Scent Free Wash Question
 

What all should be washed in scent free clothing wash? I understand that shirts, pants, socks, and such should be washed, but should wool gloves and hats be washed as well? I'm also planning on tossing my pack in because it reeks of vinyl. And specifically for my bow wielding friends... Should armguards and releases be washed in scent free soap as well?

Thanks

And your bow (fully rigged out) and your release and your boots and your belt and all of your arrows .... in the washing machine too. And don't forget to use scent free tooth paste ... and before I forget, don't poot in the stand. Not trying to go over board here ... do what you will, but remember that you will still not be undetectible to a deer's nose. Stay down wind if at all possible.

In my opinion all the scent blockers and unscented soap and most everything else you think is designed to give you the edge, is really designed to line the pockets of the manufacture.

Scentless soap. How do you know its scentless? Just because you can't smell it? I've listened to amazing tales of how far away deer can scent you. You don't really think that so called scentless soap can't be smelled by deer just because you can't smell it! I believe the biggest edge any products like that give you is the belief you can't be smelled or that your scent is blocked or that you smell like what ever scent stuff you've bought.

Guy's may have been hunting for years before that stuff came out and always got their deer. After they got this or that wonder scent remover or maybe the one that makes you smell like a doe in heat, they still killed their deer. What has changed? A new product hit the market, jobs were created and guys bought this stuff believing they had an edge that I doubt ever existed in the first place.

The only reason man ever even took a bath before hunting is because his wife told him he smelled better and the deer didn't care.

Gee, some of you guys need to eat some fiber. Use the wind to your advantage, sure. There are those times when a shift of wind direction, or a deer coming from an unexpected direction blows your game plan. In these instances, every little bit helps and might give you that extra second or two to make the shot.

Tide has an unscented detergent that, also, contains no color (UV) enhancers. It's not marketed for hunters so, nobody's "lining their pockets" at your expense.

Exactly. I shower before every morning hunt. Have to to wake up :) The only scent product I use is the "scent away" spray earth scent. There are to many variables whether a deer will smell you or not. I kill deer every year and my routine doesn't change. I wash clothes in normal detergent, shower with soap and even put regular deodorant on. I spray all my gear with scent away before entering the woods and call it good. I'm sure there have been deer that have scented me without even me realizing it but it is what it is, still end up with meat in the freezer. I know guys that smoke cigarettes in the stand and still kill deer. All those scent free products are a waste of time and effort in my opinion.

Save yourself a ton of money & use baking soda as a washing detergent.

Put a spoon full of baking soda & peroxide in a clean spray bottle, add water & you got scent away for the field.

Hunt a cross wind or the wind in your face.

boy,taking showers in mornings .some are making their hunting very hard.
i just go hunting and 46 bucks and most with bow.
i do smoke my clothes once a week and my stand ,boots everything.i use pine needles/oak leaves.

thats it.i dont use any after shave or shaving cream ,anything that has stink.i wash my bed sheets etc in sscent free detergent during hunting season.

Never going to resolve this question
 

How many hunters are trained launderers anyways? Or even want to come close.

Hunting clothes....
 

My hunting clothes/gear have never seen the inside of a house or cabin. I take a shower before each hunt w/ a baking soda /water solution. Why? Gotta wash your @#$% anyway (or may be some don't), so I might as well. I have a washer in my shop that has never seen any type of detergent only baking soda. I air dry them outdoors, pack them in vacuum bags. You gotta wash your clothes anyway so why not use baking soda. As for commercial products, they are all chemicals not native to the environment, been using baking soda since '69 and nothing else.:deer:

This really work?? Would be alot cheaper

Ok I'm going to start by saying that my first line of defense is the wind. Always use it toy favor. Problem is the deer dint always know which direction they are supposed to come from. I don't believe scent control products make me invisible to a deer's nose. Anyone one that does is wrong. I do believe it makes your scent in the air smell further away and on the ground older by lowering the amount. I wash my cloths and put them into scent free bags and put my outer layers on outside the truck. Everything else gets a good dose of spray. I also shower in the mornings. I have become a HUGE fan of tinks vanish. Tried every one on the market and that's my preference. I got the proof this year multiple times deer (including old does) walked over my entrance route after spraying at one of my stands and never smelled a thing. Then one day I was running late and failed to spray my boots. Had a small buck come through and right away he pegged my trail. I don't believe you can do this and ignore the wind but a little backup always helps.

I always thinks it's funny when people go through all the trouble washing in scentfree products and then smoke a cigarette on the way to their hunt. Kind of defeats the purpose

I've been hunting the better part of 30 years. I have never used any of this products and have taken deer each and every year. Most of the big deer I have gotten have been either while smoking a cigarette or just after a smoke. :fighting0007: I rarely wear camo, whiz off of my stand and do most every thing the big TV hunters say don't do. I think most of it is just to seperate the hunter from his money.

I like the ones who....
 

Drive to their hunt and while wearing their hunting clothing. Seeing them gasing up, at the resturant/bar, sitting around playing cards. then taking them off to sleep, but picking them up off the end of the bunk in the morning, and putting them on. All this, AFTER, they have taken a scent free shower. This has actually occured at MY camp! I don't say anything, just shake my head to myself. They come in and ask "I didn't see a darn thing" how 'bout you?" I just smile and point to the barn.:rolleye0011:

Hunt the wind. Wash as much or as little as you want. If it's your lucky day everything will work in your favor, if not, it wont matter how "Scent Free" you are they will still catch you.

The wind is your friend but like its been said, its not perfect out in the woods, if so, everyone would fulfill their tag each year. Do I believe washing your clothes and using a cover spray gives you a confidence that you are less likely to be winded than just walking into the woods and not using anything. I use Wildlife Research Scent Killer in their Fresh Earth line. I wash my clothes in this and then store them in a big rubbermaid tote and put H.S. Fresh Earth scent waffers in it. I shower with H.S. Scent-A-Way shampoo/body wash (the green stuff) and I use the W.R. cover spray when I go out. I believe this helps "mask" any odor I may carry around but I know its not fool-proof. I know you cant always play the wind and I've gotten away with it and not been winded when the wind was not in my favor using my "scent-cover" system, so I will continue to use my system. Play the wind when you can, move slowly, and keep your eyes and ears open as those are more of key factors in getting deer close to you.

I do wash my stuff in baking soda. The thing I believe that helps the most is the way I store my clothes and stuff. Every year I cut small branches off of a cedar tree (Christmas tree) and put them in a rubbermaid container. When I wash my clothes I put them back in the container. Everything I take into the woods goes into the container. The cedar scent stays strong all year long. Of course your not going to totally extinguish all scent, but I believe this method of scent cover will hide you longer. Afterall there is no scent exactly like the real thing.

Would like to start off with explaining to everyone that human scent starts....where else? with the human. humans shed skin cells at a very rapid rate, even though you cant see them. they are lighter than dry baby powder and invisible to the naked eye.
So imagine yourself covered in baby powder and walking on a black carpet. same thing with scent. Now think of ways you cant put on items to keep the powder totally in. Now ya got all these items on, now imagine if someone was to come up and start patting on you, would there be a puff of baby powder comin out? i would think so. can we keep all the scent in? probably not, but we can try.

wash your clothes you will be wearing and a towel in scent free detergents, sure you can find some here at HNI...put your clothes in a scent free bag, read the directions on your bag and take care of properly. I put a lil bit of stuff from where i hunt in my bag, i.g dirt, leaves and pine needles. and yes i just washed the clothes but o well

ya dont wanna do the following and then go get in your truck!!!!!! i am allowing no travel time here...sorry....no way you will stay scent free..and unless your truck came from Texas Instruments and is clean room ready,( and i will still have my doubts)..the dirty truck wont help as you are just putting yer own skin cells on the outside of yer gear..i am lucky at one of my grounds i have showers available, and am able to walk right into the field...but others i dont and have to take a frigged shower buck naked in the woods and it sux..i aint gonna lie.

take a friggen shower...use something that will loosen all the skin cells possible while you shower. an umfa thingy ..wash rag . ex foliation is the key here...but dont just use your hands and the soap.

this is not the time to smoke cigeretts and eat breakfast, walk the dog...
this is the time to get as far away from everyone as you can, try and be upwind of your livin area, downwind of natural wildlife. make sure you have all your gear and its scent free. You dont need a buddy with ya, you dont want him contaminating you, this means grandma too.
open the bag, get your gloves on and spray them, put on your hood, then your top tucking in the hood, you dont want the hood ever comin over your top, it will be shedding skin cells on the outside of your gear and this is what we are tryin to prevent. i use a 1 piece, but if you have a 2 piece, its time to put on the bottoms tucking the top into the bottoms, same way, ya dont want skin cells falling on the outside of your gear. you guessed it boots...i know it sux, but ya need to tuck your pants into your boots...otherwise you are sprinkling skin cells out the bottom of your pants, and you just cant tie it off imo..waterproof/snakebite and/or rubber boots help keep the scent in better imo.

this is the time to spray down..if its real windy its hard to get your back i know, but ya have too, and with out your smelly buddy who just dropped a bomb and ate breakfast with his morning cigarette ...do it your self..unless of course your buddy is this gung ho about it too, and he probably dont want your stinking butt near him right now lol
spray head to toe and the bottom of the boots as well and plan on sittin fer a few minutes to let it dry. (bottom of the boots)

spray your bow, arrows, quiver, pack ( i dont carry one they are scent bombs unless you are really careful), .hopefully you keep your gear scent free, there are skin particles all over this stuff from practice the day before or whatever..what about the stuff in the bag, is there gonna be this big baby powder smoke bomb goin off when you open it up in the field.i spray my bow the night before and
leave my bow in a tree upwind from us and downwind of nature, its saturated from the dew sometimes . i also use scent free oil if ya can believe that. its real cheap, once again HNI can probably help ya with that.

remember keep that hood on tight and try not to bend over and look down because your downfall now is the opening for the eyes, ears and mouth, which you guessed it, smoke bombs of scent falling to the ground.

remember to take it off in reverse, spray your gloves before you start, always rewash your gloves when ever possible.

i have ruined a couple calls washing them, but have found a few that make it. what ever your taking out needs to be scent free and treated just like the clothes....if your gonna use a washer and dryer, then do a few loads of regular laundry with scent free detergent before your "real load"...empty that dryer vent every time. i do mine in the same scent free cooler fer years and dry them in the woods.i also use the creek water where i hunt, and they dry there too. right into my scent free "dirty bag"... you don't wanna be shedding skin cells on your clothes right outta the dryer or off the tree, so use your gloves, put the bag close to the dryer and fill it up dont be leaning over the clothes droppin skin cells in/on the clothes and bag, close it , and then hand wash your gloves then turn wrong side out to dry . then i put it in the bag. with them wrong side out, you dont get scent on the outside of the glove when you start gearing up.

i know guys who dont do none of this, and play the wind....but when ya wanna get 20 feet from a deer and the wind is wirling, its your best chance to do what ya can to control your scent.

i SMOKE my clothes as soon as i get out of my truck. i wear my hunting clothes from home too.
pine/oak leaves in coffee can, light it and smoke your clothes.
i dont buy any sprays and dont put my clothes on ion woods.

46 yrs hunting the BUCK. dare i say anything else?

I am never use Scent free wash soap so i don't know about it but i hear this soap is working well.

People can bash everything and say its a waste of money. I don't use the carbon clothing but use a scent free product and it is amazing NEVER getting winded...

I wash my clothes in the scent free stuff but mainly cause I read somewhere it doesnt fade them as much. That could be false also. the last deer I killed with my bow I was sitting on the ground wearing shorts and t-shirt. I'm mainly try to watch my movement on stand when a deer is close. good luck.

Backpack, hats, pants, socks, shirts, jackets, sweatshirts, beltpacks, base layers. That's all I put in there haha.

How do you know?

I dont know what all the stink is about scent proofing your clothes. I wash my hunting clothing in the same detergent my wife does all our clothes in. I have ground / stand hunted 24 yrs and have killed deer 22 yrs both bow / gun seasons with out any problems. Do you really think deer care about what new smells are in the woods. My opinion is it's just another way companies get to make more money on selling products to the public.

I'm retired
 

I wash all my clothes in homemade scent free wash. The boxes of washing soda and borax are sitting by the washing machine. Most people use too much detergent, as I often get the sickening sweet scents on park walks.

Wash woolens. Just make sure you don't use a dryer. They can shrink. Dry outside or over the bath tub.

Whatever, critters don't wind me when I'm hunting, believe that you can't beat an animals nose and you never will.

I also live in the woods so all my gear is either scented in the woods or washed scent free and stored so it can't pick up any scent till I take it out of it's own zip bag and touch it.

As far as the process goes I get the impression that some guys must stink to high heaven because being scent free is just washing your clothes and body, something some seem to find to arduous. :)

My packs are all hung outside out of the weather all year, my boots spend some time there too along with my stands, quiver and bow. Even my bow case hangs outside all year, but remember I don't live in town. My 4 wheeler is out getting everything I touch scented by ole Mr. Woods.

If and when I have a scent situation I always use Hawg's vanishing hunter, I always spary my hands (washed with baking soda first, after I rest from the strain of doing it :)) before touching anything, Even my mouth is sprayed wit the stuff (safe to do so), but again I have to rest after lifting the bottle to my mouth and pumping the sprayer. :)

You can wash smart or not, or not at all for some. I've ended up in the same area with the not crowd, them deer were on high alert..................... right to me.

I do use carbon clothing and I know whatever I do does work. I've beaten doe's noses before that were deliberatly looking for me. I've been in a tree on a hill side and had does that were looking for me where they heard me down the slope stand not 20 yards away at eye level looking right at me but past me with the wind blowning right in thier face. They knew I was down there some where. Had bucks come back the same way and not show the least bit of alarm.

Critter often think I'm just something to jump on or over and often only show alarm when I stick an arrow in their face and often don't believe what their seeing and try to continue.

I know my old hounds ways, I could tell he was perplexed when he'd try and sniff me up tugging with all his might at the end of a chain to get on me. He'd cock his head and look troubled when I'd command him to calm down.

Birds sit on my head.

My only problem as I understand it is bugs, they pick something up, what I don't know, maybe just heat.

Agree. I'm working on an odor eliminating product to add to the established products to take make their odorless scent more odorless.

There has been a great deal of talk over the years of what to do play the wind or use scent free items. Yes I know if you bought everything on the market to stay scent free you would have to almost have a 2nd job. There is a new video coming out later this year on next not for sure that deals with simple scent controll. I was able to get a look at it cause a friend works with the company that is producing the DVD. The host talks about scent and how to reduce it. He advised to wash clothes in baking soda but one thing to remember was to make sure the washer was clean of scented detergeent. One thing that cought my eye was when he advised to wash towels you dry off with baking soda also. This DVD also shows how to make home made scent free spray. I made the home brew scent free spray and changed a couple of things and it worked. A week ago I hunted and had 5 does and a spike come within less then 20 yards of me. The big thing was the bobcat that I watched walk under my stand and use the trail I came in on. It set at the edge of the field right where I had came into the woods. I feel you need to stay scent free as much as you can and play the wind that changes at the drop of a hat.

Yep and I leave my towel hanging in the building I dress in that houses the wood fired boiler that scents up everything in there. The towel always smells of smoke.

That's just it, it doesn't take much to be smart about it. You gota shower (some of us). You gota dry off, think about it, you wash and then dry off with a stinky sweet towel? What kind of sense does that make? You have to wash and hang up the towel, do it with the brains God gave you and trust me it doesn't hurt to think. :)

Hawgs vanishing hunter acts like smoke, taste like smoke, my hands stink like smoke even the day after using it, it kills bacteria and after I shower I don't touch anything that stinks, I don't rub up against anything, but I must touch at least the door knob, that's where the spray comes in. I also spray down (naked) before putting on my scent free base layers that wicks away moister and kill bacteria and then put on my scent control outer clothes that blend well and are almost silent when I rub my ruff hands across them. I gota wash, I gota dress, I don't have to touch everything or rub myself down with a stinky towel.

Just think about why the reaction to certain products? Many people dislike Scent lok, but why? They say you can't reactivate the stuff, really? It's just common sense you can and they've been doing it for years, it's called washing. My clothes get filthy and stinky, what do I do, throw them out? I wash them and they come out clean and smell'n sweet............reactivated for another day. If I hated the product I'd never make the connection because hate and envy are blinding so blinding it makes some admit to the world that they sit around smell'n their own farts :) a real brain trust there. SL wasn't made to kill farts something the same brain trust also claims doesn't skook deer when they crap and pee off their stand or in a scrape to freshen it.

Common sense people, pay attention to what your doing in detail, doesn't hurt and is a big help.

Never Wash Your Hunting Clothes In A Machine
 

Never wash your hunting clothes in a washing machine unless that's all the machine's ever been used for and no detergent has ever been poured into it. ever!

We have a small wood shed we keep most of our gear in. A few days before a trip we take our clothes, jumpers, boots and let it all set out on the porch till we go. once we get there we leave our gear in out in the open but away from where we'll be cooking.

... also, don't use soap in the shower for two days leading to the trip. just hot water.