Unscientific Scent Elimination Spray Test
 

Although I am increasingly suspect of all of these products, this year I have done a very unscientific, but I believe a very realistic, test on two of the newer scent ‘elimination’ sprays. I subjected the X-Scent brand with its emulsified silver ions and the Dead Down Wind brand, with its enzymes, to the dreaded arm pit test.

I am not a scientist, nor the son of a scientist, and I did not sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night, but I do sweat and my armpits do stink. So, I figured since both of these products claim that they kill the bacteria that produces human odor, that I would test them on my pits in different ways. The first test was to be a post stink test, so I worked outside for a day with no deodorant on. Afterward I took the old whiff test with my own non-deer nose. Yep, both stunk about the same, as far as I could tell. So did my T-shirt at the same location. I sprayed one pit with X-Scent and the other with Dead Down Wind (DDW), and waited a few minutes. Both pits still stunk, with the X-scent one showing no sign of eliminating any of the odor. There did seem to be a slight difference with the DDW one, but only slight. Same results with the smelly T-shirt.

The next test was a pre stink spraying. I sprayed each freshly washed pit (with the HS scent elimination green soap) the next day with each product, using no deodorant again. This happened around 8:00 AM. At noon, after getting the kids ready for church, and as fate would have it, sitting in a warm church whose AC was on the fritz, I smelled my pits. Both had noticeable odor, but again, the DDW one smelled a little less than the X-Scent brand.

That’s it. Take from it what you will. As for myself, I am beginning to believe that my dollars will be better spent buying more tree stands and placing them so that I have a stand for every possible wind condition. Playing the wind seems more viable than most products ever will.

As a side note, last night I went out to one of my stands, wearing my rubber boots that have remained outside in a plastic bag, and were sprayed down with liberal amounts of Dead Down Wind before entering the woods, as were my clothes. A red fox comes trotting through the woods, hits my trail, puts his nose to the ground, and turns around and trots in a different direction. This is no big deal, by itself, except that it is the second time the same fox did the exact same thing. So, my deduction is that anyone who thinks you can move through the woods without leaving a trace of your passing to the wild critters out there are only fooling yourselves, IMHO.

PS. I will not enter into an argument with anyone on this, I’m just sharing my test for you to think about and perhaps test for yourself.

PSS. I also don’t buy into the carbon suit gimmick.

RE: Unscientific Scent Elimination Spray Test
 

i agree 100%. if a deer gets down wind of you he will bust you period end of story granted the air currents don't take your scent over the deer. last year i started taking a shower using regular soap, regular deoderant, and playing the wind. i do try to keep my rubber boots clean but agree that they will smell wherer you walked in as well on most occassions. owe by the way i took 5 deer w/ my bow. 2 bucks and 3 doe.

RE: Unscientific Scent Elimination Spray Test
 

May I make a suggestion? I learned a while ago to not store my rubber boots in a closed or sealed bag/container. My feet sweat alot, and I like to let my boots air out. Usually after a hunt they are damp inside, so I'll leave them outside if it's warm enough, or hang them on a boot dryer if it's to cold for them to dry. If I sealed that wet rubber boot in a bag, and let it set in there while it's damp with sweat, it's gonna stink. I've read and have been told that rubber is gas permeable, so what stinks on the inside, may eventually leak to the outside. And since there is no way to seal the tops of your boots to your legs in a foolproof fashion to keep the odor in for any amount of time, keeping them odor free on the inside is # 1 priority to me.....as far as footwear goes. Let them air out, sprikle some baking soda in there once awhile and empty it out occassionally. You may fool that fox...

Mikey

RE: Unscientific Scent Elimination Spray Test
 

Thanks for the suggestion, Mikey. I used to do that but started storing them this year. I will still try to minimize my scent as much as possible, but I am not dropping a lot of money into any more.

RE: Unscientific Scent Elimination Spray Test
 

why all the hype about rubber boots then?

RE: Unscientific Scent Elimination Spray Test
 

I do have the issue of sweating an awful lot, and as we all know that leads to odor. I am currently using hs scents anti persperant and I'll tell you, it works. ok, so I still sweat, but there is no stink. Not a bad way to spend three bucks.

RE: Unscientific Scent Elimination Spray Test
 

Baking Soda.


End of post.

RE: Unscientific Scent Elimination Spray Test
 

Thank you for taking the time to go through the test. Though arguably nonconclusive I still think it definitely helps to compare the two products in question. Nice job.

RE: Unscientific Scent Elimination Spray Test
 

I imagine it all started a long time ago with the hardcore trappers and carried over to the bowhunters. I could be wrong. But I still wear them, and I'm not trying to say they don't work or help in bowhunting situations. I'vespent couple seasons hunting without them also, and honestly, I couldn't see much different reactions in how deer acted when crossing my trail. If I get picked off scent wise, it'susually a deer that came in directly in my wind line. I cannot recall any deer crossing my path andbusting my scent on the ground, as long as I had on a relatively clean pair of boots(rubber or not)and pants.......at least any that were in eyesight of my stand that I could observe.

I wear them mostly out of convienence; easy to put on, I can walk anywhere, cross creeksand stay dry etc. However, I don't believe that if I switched back to my old Rocky Cordura boots, I'd stop killing deer at 10 yards. 6 of one, half dozen of the other I guess.

RE: Unscientific Scent Elimination Spray Test
 

Well I am not a scientist either , but I did a test also. I was on youth hunt with my best friends kid. I do were scent-lok from head to toe. Having met the owners of the company I truly to believe in the product. Back to the test, Jake ask me if my suit really worked. Jake I have to pass some gas stick your nose down buy my butt and I will let one rip. I did and Jake smelled nothing.
I think there is a lot of confusion about Scent-lok and other carbon suits. They do not "lock" your scent in. The Carbon acts as a filter, it filters out the order as it passes thru. This is why you need to put the suit in the dryer every 2-3 three weeks. It really does not Activate the carbon, it cleans the filters is a simple way to put it. The guys who invented Scent-LoK work with Carbon filters for Nasa on the space shuttle. These guys know what they are doing.
Last year will hunting after I shot a deer I climbed down my tree to retrieve my arrow. While getting my arrow a buck walk right up to me. He was about 10 steps away and was in Scent-lok from head to toe. He just walked around me at about 10 steps and went on with his business. The stuff works, it is not 100% but I have been using it now for 4 years and I would guess 95%-98% it works.

RE: Unscientific Scent Elimination Spray Test
 

i just started using some scent control things this season, mainly just the laundry detergent because of not having uv brightners. other than that, just the cover scent discs on my hat,and some spray, which i've questioned the effectiveness.
i've hunted for 18 years without any scent control, and never had a problem seeing or getting deer more or less than anyone else. i've taken a few big bucks, several small ones, and lots of does, all without scent control. also have had many deer walk right by or underneath me without being detected.
it seems that unless you are a scent control extremist and spend a fortune of time and $$, you're gonna have a 'scent leak' somewhere, rather than 'scent lok', making it all a wasted effort. i think it's over rated and a hugegimmick, but hey, someone's a millionare from it.
i'd rather invest my money in some good camo, warm and cool clothing, and good gear, and my time actually in the woods putting them to use. my best scent control plan is to dress appropriately and not get all sweated up heading in to the woods.

RE: Unscientific Scent Elimination Spray Test
 

I don't worry about eliminating my odor but I do try to reduce it. If I can smell myself (cologne, shampoo, deodorant) then my scent must be very strong (highly concentrated) so it increases the possibility of being scented. I use unscented HS shampoo and unscented Dial deodorant. I spray scent killer on my clothes and wash them in unscented detergent. Other than that, and not wearing my clothes into the local greasy spoon, I don't do anything and don't worry about it. I had a doe backtrack me Tuesday night to my stand and didn't seem to be bothered by it at all. All this is like the people spending all the money on top of the line golf clubs when they're scratch players. Their level of play is not going to notice or benefit enough from the higher priced clubs to justify the cost. We, as consumers, have been sold that bill of goods in every area of sports. Fred Bear didn't have any of this stuff (except maybe baking soda) and he seemed to do alright.

BTW I have abuddy that has strong BO and he found the HS deodorant works better than his regular deodorant so he uses it year round. LOL.

RE: Unscientific Scent Elimination Spray Test
 

I'll second that statement. My old girlfriend saw me putting in on one day and asked "why are you putting deer pee under your arms?"She knew it was a hunting product, she just didn't know exactly what it was......so I had to explain..........for 4 hours .......as to why I wear this deodorant.

RE: Unscientific Scent Elimination Spray Test
 

I agree with you both, I to hunted for 15 years with any problems. The issue is this, we all talk about encounters we had with deer we seen. What about deer smelled us before we could see him? Smelled our scent were we walked in to the woods? Those are the encounters were I believe Scent control helps. I see more deer now than I did before I used scent-lok(hunting same farm). I see bigger more mature bucks. I never hunt a stand unless the wind is right. When I am in my stand I could take the suit off and be fine being I am up over 20 ft. It is walking to and from my stand is my big concearn. I hunt in MI were there is a bit more pressure, which makes the whitetails more nervous.

RE: Unscientific Scent Elimination Spray Test
 

Loud ones don't stink though right ? Bowhunters, gotta love em.

RE: Unscientific Scent Elimination Spray Test
 

It was silent

RE: Unscientific Scent Elimination Spray Test
 

I agree