zubba

With bow season around the corner, a lot of us are either in the middle of hanging stands or will be doing it within the next couple weeks. The #1 things most hunters battle is scent and scent control. It is a known fact that a mature-wise buckmay change his pattern and never be seen again in an area after he has caught wind of some human action.

So....when it is 80-90 degrees outside, your hanging stands, and sweat is dripping off your face likea leaky faucet...how do you handle this? A lot of times I'll be sweating to death hanging stands andI think.....if a mature buck is around here, he will never come back, this place is infested with human scent now.

I try to take as much scent control percaution as I can. But when you start sweating, you can't stop it. Of couse I have a climbing treestand, so I'm sure that will be a lot of peoples comebacks. But I also have some chain-on and ladder stands as well. So don't get me wrong, I love my climber...but I also like the ease of use when climbing up a ladder stand.

So am I misunderstanding something about mature bucks and their patterns? Will hanging stands (and dripping sweat all over the woods) not affect my hunt as much as I think? And what does everyone else do?

devil dog

I guess it really depends on your location, if you hunt semi urban areas like I do, it really doesnt matter. The deer are use to human sents and it really doesnt bother them as much as if you might be out were deer dont have much human contact. To this I would say, take along some cover sents, fox urine would be best, after you get through with your duties, cover the area with the sent and move on out and dont go back until opening morning.

Siman08/OH

I dont beleive in the fact that a large mature buck will change his patterns if he smells human scent. In my area, people walk everywhere, there is no way a buck could find a place where humans dont go. We have some pretty big whitetails around here and they stay around and are seen in places where people frequent all the time. I dont worry alot about scent becouse the deer is going to smell you anyways.

tsoc

I think the answer has to do with how much time there is between when you set your stands and when your season begins.Like the other gentleman said,if you are in a semi urban area,all deer will tolerate much more intrusion and odor.
The settle down and get back to normal time will vary depending upon how accustomed the deer are to intrusion.Ideally we would all set all of our stands or stand locations in the winter.In my area the hunting pressure is such that you really can't count on bucks making it through.So while I will visit stand locations through out the late summer,stands will go up in tree's up until a week or two prior to the season opening on 10/15.I want to see evidence of a better buck making it through.I am hoping the use of trail camera's assists me to some degree,I am now using a couple.

Jim_IV

i put mine out when its 100 and im pouring sweat as well. i look at it this way, 1. i wont be in and out of there very often, 2.i will leave sent but it will be carried away, 3. its got to rain sometime right?

johnnydialtone

Try hanging your stands just before it rains. The rain will dilute the scent you left.

GTOHunter

If you hang your stands early your scent will be long gone when it comes time to start hunting,when Bow Season startsjust be sure to stay scent-free and sneak in and out of your stand so you don't scare any deer away.I have a ladder stand that I have kept out in the woods for the past 2 years and I left 1 older climbing stand in the middlebottom field on our farm,the other climbing stand and hang-on stand I have will be put up around August 15 (1 month before our MO. Bow Season opening).Oh yeah....I have a Camo Blind that I will put out around 2 weeks before Bow Season.

Philg

I agree with Cay4redneck.

fetzeriiif

The only time you need to worry is if you hang it the day you hunt from it. I have a couple of homemade elevated mansions. Each of these took a lot of work to get up and a lot of sweat ended up everywhere. Within days of putting these up, my cameras picked up pictures of mature bucks within feet of the platform.

mauser06

i been pondering this exzact thing...also some last minute scouting needs done...i didnt hang my 2 lock ons yet because treestands dont last long around here...but will do it soon...

my thinking is do it on a rainy day...will be more quiet and scent should be washed away...also going to spray myself down before doing it...try to keep things to a minimum..i can have my 2 lock ons hung during an afternoon and not get too soaked...i rather do it in the rain than 95 degrees and sunny...screwing them steps in is the worst part lol...not to mention im stealing someones idea of using my climber to hang my lock ons...i dont know if i will do the steps like that though...i never did them, just watched dad a couple times so i dont know the spacing or placement..think it will be easier as i go up the tree...and take the bottom 4-6 home with me...