Ok bow hunters give me the truth about the wind
 

Guys,

I hunt with a couple of buddies that feel like the wind doesn't matter now that they have sent lock suits and scent lock undergarments. They spray down with HS scent away and where rubber boots. I have all the same gear, but still enter my a stand that is favorable to the wind direction. We argue about this all the time. I don't like them hunting a stand when the wind isn't right. I feel it tips the deer off on the trails, then shuts things down. Seriously tell me your opinion. Does the wind matter anymore?

Yes, it does matter. You are right and your friends are wrong.

Yes it matters ALOT!!!! Scentlok suits are being proven to be marginally effective at best.............I have a sentblocker jacket but don't trust it. It is the warmest jacket i have though..

they say u dont hve to worry about it with scent lock but i sure as heck wouldnt risk it...deer r smarter then we r

I just want to hunt the property next to you while they are hunting.
You already know your answer.

Coming into bowhunting, I know I underestimated their nose. I don't, now. I agree with Greg, wholeheartedly.

People can say anything they like....and believe such. A hunter can't mask ALL of his scent......and the exposed areas are (IMO) the WORST for transmitting human odor (the mouth being No.1).

What would bother the crap outta me is.......wondering what smelled me and skirted me....that I never heard nor saw. We've all been busted by our scent. Period. If I get busted, opening morning (or any time after), I'll find solace in knowing it was my setup (which allowed deer to come in from downwind of me) that did me in....and not my refusal to properly play the wind.

There are plenty of instances where you can have deer come in from downwind of you and not smell you. But, these have more to do with currents/thermals.....and nothing (IMO) to do with them smelling a "little" of you....and not caring.

x 3. They may get away with it with young deer, but a mature buck, doe will do a 180 at the first human wiff.

i think human odor is a big factor. for the most part its hard to play the wind where i hunt because the deer come from any direction. its extremely thick woods. i hunt regardless of wind direction. if i alert deer i give that area a break for a week or so and hunt where i think the deer moved to. i do use scent elim and try to use red fox urine or deer urine around my stand.

As Greg stated; "your friends are wrong". The suits may help lower your scent, and I believe they do. They don't however get rid of your scent all toghether and nothing ever will. I have worn my full scent lock and had deer go down wind of me and not smell me....or enough of me to get alarmed and keep walking. I've had it on and had deer stop and sniff and turn around and walk away and leave because they were not comfortable because they smelled enough of me. I've had deer slam on the breaks and blow and bolt away with my scent lock on because they smelt all of me at that point. It all depends on wind, thermals, heat, raining, not raining, light wind, stong wind, moring hunt, evening hunt and many other factors. Thats why its called hunting. Your buddies are ignorant to think they are now invicible to deer because of scent lock. Its to bad they are wrecking your spot because of this. Good luck

Wind matters! I have shot deer at twenty yard in a tripod stand out in the open, with the wind in my face. Wearing a black cowboy hat, red shirt, blue jeans and cologne.. Wind is the most important thing in my book.

The #1 key to killing an old buck is having the wind in your favor. Without A doubt. I've been wearing scent lok for 11 years now. I still like doing everything in my power to minimize scent and to leave very little human odor behind no matter which way the wind is blowing.

I hunt the wind every time I am out. I do not wear scent blocking clothing at all. I store my clothes in a container with an 'earth' scented wafer. I open the container and it smells like dirt.

I park my truck, get out and spray down with scent killer or the same earth scent and then put a drag rag on (last few weeks of bow season) or put a 'trail maker' lure on my boots and walk to my spot. I've had countless number of deer walk over my path, from first year fawns to a 150"+ 10 point and not one of them ever stopped when crossing my path.

The wind and thermals will move your scent away from an area, just make sure the wind isn't blowing toward where you expect the deer to come from.

I also touch nothing with my hands on the way in. How many guys walk thru the woods touching every branch in their way. that leaves scent longer because of the oil on your hands.

Umm Im going to say the wind doesn't matter as much as the thermel's do.

I just want to say that I LOVE your avatar. :party0005:

Really certainly definitely matters.

you can all disagree with but i think scent lok is a bunch of bull all i do is i wash my gear in baking soda and spray my gear down with homemade coverup scent

I too use baking soda, I brush my teeth with it and use it with other gimick scent free detergent. Curious what is your homemade coverup scent? Mine is usually "BAR"

the wind is your friend or the evil thing that can kill a trophy hunt. Play it. Beside we are all finding out the truth about scent lok. Though when i get down to the size where i can buy it i will

You can't fool a deers nose. Neevr hunt when the wind isn't in your favor...NEVER. Don't tell your friends though ,so that deer don't get killed by them and reach maturity for you to kill.:guiness:

I learned a lot about critters nose from moose hunting. Granted moose have better smell than deer, but while in Newfoundland, we would sit there in black spruce totally hidden watching moose over 150 yards away. We watched them sitting there feeding for 20 min while the wind was in our favor. It suddenly changed and swirled and went right for them. And those moose looked like someone shot them. They actually winded us 150yards away. Thats impressive.

Nuf said!

My time is valuable to me. When I go to my stand I want to see deer. Scentlock or not, I am sitting downwind from the trail. When I can smell the fart coming up through my suit I know the deer can too.

By now I'm sure you've figured out your freinds need to get a big clue. Any deer hunter knows that wind and movement are the 2 major factors of a successful day in the woods, WITH WIND BEING NUMBER 1 IMO.(since wind will get you busted from a long distance, way before movement will.) I do everything I can to mask it but like someone said above, theres too many aresa to cover them all and you can never cover them all. You sure your friends arent spokesmen for the scentlok company? :)

Short answer yes it does matter. Longer answer, all the things your frinends are doing for scent prevention are good and help, but nothing can stop 100% of scent. My thought has always been that those things help because instead of leaving 100% of my scent everywhere I'm leaving 50%. And less scent may make a deer think that its old scent and are less alarmed by it. Yes I have had deer downwind of me with scentlock on, but nothing with age. At best they just walk off instead of running off as they just aren't sure about the scent, maybe because it wasn't as strong I guess. If I had to choose to spend my money on it would be more stands/stand locations to hunt the wind better then on scentlock

I think u are right and i do the same things

When I was growing up 1st thing anyone taught a person about white tail. They LIVE by nose. Yes excellent hearing and eagle-eye sight. I don't know how often I've seen a deer spoke at a shift in the wind. Camo can conseal you. Wind/rain cover your sound, providing your not making a huge racket. Heck deer will even investigate sometime when sighting or hearing you in the woods. Until they catch your scent. Scentlok or no. human scent, unless you wrestle with a skunk, can not be completely covered if the wind is wrong. Just what I was always taught.

Wind matters. That's why you spray down really good no matter what type of hunting suit you have. Them deer smell really good lol, so you better spray down or all the big bucks will smell you.

If it didn't matter you wouldn't be seeing the deer get wind of all the hunters on TV these days because the vast majority of them were the Scent Block stuff. They still get winded, therefore they are not that effective.

Deer seem to come from down wind of me no matter what I do. I do what I can. Swirling wind is the worst. Scent garments work if they are taken care of. There like a plastic bag made out of cloth. Darn near rubber boot quality without the sweat. One big cover scent and after cooking them in the dryer they smell burnt. Have ya seen the smokers they're sellin these days? Washing the stuff kills the garment that's because your washing out the stuff that gets cooked, still the garment is a very tight weave.

On cold days I have several layers on. When the stuff is woods ready it's got to be trapping a whole lot of me inside those "bags".

Scent loc is a gimic that will reduce smell, to an extent. Got to realize that most of your stink comes from your mouth. Scent loc wont do a thing for that. If the wind is not right, you will get busted. Stupid young deer will sometimes ignore you, to and extent, but you will not get a mature deer down wind from you with just scent loc. I have seen it. Got friends who felt that way untill they kept getting busted. Had trouble tagging decent deer. And once they started playing the wind, and not going out and stinking up their best spots, they started tagging nice deer.


If you dont play the wind, it wont matter what you do, you will get busted.

If they were out they alone...I couldn't go by the stuff recorded. It's a wonder they get a shot at anything, down wind or not with all they got going on. If anything it says critters aren't as smart as we give'm credit for, but your take on it may mean they're getting smarter. :)

oh hell yea wind matters. I do EVERYTHING possible though to be as scent free as I can be and then try to play the wind as best I can!

Even if you didnt smell at all, wind matters, because deer use it, and they use it effectively! In a sense, if you can't play the wind game, even if you don't smell at all, you will see fewer deer!!
That said, scent lock is made of activated charcoal, which is pretty much ruined within 10 minutes of pullin' it outta the bag. the silver stuff works to some degree, but nothing is eliminating your scent. period, end of story. I do use the sprays and i use cover scents. Not spending 250 bucks on a jacket that is made of nice soft fabric and does nothing more than my normal jacket

I dont hunt by the wind and I have excellent luck. :) I hunt by a housing development though and deer smell people all day long so its a natural odor to them. I sit in my stand and hear children playing and lawnmowers or leafblowers or snowblowers running whatever the case may be. But I also hunt another property occasionally where human odor isnt daily life for the deer and unless you hunt by the wind you dont see a thing. So my answer is....... depends on the area. Most likely though Id take the wind seriously.

You would have thought, it was the first reply and the thread went 3 pages. :p

GregH said it perfectly. :party0007: