Baybuzzard

I've always been very meticulous about scent control.....but I've been busted more times than ever this year. I recently read a post somewhere on one of the hunting forums where a fellow claims he makes no attempt at scent control...and wants to smell as bad as he possibly can....claiming that the deer can't figure out what he is. He kills a lot of deer. There's a fellow I work with that you cannot stand to get near him...he smells that bad. I've often wondered how he kills so many deer smelling as bad as he does. My dad hunted during the 50's 60's 70's staying at camp for days at a time never taking a bath, and killed deer. With the scent control business being so huge nowadays...with all the scent elimination sprays and specialty clothing being pushed on us....maybe the deer have learned to recognize what a clean hunter smells like? Maybe I should experiment with this idea, but just can't seem to bring myself to do it. Anybody else know of any Stinkers out there that kill plenty of deer?

GFY_Camp

I think you are analyzing this too much. Keep doing the scent control because you know damn well that is the best chance to kill a big buck.

J The Deer Slayer

I make an attempt to not smell like sweat or soap and stuff like that. Once I come back from a hunt I leave my outer clothes hanging in the garage.

So the way I figure it has to pick up some type of smell from being in there for sometimes days. I so wash the clothes I wear under my cover alls and jacket because when I sweat those cloths absorb the sweat. I don't really worry about it too much though.

Remnard

The sprays available today should make you smell like 'nothing" by neutralizing your odors or changing them to something that is unrecognizable to deer. Most guys that believe that they should not wash their clothes etc, usually play the wind religiously. You can smell like a whore on 5th avenue as long as you stay down wind of a whitetail's nose. My theory is the less you smell like anything the better off you are. It's too early evolution wise, for deer to have been ingrained or programmed with what a clean hunter smells like. This take hundreds if not thousands of years to occur.

Stay down wind, get as clean as you can before going in the woods after them and get above their noses whenever possible. The more things you do right the more mature deer you will kill. I think if you read the books and articles interviewing guys that regularly kill 150 class and better bucks, one commonality you will see emerge is how meticulous they are about hygiene in the woods. How many stinky guys do you know that regularly kill big bucks? Anybody can get lucky, and deer do some stupid stuff during the rut.

Hunt the wind, even if you are using odor neutralizing sprays.

marquismarc

I think scent control is a waste of time and money. IMHO.

isatarak

I think the most important things are to take a shower before you go hunt and use unscented soap, dress out at the hunting area, and wash clothes frequently. It's not that hard to do those few things, but I don't go overboard. People who kill a lot of deer and don't use scent control of any kind are probably keenly aware of the wind direction. You can smell like a church lady and if the wind is in your favor, a deer will never smell you. If he gets directly downwind, and the conditions are wrong, he will smell you every time, no matter what you do. Scent control only improves you chances by a percentage.

DeerandbearhoG

Im not very concerned w/ scent ,while on stand ,cause I think its impossible to eliminate anyway. I do however, try to minimize the amount of scent I leave behind ,on the way to my stand. I dont wear my clothes in the house or car, and I dont touch branches.

timbercruiser

I read a while back that a deer is thought to have a nose that is 8 times as sensitive as a bloodhound. I think you are better served to hunt the wind and let the scent proof selling money makers think of something else to do.

jerry d

IMO if the deer is down wind of you you're gonna get busted!! I've had deer right under my stand and they didn't smell me because the wind was in my favor.
I also had deer come out where I did expect them to and they were down wind of me and busted me.
I'm not a believer in cover up but I do use scent eliminator.
So to answer the question,YES I believe scent control is important.

TGRIZWALD

play the wind and save your money on the scent control cloths. i have a buddy that smokes nasty azz cigars in the woods and kills alot of big deer.they must be coming over to see what the smell is. not for me i work the wind angle