? And it's not needed anyway, water is the universal solvent. Scrub down good with a wash cloth under the running water, and you're as clean as you need to be. My skin oils are better, I'm less itchy/scratchy, and don't need to use a lot of hand cream on my elbows and knees anymore (of which I make from beeswax and coconut oil).

It's only an added bonus that these daily routines also reduce overtly human scent of chemical fragrances. And I would do these things even if I didn't hunt.



I hunt on the ground and I mostly hunt public land (and usually deeper than most will venture). I rarely hunt in the same area for more than a couple days and am usually sitting in different spots in those areas. I have dozens and dozens of little hides scattered about in the areas I roam, so I can plan ahead based on anticipated winds and then quickly change if local conditions change. I'd rather spend that extra 30 minutes you use getting ready, hiking to a new area and locating some new spots. I actually do a lot of my deer scouting while out bird hunting with my dogs....I'll go back the next day and find deer in the exact areas I found the deer sign, and I surely jumped those deer out the day prior with my dogs.

A few things about your post puzzle me.
I often hear the statement that you can't fool a deer's nose. Of course you can. It's just that the definition of fooling them has different contexts. I don't pretend that a close-by deer, that is in the middle of my scent steam, on a humid day with light winds, is not going to smell me. But how that deer reacts is what I'm concerned with. Does he nervously leave or does he blast out of there alerting every deer within ear shot? I feel I have fooled that deer when he wasn't super alarmed. That scenario happens to me a lot.
I also feel I've fooled a deer when my residual odor is undetectable after a day or two compared to the dirty hunter's odor that takes a week or more to dissipate. The rate that odor dissipates is effected by several factors, but one thing is for sure... lesser odor is gone sooner and stands stay fresh longer.
I feel I've fooled a deer when I can cross trails on the way to my stand without alerting them when they cross my access trail. Cleanliness allows me to hunt in areas that I couldn't access if I wasn't clean. For me, more stand sites add to a more enjoyable hunting season than being stuck hunting (and wearing out) just a few stands.

If deer are going to smell you regardless of what you do, then why attempt "scent masking". Heck, most of the masking scents guys use are present in the air anyway. Why would keeping clothing in a tub with dirt, leaves, acorns, or whatever, have any effect on the amount of human odor we emit?
And if soap is not needed to reduce the bacteria that causes human odor, then why do surgeons soap (for several minutes) before performing surgery? And why are restaurant workers required to wash with soap and water before returning to work? I sure hope you wash your hands with soap and water after you take a crap.

And if you do have experience with dogs, you should notice the difference in a dog's reaction according to the freshness of the game's trail. Trail scent that is dissipating can lead to a dog that pauses, or is confused, or doesn't react at all. Those are the types of reactions that I hope happens when a deer encounters where my odor is, or used to be.

You may have hundreds or thousands of acres to roam to look for undisturbed areas with favorable wind. But there are a lot of us on this forum with small properties which have limited access and are surrounded by competing hunters. My goal is to be as undetected as I can be and I know my hunting property has improved because of my efforts.

Most of my odor control is not as involved as it sounds.
Let me break it down...

Mouth hygiene; Everybody should be brushing and flossing regardless of whether we are hunting or not. Your girl will thank you.

Showering; most of us shower before we hunt anyway. Why not spend an extra 3 to 5 minutes to allow soap to really kill the odor causing bacteria?

Gear transportation and dressing; Almost everyone stores their clothes in tubs or "cedar chests". Why not transport and protect our clean clothes in tubs? It takes me no longer to dress where I park than it does to dress at home. And I have to undress after the hunt, so why not do it before I get in my truck? And that detail is especially important in areas with ticks and poison ivy. I don't want those things inside my truck.

Ozone; Treating gear with ozone takes very little time and almost zero effort and it's especially useful on travel hunts where I don't have access to a washing machine that smells like perfume.

The hunters that are most consistently successful, the hunters that write books, the hunters that are way more successful than me, have one thing in common. They pay attention to details. And important details are made up of little details. Take care of the little details and many of the important details will take care of themselves.
Odor reduction is just a matter of little details that are mostly within our control. I can try to predict wind patterns, but I can't control them.