nubo

I don't use scent lok at all ,although it's nice looking gear, I just haven't bought into it. I've taken many deer down wind and last season I had a small 6 pointer walk directly to my stand on not 1 but 2 occassion's, when the wind was blowing straight at him ,he never winded me either time .I do use scent illiminating soaps ,shampoo's and scent eliminator's before I leave for the hunt .I do not put my outer gear in my truck cab ,I leave it in a box with some pine brow's and then put it on when I go into the wood's.I may buy an underlayer of scent lok but it's not on my priority list. I really can't tell you if it work's.

nubo

Straightarrow

I think we should also consider that deer many times smell humans, but simply don't react. Sometimes they haven't been pressured or have smelled lots of people in that area, so aren't as frightened as we would expect. Combine that with unexpected wind currents and I can easily see why people wearing scent lok are fooled into thinking it's effective.

To me, the question isn't whether it works, because it would be impossible for it to eliminate all scent. Can it reduce scent further than careful showering and clothing preparation? Probably a little. But is that even important? I would imagine that most scent comes from our breath. As for rubber boots, my beagle can trail me when I'm wearing rubber boots, hours after I've left the track. From what I hear, a deer's nose is even better. Yet, one constantly hears that rubber boots are so great. I'll assure you, a deer can smell tracks made by rubber boots, many hours after they were left. Now, whether it reacts to the smell is another question.

My opinion is that if a deer is "on edge", or has been pressured, you will not be able to fool it with scent lok. If the wind takes your scent (no matter how faint) to it's nose, the deer is gone. If it doesn't react, the wind did not take the scent to it's nose or the deer simply wasn't frightened by human scent in that instance.

Bees

OK the deer can only smell what gets to its nose.

if your scent stayed up higher than the deers nose, she didn't smell ya.

your powder will always drop as it is heavier than air, that doesn't mean you scent drops down to nose level all of the time.

I use cigar smoak to test the wind by the way.

On days that the wind takes it down to ground level, the deer can smell ya, how they react to that smell is different from deer to deer.

Most scentloc supporters with your senairo would claim sucess.

The other day a deer came in on me, spike buck, no tag, watched the deer about 20 to 25 yards away, he was trying to scent me, nose up as high as he could get it. Couldn't smell me because at the time the smoak was going straight up. My scent was 20 feet in the air and going higher, not at his nose. I Was dressed in wool ,and the same old spice deorderant I always wear. Hair washed in apple fragranced shampoo, tennis shoes on.
no lures or scents used .
Deer hung around for about 15 minutes trying to figure out what that was up the tree. then he put up his tail and walked away, with that, that's right I'm bad attitude. Cute little guy.

If you can understand where your scent is going at any particular time then you will know what to expect from a deer when their nose gets to that spot.

adams

I see what could be a few factors. If you practice scent control that helps. If the thermals kept you scent above her nose that's aslo key. With a wind blowing it's tough to say for sure but I'm a firm believer that scentlok isn't necessary. Can it help. I think so but forgetting scent control and relying on scentlok solely for a game plan is asking for trouble IMO.

That's just my $0.02 though.

PABowhntr

I think that alot of folks have touched upon the probably answer. Your scent just was not getting to the deer. I often wonder exactly how far scent actually travels before settling on the ground. I would assume such things as wind speed, angle, terrain, tree stand height, etc... all play some part in it.

I don't own any Scentlock or other charcoal impregnated gear but did invest in two different sets of antimicrobial/deoderant undergarments. Even if they don't perform totally as advertised I am satisfied in the investment as they are comfortable to wear. I can say this much though. On two occasions this year I have had deer walk directly underneath my treestand and they did not even know I was there. Whether that is because of the undergarments, my scent control practices or the wind for that particular day we will never know.

I prefer to believe that it was a little bit of all three.

KS_Bowhunter

I am not sure what to say here, but i myself had been thinking about getting a scent-lok suit but the more i think and hear about them they just almost seem as kind of a gimmick to me also. But i dunno maybe it could be the stuff it is said to be. But i will prolly just stick to the spray and soap myself.

silentassassin

The point of the story more than anything was to say that you see the scent lok believers use these identical type of stories to proclaim their faith in scent lok. However, these kind of stories may be very skewed in their relevance as to whether or not the scent lok was responsible for the deer not smelling them. I don't know how much a scent molecule weighs in comparison to powder. However, I do know that sometimes the thermals carry the powder up and away and some times it goes down and away and on this particular day it was nose diving big time as it left the bottle. I tend to agree with most of you guys that I don't really worry about a deer smelling me until it gets out a little ways from me. I do think 40 yards is getting into that range though. It was the thermals on this particular day that have me convinced that my wind was going straight to her. The point of the post isn't to say scent lok doesn't work because I think it does, for a short time but that's just my opinion. The point is more to the fact that these type of testimonials may often have very little value in assessing the capability of the scent lok.

silentassassin

PA,

I like the idea of the antimicrobial much better because you know any type of absobing material as a maximum carrying capacity. But what do I know. I think confidence is one of the most important things that you can carry into any sport. When I am confident in a spot that I am hunting, I just hunt better. I go to more precaustions to be quiet, I take more scent precautions, I move less when I am on stand, and my mind doesnt' wander near as much. Confidence manifests itself in many ways IMO. If scent lok gives you that confidence then I think it's a wonderful thing. My point of contention really comes more from the "I had a deer straight down wind of me and he didn't smell me" stories". With that many variables involved I just don't think anyone can say that the deer didn't smell me bacause of the scent lok. Too many of us non-scent lok users have similar stories. I think sometimes we give deer to much credit and other times not enough

Bees

I was in a tree another time and I had on a surprescent suit. Top and bottom.
Deer came in wind blowing right to them they got about thrity yards out and I saw the nose's start to work and they winded me. So I've had it go both ways.

Hunters are and have always been at the mercy of the wind on any given day.

CBM SC

That's pretty much how I feel ! So far having my best& most fun season ever.....6 for 6 this year(several passed on) already with the most minimal scent control I have ever done ........ The kind that would make a lot of these scent control guys laugh............until they had to help me load one up !! [:-]