I am going to start off saying that I will probably catch a lot of slack for my actions this past weekend, but here is the story.
I have always been a firm believer of scent control. I always wash my hunting clothes, shower and spray before I hit the woods. But this past Saturday I had an interesting experience. I am a college student so I only get to hunt on the weekends. Friday afternoon, saturday morning and saturday afternoon. This limits my hunting time. Well this past weekend I went out friday afternoon and didnt see a single deer. Saturday morning I had to help with a Brunswick Stew (if you have every cooked a brunswick stew, you know that the smell seems to stick with you for days). So i didnt get to hunt saturday morning. During the day saturday i was runnning a tractor for about four hours. I didnt have time to shower or wash my clothes. I threw on my hunting clothes and quickly sprayed them with scent killer and hit the woods about 5 aclock. I was sitting in my stand which is about 20 ft off the ground, and i could honestly even smell myself. All i could smell was diesel fuel and brunswick stew. I really didnt plan on seeing any deer (due to the smell), but since i dint get to hunt much i decided to try it anyways. About 645 a fawn walks out at about 15 yds. Then about 20 minutes later a mature doe and spike walk out. The spike ended up walking directly under my stand (at most 2 yds away from the bottom of the tree i was in). It was somewhat windy and all the deer (at some point) were directly downwind of me. None of them ever acted skiddish nor did they ever smell me. This blew my mind.
I am not sure if I just got really lucky or if scent control is not as big of an issue as everyone seems to think. What do yall think?
I didnt think about the scent actually blowing over them. I was just really surprised they came that close. The spike that walked under my stand was actually the cloest encounter i have ever had with a deer.
One thing I will never underestimate is a deers nose. In my past experiences during the last 27 or so years, scent control absolutely does make a big difference, Ive seen it and experienced it way too many times to disregard scent preperation and scent contol. I mainly try and hunt the wind to try and reduce my chances of getting winded, but wind often changes during a hunt so I always do the best I can every hunt with whatever means and options I have, wether its a quick shower, scent spray down, breath scent wash, gum or candy, or prepared clothing.
When they're that close....chances are your scent was blowing over them. That....or you had a thermal in your favor you didn't realize.
If I've learned anything about deer hunting...it's that you CAN NOT fool a deer's nose.
I agree 100%- I would not ditch your scent control methods over this one experience. Your precautions have probably saved you more times than you can imagine.
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Patience has been, is, and always will be the hunters most deadly weapon.
I just quit smoking.The deer seem to linger around alot more than they used to when I smoked. They can smell.... don't underestimate the power of a whitetails nose.
I am washing my hunting clothes right now for an afternoon/evening hunt.
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2008 Ross Cardiac 70Lbs, QAD pro HD, Sims modular stab, Copper john dead nutz 2 sight, Scott Sabertooth release, G5 Meta peep, beman arrows with ONESTRINGER arrow wraps topped with Slick Tricks or GT2's and RIDGERUNNER sling
Founder of the Annual DIY MB bear hunt thread. Its bear hunting time folks and I am getting ready again.
I am not sure I believe in Scent Control anymore
Its bear hunting time folks and I am getting ready again.
