Alsatian

Of course, we have scent-free laundry soap so our hunting clothes don't tip off our presence to the deer (including no ultraviolet brighteners which are common in ordinary commercial laundry soaps), we have scent-free body soap so when we shower we don't tip off the deer with our scented hand soaps, and this camoflaged gum is just a logical continuation of this product trend. I do the scent-free laundry soap and scent-free body soap. I had never heard of the camoflaged gum product, but guessed that brushing my teeth with mint fresh Pepsident probably would defeat the scent-free philosophy, so I usually brush my teeth in the morning before a deer hunt with a mixture of baking soda and salt, which is what I understand people used to brush their teeth with before our modern tooth powders and tooth pastes. Note that the camoflage gum refers to camoflaging one's breath, not to any visual characteristic of the gum itself.

Now, while I at least go through the motions of some of this scent free stuff, I'm not entirely sold on it either. For example, almost invariably I work up at least a little bit of a sweat trudging through the woods in the dark getting to my hunting spot (I usually hunt from a ground ambush, such as in the shadow of a tree behind some low brush). How much effect does the scent free actions have when you have sweated up your scent-free clothes?

If you are really serious about the scent-free philosophy you need to also consider what you eat. For example, I have heard that eating onions, garlic, or drinking alcohol can cause human beings to have a strong body odor. Hence, if you are really wanting to go scent-free in the deer woods, you will want to restrict your eating habits appropriately, at least during the hunt and maybe a day or two before the hunt.

Maybe these matters are more important to bow hunters. Since you should always hunt down wind of your quarry, can these guys really smell you at 50 yards or more? If you don't have the wind in your favor, is the scent-free dance going to work sufficiently well? Maybe all this scent-free stuff is just a way for shrewd business men to pocket some of the money of the sportsmen? How did deer hunters succeed taking deer forty years ago? Do we take more or better deer now because of having these products?