Get the deer used to your scent
07-12-2008, 09:15 AM
#1
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Oklahoma City, OK
Posts: 1,184
Get the deer used to your scent
Okay, there seems to be a lot of misconception about scent IMHO. I see guys spending literally hundreds upon hundreds of dollars to stay scent free. [&:]
However, I have taken a different approach. I check my feeders regularlyand never worry about my scent. Actually, when the deer smell my scent they associate it with corn. I've literally had manydeer an hour after I leave come hit the corn with not a worry in the world (I know this because of my cameras.) If you are in your woods enough and don't worry about scent protection they won't associate this "new" scent with danger.
I also love the guys in the carbon suits who are freakish about their scent, but ride to theirlocation on a 4 wheeler. Or the guy peeing off his stand.
The simple logic is they not only get used to your scent, but associate it with feed. Kind of like Pavlov's dog experiment.I have no problem spraying your clothes down with a little scent shield, but some people go too far IMO. My dad taught me this a long time ago, and we have never had a problem taking deer. Maybe some deer react differently, but I haven't experienced any problems in my area.
However, I have taken a different approach. I check my feeders regularlyand never worry about my scent. Actually, when the deer smell my scent they associate it with corn. I've literally had manydeer an hour after I leave come hit the corn with not a worry in the world (I know this because of my cameras.) If you are in your woods enough and don't worry about scent protection they won't associate this "new" scent with danger.
I also love the guys in the carbon suits who are freakish about their scent, but ride to theirlocation on a 4 wheeler. Or the guy peeing off his stand.
The simple logic is they not only get used to your scent, but associate it with feed. Kind of like Pavlov's dog experiment.I have no problem spraying your clothes down with a little scent shield, but some people go too far IMO. My dad taught me this a long time ago, and we have never had a problem taking deer. Maybe some deer react differently, but I haven't experienced any problems in my area.
07-12-2008, 09:52 AM
#2
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Texas
Posts: 2,363
RE: Get the deer used to your scent
I agree with a portion of what you are saying, the part about deer associating your scent with feed, I will agree with that. The part that I will throw out there is that you won't have your best buck's come to that feeder in the daylight very often, at least thats what I have found to be true in the last 20 years or so. I use feeders but I don't hunt them for buck's, I shoot my hogs and the wife and daughter get some doe's off the feeder but very seldom canI remember (in my region) having a mature buck at a feeder. I believe that to get a mature buck you have to get off the beaten path and to do that without being detected you must be as scent free as possible and play the wind to the best of your ability. Just my thoughts on the feeder/scent subject.
07-12-2008, 10:00 AM
#3
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Central Minnesota
Posts: 9,445
RE: Get the deer used to your scent
Robb they are associating your scent and the feed together, they know thats a good thing. When your out in the woods hunting without a feeder they associate scent from humans as danger, not feed.
07-12-2008, 10:04 AM
#4
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Iowa (Heartland USA)
Posts: 3,249
RE: Get the deer used to your scent
Thats all fine and dandy if you live in an area where you can bait. Here in Iowa, you can feed deer if you so desire, but you cannot hunt any trails leading to or from the feeder or the feeder itself. The deer are not afraid of me when I am on the tractor. They will walk in front of me in fact. But if I stop the tractor and get off, they are out of there! If I walk around the property, bedded deer will get up and run. Yes, deer do associate some things as non threatening, but still consider a human on foot as a threat. I would also go as far as to say the deer at your feeder wait until your scent is not real fresh until approaching, thus knowing that the threat has left.
07-12-2008, 10:17 AM
#6
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Oklahoma City, OK
Posts: 1,184
RE: Get the deer used to your scent
ORIGINAL: AF Hunter
Thats all fine and dandy if you live in an area where you can bait. Here in Iowa, you can feed deer if you so desire, but you cannot hunt any trails leading to or from the feeder or the feeder itself. The deer are not afraid of me when I am on the tractor. They will walk in front of me in fact. But if I stop the tractor and get off, they are out of there! If I walk around the property, bedded deer will get up and run. Yes, deer do associate some things as non threatening, but still consider a human on foot as a threat. I would also go as far as to say the deer at your feeder wait until your scent is not real fresh until approaching, thus knowing that the threat has left.
Thats all fine and dandy if you live in an area where you can bait. Here in Iowa, you can feed deer if you so desire, but you cannot hunt any trails leading to or from the feeder or the feeder itself. The deer are not afraid of me when I am on the tractor. They will walk in front of me in fact. But if I stop the tractor and get off, they are out of there! If I walk around the property, bedded deer will get up and run. Yes, deer do associate some things as non threatening, but still consider a human on foot as a threat. I would also go as far as to say the deer at your feeder wait until your scent is not real fresh until approaching, thus knowing that the threat has left.
Schultzy, when I am scouting I put just a touch of coon pee on my boots just in case. Oh.. and the real reason for mebringing this up was my Dad's argument.Last year he was smoking in his blind and killed a nice 10 point buck, and he looked and me and said I'm sorry, but this scent stuff is crap.His point washehas never concerned himself with scent andalways taken large deer. However, I reminded him that we alwayscamp when we hunt, sosome of the fire pit smoke may help him a bit.
Hey, if you want to put scent shield and a bit of coon pee to mask your scent I'm all for that. However, guys that spend hundreds of dollars on scent free clothing etc.. might be wasting their money. In short, I feel we give deer too much credit.
07-12-2008, 10:20 AM
#7
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Oklahoma City, OK
Posts: 1,184
RE: Get the deer used to your scent
ORIGINAL: OKbowhunter20
The deer that you seemay assocciate your scent with feed.
The big boy you never see is smarter than that.
The deer that you seemay assocciate your scent with feed.
The big boy you never see is smarter than that.
If you hunt in a pressured area throw away everything I have suggested.
07-12-2008, 10:37 AM
#8
Typical Buck
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Panhandle of Texas
Posts: 596
RE: Get the deer used to your scent
Deer, like coyotes have proven to be very adaptable to their environment and is why they are thriving and can become a nuisance in suburban areas.
So are they tolerate of some human scent in certain situations/locations? Absolutely, but it doesn't necessarily mean that tolerance includes daytime movement.
Younger deer, yes, but I don't believe you can "train" deer,especially mature deer, to associate human scent with something good unless maybe in a park or similar environment where there has not been anything bad associated with humans for several generations of deer.
Mature deer, doe or buck, are extremely cautious by nature and I believe will ALWAYS react NEGATIVELY to the intrusion of human scent. They will go almost 100% nocturnal quickly, very quickly. They will avoid certain areas quickly, very quickly.
As far as trying to mask or eliminate scent in any effective way, I agree with you that it is an exercise in futility, but that doesn't mean I can get them used to my scent and become more tolerant by frequent trips to the woods. JMHO
The key is to get in and out of your hunting areas with as little disturbance as possible, to not leave more of a scent trail coming and going, and to be selective of when to hunt a particular stand.
So are they tolerate of some human scent in certain situations/locations? Absolutely, but it doesn't necessarily mean that tolerance includes daytime movement.
Younger deer, yes, but I don't believe you can "train" deer,especially mature deer, to associate human scent with something good unless maybe in a park or similar environment where there has not been anything bad associated with humans for several generations of deer.
Mature deer, doe or buck, are extremely cautious by nature and I believe will ALWAYS react NEGATIVELY to the intrusion of human scent. They will go almost 100% nocturnal quickly, very quickly. They will avoid certain areas quickly, very quickly.
As far as trying to mask or eliminate scent in any effective way, I agree with you that it is an exercise in futility, but that doesn't mean I can get them used to my scent and become more tolerant by frequent trips to the woods. JMHO
The key is to get in and out of your hunting areas with as little disturbance as possible, to not leave more of a scent trail coming and going, and to be selective of when to hunt a particular stand.
07-12-2008, 10:48 AM
#9
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Central Minnesota
Posts: 9,445
RE: Get the deer used to your scent
ORIGINAL: robbcayman
My trail camera shows this not to be true. Seriously, literally after an hour I have had lots of deer in there, so my fresh scent didn't scare them away. In fact, if I were to guess my scent is like a dinner bell.I understand if you can't bait that this argument may notbe usefulto you, but it works for me.
Schultzy, when I am scouting I put just a touch of coon pee on my boots just in case. Oh.. and the real reason for mebringing this up was my Dad's argument.Last year he was smoking in his blind and killed a nice 10 point buck, and he looked and me and said I'm sorry, but this scent stuff is crap.His point washehas never concerned himself with scent andalways taken large deer. However, I reminded him that we alwayscamp when we hunt, sosome of the fire pit smoke may help him a bit.
Hey, if you want to put scent shield and a bit of coon pee to mask your scent I'm all for that. However, guys that spend hundreds of dollars on scent free clothing etc.. might be wasting their money. In short, I feel we give deer too much credit.
ORIGINAL: AF Hunter
Thats all fine and dandy if you live in an area where you can bait. Here in Iowa, you can feed deer if you so desire, but you cannot hunt any trails leading to or from the feeder or the feeder itself. The deer are not afraid of me when I am on the tractor. They will walk in front of me in fact. But if I stop the tractor and get off, they are out of there! If I walk around the property, bedded deer will get up and run. Yes, deer do associate some things as non threatening, but still consider a human on foot as a threat. I would also go as far as to say the deer at your feeder wait until your scent is not real fresh until approaching, thus knowing that the threat has left.
Thats all fine and dandy if you live in an area where you can bait. Here in Iowa, you can feed deer if you so desire, but you cannot hunt any trails leading to or from the feeder or the feeder itself. The deer are not afraid of me when I am on the tractor. They will walk in front of me in fact. But if I stop the tractor and get off, they are out of there! If I walk around the property, bedded deer will get up and run. Yes, deer do associate some things as non threatening, but still consider a human on foot as a threat. I would also go as far as to say the deer at your feeder wait until your scent is not real fresh until approaching, thus knowing that the threat has left.
Schultzy, when I am scouting I put just a touch of coon pee on my boots just in case. Oh.. and the real reason for mebringing this up was my Dad's argument.Last year he was smoking in his blind and killed a nice 10 point buck, and he looked and me and said I'm sorry, but this scent stuff is crap.His point washehas never concerned himself with scent andalways taken large deer. However, I reminded him that we alwayscamp when we hunt, sosome of the fire pit smoke may help him a bit.
Hey, if you want to put scent shield and a bit of coon pee to mask your scent I'm all for that. However, guys that spend hundreds of dollars on scent free clothing etc.. might be wasting their money. In short, I feel we give deer too much credit.
07-12-2008, 10:51 AM
#10
Typical Buck
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location:
Posts: 509
RE: Get the deer used to your scent
I don't know that I would say that deerget used to your scent. They patteren it. Big difference. Try standing around that feeder after it goes off, or after you've filled it, and see if they'll just come browse around eating with you standing there. I'm thinking not. What your saying also goes for the sound ofa feeder. They hear it, it must be dinner time. Deer will patteren human scent.Scent up their trails, they make new ones.As AF Hunter has said, I've been on an ATV or tractor and had them just stare at me. Minute I got off, away they go. I put my house on my fifty acres this spring. Where I cleared was a big deer run. They've moved 50 yards off the clearing in the woods. It's not that they're used to the scent, they've patterned it. Do you think a deer gets used the the smell of a bear? Of coarse not. They don't look at humans any different than bears. We're all preditors in their brains.
