Hoytail Hunter

I'm not saying for sure either way because the experience that prompted me to ask this could just be pure coincidence but...

Last Wednesday I got off work early afternoon and it was an 80 degree day so I was already sweating all day. I was short on time plus I had to pick up 2 guys so I just threw my hunting clothes on. When we got to the woodsI sprayed my shoes down and nothing else. I think 3/4 the scent transfer is through the shoes so that's all I do.

Anyway, I just picked a tree in a new part of the forest and just climbed it. Once I got to the top and had a better view, I decided to get down and move to another tree 30yds away. At 6:20 a lone doe comes walking into the acorns right through the same exact area I'd been stepping all over just 1.5 hrs ago. In fact she walked within a few yards of my original tree. She showed no signs that she'd detected any human scent then walked towards me, and I put her down.

Sooo... if deercan't see what's not there,will they also not smell what's downwind?

To cite a past post of GregH's

Yet he kills bigbucks every year.

Austin/WI

I don't think it is that important if you hunt the wind religiously. If you don't even think about going out to a stand because the wind isn't perfect for that stand, then I don't think that scent control is that important. However, there are soooo many variables in this equation that if Einstein was a hunter, he'd still be scratchin his head

So my final verdict on scent control reads something like this. Play the wind perfect - not necessary, But why chance it. If the wind isn't 100% perfect (which it rarely is for most people, most of the time) then why risk going in "naked", so to speak. This is why I will do my best to hunt both scent free as I can and the wind as well.

PreacherTony

I hunt the wind AND practice some sort of scent control ..... why not? If the spray will take gas smell off your hands, then it is doing something substantial ..... that being said,

mauser06

might get by and get lucky.....

but, sooner or later one will sneak in downwind unexpectedly...or will cross your trail before you get a shot and will pick up on it...or maybe theres an area being used by the deer downwind of you that you overlooked or whatever....

i had a mature doe and yearlings come into my setup 2 years ago....of all places to eat the mature doe picked DIRECTLY under my tree...i had to look THROUGH the slats on my stand to see her at the base of my tree...."oh nooooo" i just setup my climber and walked around the tree a couple times....been there a couple other times recently...peed and spit from my stand....for sure shes gunna bust me...that day i left my pull up rope hanging down...it was maybe a foot from the ground...she bumped it...which made her sniff it...tail went up and she jumped back...trotted to her yearlings 10yds away and she cautiously kept looking around and made it out of there...never blew or anything...but she had me....i never sprayed that rope..its always in the pouch when i spray the stand down.....i now open the pouch and spray inside when spraying the stand...

i spray everything every hunt....stand, pack, release, mist the bow, myself...everything....everything is washed and in a bin i keep in the SUV all season long...i still spray it down and mist it quick as it goes back into the box after the hunt...shower...i try to cover my bases....just to go as low key as possible...just for those times when the wind shifts...or he crosses my trail...or whatever....its not uncommon for my winds to shift a couple times a day...drives me NUTS...and to top it off, the deer seem to come from any direction because theres good bedding all around my main spot at home...

pain in the butt to goto your hunting spot and get out and have to change and all that...spray and soaps and stuff isnt cheap....but im serious about my hunting and want to maximize my chances...and since i started my routine ive seen more and havent seen negative results since....im sure i still get busted and dont know it....but ive had a gray fox downwind and cross my trail and never flinch...as well as many deer....

TEmbry

Woah, I had no clue it would do this, im gunna have to test it just for the sake of it now.

That is sure a confidence booster in the sprays if itll do that. I usually spray down, always wash the clothes in scent free wash, and usually pay attn to wind....never wear carbon clothing....and I seem to do fine, not referring to success...just the fact that i am rarely busted by smell, almost always movement that gets me. hoping some new camo will help this.

KodiakArcher

I'll go through the scent reduction routine if I'm hunting out of a stand but if I'm spot and stalk hunting in the mountains (like usual) scent control is impossible so you've got to pay attention to the wind and pray it doesn't get fickle on you. Same goes for bear hunting, you can throw scent control out the window because you just can't stop them from smelling you unless you stay downwind. Comparing a bear's nose to a deer's is like comparing an eagle's eyes to a blind man. You can maybe fool that deer's nose sometimes with scent control but you better still be paying attention to the wind.

PreacherTony

Trevor ... test it out ... it works!

Hoyt_Viper

My reply is that thermals will nail you. I get as high as I can in my stand so that the wind doesnt play into my sittin. However you cannot avoid entering the woods and not paying attention to the wind.

dukemichaels

Yes.

The wind is easy to predict under normal circumstance.

However, very few, understand thermals. Thermals end more days a'field than most care to admit. And many don't even know.

Heck.. I understand them well. And am an fanatic with my scent control.. and they STILL screw me from time to time. Once already this year![:@]

The fact that another hunter does one thing that most hunters don't do is not something you should think you can get away with.

ALL properties are different. Understand the whitetails that live there.

I've hunted ALL over. MANY different locations. I've hunted areas 20 minutes apart where you'd think you were hunting 2 different animals. Spots where 2 yr. olds act like 1 yr. olds (not very intelligent).. and spots where 2 yr olds act like 5 yr olds (very very cautious).

Planter

The wind flavor of the day is what decides where I'm gonna sit and all my clothes are washed in scentaway and sprayed more than they should be.

But.. I have kiled deer with a sandwich in my hand and a cigarette in my in my mouthand thewind right at them. Never smoke anymore. Doesn't make much sense after all the work trying to be scent free..