Whitetail Deer HuntingGain a better understanding of the World's most popular big game animal and the techniques that will help you become a better deer hunter.
Wind is the #1 factor. Scent control can help, but it can't make you scentless any more than camo can make you invisible.
Scent control with certain spray products and Scent-Lok have put enough deer dead down range from me at mere yards to realize it does a tad more than "can help". This comes from many 75+ days of hunting per year to gain this personal knowledge.
And so far as camo, like others here have stated too, deer often have looked right through them at close range on the ground, so in essence, at times... it does make you "invisible".
I do most certainly agree that wind is the #1 factor. Unfortunately I'm at the mercy of the sudden impulses of the wind, so I can't control it, but I can control, to a point, how I smell. LOL!
Whatever a hunter can do to limit/control their scent is a plus. I'm all for it.
I'm also into just saying "heck with it" at times and play the wind. With much success I may add too. LOL!
all offseason and also during season I store my cloths in a tote with about 5 fresh earth waffers by H.S. Specialties. They come out smelling just like the woods! Then before I go I shower using the scent free stuff and spray my boots when I am ready to walk in. Besides that, play the wind as best you can, I also use a scent that is hard to find but seems to work well and man does it stink...Buck Johnson's animal musk its called. Good luck.
I have had as many deer dead down wind from me after using scent control products- in combination, soap, scentlock clothing, sprays, etc. as not. Wind plays tricks, and there is no substitute for good old woodsmanship and hunting the wind.
Several years back on a bear hunt after not seing bears for four nights, the group and guides were very detailed in pulling out of me the routine I used for going "scentless". They rolled thier eyes at what I, and many hunters, did typically. The "scentless" products have thier own scents. No avoiding it, and and they are foreign to the woods. the next evening I did a basic (unscented) wash, put on my clothes that I had in a bag of local leaves, and saw (and shot) bears. Daniel Boone, Davey Crockett, Jeremiah Johnston...take your pick. they probably smelled like a rotting pot of maggots. Learn woodsmanship.
I tip my hat to hunters that go to extreme lenghts to try to be scent free. I also think most of it is a waste of time and money. Trying to keep hunting clothes as scent free as possible is crucial. No use spending time trying to see/shoot deer when you hunting gear smells like gasoline, smoke and other nasty odors. But trying to fool a deer's nose by using scent free sprays, etc IMHO, is not going to matter. If I am upwind from a deer, he will have a hard time picking up my scent. If I am downwind of that same deer, I will be busted every time, no matter how much spray I use.
If you think it helps, continue to use it. I have no right to tell any hunters what to use or what not to use. The sense of smell of deer is legendary. Most humans cannot comprehend how well they can smell. My strategy is simple. I try to keep my hunting clothes and all gear as scent free as I can by keeping it away from nasty odors not found in the woods. I then hunt high to try to keep my scent above the deer and always hunt the wind.
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I store all of my hunting supplies in a rubber made tote during the off season. About two months before season opens I get everything out and wash it with non uv/scent killing soap. From that day on it hangs out on the clothes line on a porch outside the house. EVERYTHING is out there. From my socks to my climber. Anything that has any fabric that can pick up scent. I also use the scentless deoderant and do take scent away showers (usually only until I get my buck). I would also suggest putting your clothes back into the container and dressing in the field. Spray with scent killer. Some people here say that they dont believe in it, but honestly I do. And it sures the heck wont hurt to use it. I dont even bother with hunting the wind and have great sucess. Take it for what its worth but I wouldnt change a thing.
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Weapon of choice: 2008 PSE X-Force SS
I agree with everyone's statements about playing the wind as that is everything. As far as scent control I think that keeping your camo scent free, your boots, your arm pits, mouth (after eating) and breath. However, what if you are in a stand or blind and are calling in a buck. If you were simply ambushing then you can play the wind, but if calling do they not usually circle your location and approach down wind?
Temperature is also a factor. When it's warm and a deer gets down wind, he will almost always smell you. I don't get winded as much when cold weather starts. Evening hunts are worse than morning hunts because scent drifts up in the morning as the temperature rises and drifts down in the evening when it is getting cooler. Try to stay scent-free as much as you can and hunt the wind and you will still get winded if a deer gets down wind, but you can hunt stands which are set up according to different wind directions.
_ _ _Death Comes Out the End of This Thing _ _ _
