silentassassin

For all you guys that talk about deer coming in downwind of you and not smelling you I thought I would tell this story. Last Saturday evening I was hunting. The wind was switching directions from WNW to W. I was facing Northeast and expecting the deer to come from the E. Well the wind had switched to coming from the W but I still figured the area to the WNW was "burnt up". I heard a noise coming from the WNW and looked back and there was a doe about 30 yards away. They way she was walking she was heading straight downwind of me. I had two decent openings to shoot through if she stayed on the trail she was on. I mouth bleated in both openings and she stopped to late both times. Luckily she left the trail but unfortunately she headed straight down wind. I had drawn both times that I stopped her and held for close to a minute both times. She finally started milling down towards an opening that was stragiht downwind of me. I had my powder bottle out checking and she was straight down wind of me at 40 yards. She spent about 5 minutes with my wind blowing right at her. The 4th time I drew on her I managed to get her stop where I needed her to (still directly down wind) and I made a good shot on her at about 40 yards. Often times you hear "Scent Lok" guys offer up these type of testimonials as proof of how well scent lok works. What do you guys attribute this to? Is it a fluke? Just interested in your perspectives?

MO_Bowhnter

I think it's probably a little scent lok and a little luck as most of hunting is luck. I had 3 yearlings come in down wind of me last friday and they didnt even acknowledge my presence. They walked about 35 yds behind my stand.

Oops, forgot to add that I dont own a scentlok suit and didn't even have time to take a shower as I was coming home from school. Just good old scent away.

silentassassin

I forgot to explain the most important part which was that I had on no scent lok. I bathed before the morning hunt but not before the afternoon hunt.

Greavous

I have had similar experiences before I suited up. I've been undetected and busted either way. The wind does strange things and your scent follows along I guess. One thought is that if the day is warm the air has lift and just maybe your smell went over top of the deer? I used to have some of those "floaters" which you could follow in the air currents and see where you smell was actually going. The puffer type lets you know what is going on around near you but fades to nothing in short order. Once I was setup along a creek bottom in the hill country of Texas and my floater went several yards down stream as expected and then turned uphill and circled almost behind me. Tough hunting a swirlling wind!

Rob/PA Bowyer

What's the purpose of a treestand? It's to get you up in the air out of a deers line of sight making it easier to move on an animal, ie: draw your bow undetected etc.... AND, to get your scent above the animal. Most of the time depending on the wind, any deer within bow range down wind from you shouldn't smell you as your wind probably is going to be blown above them. I don't consider a deer downwind of me until they are 100 yards or more out. I know my scent, depending on the thermals and wind will be above them. One will never know what the wind is doing beyond normal bow range unless they are using floaters of some sort and actually see the floater cross the deers nose, well that or the deer blows at you and is gone.

I for the first time purchased the Scentlok Base Slayer and Scent Blocker underlayer. Hell I don't know if it's gonna work, I've had deer "down wind" at 100 yards and they didn't react however, I don't know if my scent was traveling to them at that point. I believe they work to some degree but deer will still catch your odor if the wind allows what scent you are giving off and I believe there is still scent escaping, to reach their nose. So, in closing, to each their own, Scentlok or Scentblocker clothing is no excuse for good hygene when it comes to descenting. I still take all the precautions with scent control I would have done without any "scent eliminating" clothing....but hey, they are nice and warm outfits so I like them regardless if they work or not....they are all under my ASAT camo anyway and I have to wear something.

Lucius111

I have had the same situation happen to me many times. I have had deer come into my stand down wind number of times and have never smelled me. I laugh when I watch these hunting shows that show these guys wearing the scent lok suits and the no-scent spray on top of it and then stating that if they didn't do this, they would never see any deer. My dad always says when he hears this "How the hell did they use to hunt before all this scent-lok crap?" I have come to believe that because so many of these show are sponsored by Scent Lok, that they push the product so hard that they actually lie a little. Deer do have exceptional smell, but they sometimes over-exaggerate a little.

Oh, I forgot too, I smoke from my stand. And yet to have a deer get spooked because of it. Actually, just about every deer that I have spooked from my stand was because of careless movement or noises.

SwampHunt

I have been very successful hunting from the ground wearing scent lok suit. I do take precautions to eliminate my scent from soaps to sprays but the scent lok seemed to be a great equalizer for me hunting small wood lots. I too have been up in a treestand with thick coveraround, in jeans and a camo shirt and have deer cone in close but have always wondered what was happening 100 yrds away or more. I have seen deer come up to the edge of a woodlot snort and stomp and run away when not using scent lok. Again I think it is a combination of things but I never got close on the ground to deer as I can when I am using it.

upsguy

Last Tuesday morning I had a buck, doe, and yearling come out of the brush downwind of me. They were grazing in a food plot I'd put out and I was in a doghouse blind. I thought the yearling was going to put her head in the window. She came within 4 feet of blind and doe was right behind her. The buck didn't come within 40 feet though. The only scent cover I used was three of those earth scent wafers I had pinned on. I guess they must work.

Mike42

I was skeptic about the carbon blockers, but had to get some and try. The same goes with scentless soap, etc.
I wear the scent lok at times (from head to toe) and at others I don't. In my experience, absolutely no correlation between being scented and the amount of precautions taken. Already this year, I've been scented on three different occasions in the 40-60 yard range with scent lok and have had two down wind encounters that I just knew I would get busted with no scent lok, no precautions whatsover and went undetected. As already mentioned by others, depends on the thermals and age/experience of the deer in question.

Think about it. If Carbon clothing was such a good suppressor, drug runners be able to use the stuff to fool policedogs.

Haven't made my mind up about rubber boots yet. Might be some advantage on amount of scent left on ground but too early to tell. For the rest of the stuff like carbon clothes ,unscented soaps, stuff sacks, etc. just marketing gimmicks in my opinion.

Dubbya

I had a similar occurrence last fall, I posted about it also.

I was hunting at a buddies lease, it was gun season and I was carrying my bow (yes it was legal). I was somewhat perturbed at the situation. There is a wide river that runs east and west on the south side of the river is a strip about 100 yards wide of thick timber and stuff. At the east corner of this strip the woods headed south (also the property line). The wind was blowing to the northeast which happens to be the only way I had EVER seen deer come from. Since it was his property I let him hunt where we wanted. I was on the ground wearing a heavy camo jacket and pants. I expected nothing to come from that direction, as the wind was blowing my scent to that direction. As I was watching the cattle walk by and listening to their crunch on the leaves, I heard a crunch from behind me. I was suprised because I didn't think there were any cattle there. I turned around very slowly to see a very nice 8pt. walking straight up wind right at me. I ended up shooting him at 12 yards and he still had no idea I was there. I had showered about e hours before, then sprayed down with some scent killer. I was absolutely amazed that he never smelled me. I'm not sure why he didn't, but I was very happy. It's cool how that stuff happens sometimes.

congrats on the doe.