Is scent control overrated?
10-24-2008, 10:46 PM
#12
Site Buck Guru
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Racine, Wisconsin
Posts: 5,922
RE: Is scent control overrated?
ORIGINAL: Hoytail Hunter
Yesterday I was out with the Primos Buck Roar and a set of rattling antlers.5 minutes after a grunt, wheeze, grunt, roar, rattle sequence, a buck came in downwind, scented me, and blew. I was clean, had freshly Atsko washed camo on, rubber boots, gloves, and sprayed down. It was a pretty cool day and I walked slowly to my stand so I didn't sweat at all... yet I got winded 60yds away.
I think trying to beat a deer's nose is a losing battle. You just can't outsmart mother nature. All these extra steps and still got busted 60yds away. I think when any deer is within 100yds directly downwind, the gig is up regardless what precautions you've taken. If you're breathing, they will pick up on that human odor... PERIOD.
Yesterday I was out with the Primos Buck Roar and a set of rattling antlers.5 minutes after a grunt, wheeze, grunt, roar, rattle sequence, a buck came in downwind, scented me, and blew. I was clean, had freshly Atsko washed camo on, rubber boots, gloves, and sprayed down. It was a pretty cool day and I walked slowly to my stand so I didn't sweat at all... yet I got winded 60yds away.
I think trying to beat a deer's nose is a losing battle. You just can't outsmart mother nature. All these extra steps and still got busted 60yds away. I think when any deer is within 100yds directly downwind, the gig is up regardless what precautions you've taken. If you're breathing, they will pick up on that human odor... PERIOD.
The scent control method that works best for me is the wind. I place myself where the wind will blow my scent away from deer.
10-25-2008, 01:15 AM
#13
Dominant Buck
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location:
Posts: 21,043
RE: Is scent control overrated?
I've started trying to play the wind this year. In the past.....I've "thought" I've had deer come in from downwind of me....and I've killed some of those deer. Here's the thing, though.....get yourself some sort of windicator. Downwind of you doesn't necessarily mean that anything in that direction is getting your scent cone. I was over a trail yesterday in a gulch. Scent was blowing right towards it. Just before getting there, though.....it shot STRAIGHT UP the ridge in a thermal. I would have been just fine had something come down that way.
I think people DO kill deer downwind of them. I just think their scent is never getting to those animals via thermals or something else. I just don't think (anymore) that you can fool 'em.
I still go through all the scent control steps I always have......and I will continue to. If nothing else....it's important for entrance/exit.
I think this was a good post --
I think people DO kill deer downwind of them. I just think their scent is never getting to those animals via thermals or something else. I just don't think (anymore) that you can fool 'em.
I still go through all the scent control steps I always have......and I will continue to. If nothing else....it's important for entrance/exit.
I think this was a good post --
No big mystery...Have you ever driven by a house with a fire lit in the fireplace and seen the smoke go straight up??? The next day, it might run parallel to the ground for awhile and then go to the ground...
Weather conditions, barometer, humidity, all have their effect on if the scent (of smoke) goes up and over a deer or down and to a deer...
Weather conditions, barometer, humidity, all have their effect on if the scent (of smoke) goes up and over a deer or down and to a deer...
10-25-2008, 07:27 AM
#16
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location:
Posts: 13,082
RE: Is scent control overrated?
Personally, I think scent control is UNDERrated. I don't think enough emphasis is placed on it. Oh sure, we shower and wash our clothes, but the small details make the difference. Touch your clothes with your bare hands when taking them out of the dryer....Not washing the towel you dry off with.....Not keeping your boots scent free........Chlorophyll to reduce body odor......
Can we eliminate human odor 100%? Nope. But my goal is do reduce it enough to fool the deer into thinking I am much farther away than I really am.
Can we eliminate human odor 100%? Nope. But my goal is do reduce it enough to fool the deer into thinking I am much farther away than I really am.
10-25-2008, 08:30 AM
#17
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 3
RE: Is scent control overrated?
Scent control is one of the key aspects to deer hunting. I agree it's underrated. But, no matter how much preparation on scent you do, you can still get winded. However, scent control is never going to hurt your hunting experience. It can only improve your results. Keep in mind though that sometimes it's just not your day and your going to have bad luck. That buck that winded you didn't get that big by not smelling human scent. You show me a buck that has never smelled a human and I will have him in the back of my truck.
10-25-2008, 09:14 AM
#18
Join Date: May 2008
Location:
Posts: 2,434
RE: Is scent control overrated?
The deer that I hunt, you could be soaked in gasoline and still have them come in downwind. The deer in my neck of the woods are just so used to humans they really arnt effected by it. I cant tell you how many deer my neighbor shot while smoking and drinking sitting on a bucket in a carhartt and blue jeans.
10-25-2008, 10:35 AM
#19
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Decatur, IN
Posts: 1,425
RE: Is scent control overrated?
I must be the luckiest hunter ever, b/c the deer don't ever get spooked by the scent of a human. Then again, we're out in the fields farming all year, in the woods cutting fire wood, hunting small game and birds, etc...
It's no zoo, we're very rural for NE Indiana. The deer see and smell us all year though...it's been that way since before I was born. So to myself and friends/family that hunt here, scent control is a waste of time and money. I don't go into the woods smelling like my wife's perfume or the apple pie she baked...I keep my hunting clothes in a self made wooded closet in the basement. Other than that, zero scent control and we've all harvested large bucks from my family's land.
When I hunt my in-law's land in Wisconsin, I've yet to see a deer totally bust out b/c I wasn't 100% scent free. It's just been my experience that it's mainly a marketing tool to make us want to buy their product.
It's no zoo, we're very rural for NE Indiana. The deer see and smell us all year though...it's been that way since before I was born. So to myself and friends/family that hunt here, scent control is a waste of time and money. I don't go into the woods smelling like my wife's perfume or the apple pie she baked...I keep my hunting clothes in a self made wooded closet in the basement. Other than that, zero scent control and we've all harvested large bucks from my family's land.
When I hunt my in-law's land in Wisconsin, I've yet to see a deer totally bust out b/c I wasn't 100% scent free. It's just been my experience that it's mainly a marketing tool to make us want to buy their product.
10-25-2008, 10:40 AM
#20
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Decatur, IN
Posts: 1,425
RE: Is scent control overrated?
ORIGINAL: Bowtech 360
The deer that I hunt, you could be soaked in gasoline and still have them come in downwind. The deer in my neck of the woods are just so used to humans they really arnt effected by it. I cant tell you how many deer my neighbor shot while smoking and drinking sitting on a bucket in a carhartt and blue jeans.
The deer that I hunt, you could be soaked in gasoline and still have them come in downwind. The deer in my neck of the woods are just so used to humans they really arnt effected by it. I cant tell you how many deer my neighbor shot while smoking and drinking sitting on a bucket in a carhartt and blue jeans.
Yup, before I was born my gpa harvested several wall-hangers while smoking and wearing his farm overalls.
I think a large part of scent control is wear you're from. If you're hunting in the middle of nowhere, at a place where the deer have never seen a human.....scent control might pay off...IF the deer is freaked out by the new scent he's come acrossed.
Most places however, in this day and age, have humans at least somewhat close by.