kswild

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnMl5NTX4Ks
Watch this vid! Tonight these 2 deer came in to my tree stand to about 20ft. I had just got in it 10 minutes earlier. No cover scent, I washed my camo coveralls after skinning and butchering the doe I killed a week ago But I washed them in regular detergent. Everyday when I get home from hunting I take them off and throw them beside my desk. No putting them in a plastic bag. Heck I even had on the shoes i wore at work all day! I'm just sayin boys this vid is proof you DON"T NEED any special gear or rituals to get close to deer or have the deer get close to you! I also watched them when they crossed my trail coming to my stand and they acted no different. I could have killed them both. Any questions?
Live it up! Deerwoods Doug

onion721

I haven't used cover scents for over 10 years.
In this vid the little buck cuts my entrance trail, you can tell when.
I'm only 12 feet high and he passes within 8 yards straight downwind of me.
I toss all of my clothes in those comforter bags with pine/cedar boughs in the bottom.



I reality it all depends on the deer, they all react differently to human odor, course you know that.
I've seen plenty of deer cut my trail and turn inside out, some never even react.
Same with catching my wind, some proceed with caution, some turn tail and some big ole herd does stand just out of range and stomp and snort for an hour.
And of course there are those deer you never see/hear that have winded you.

Master Chief

Wind direction. Cover scent is critical IMO. Usually you never realize how bad your scent messes you up because the deer smells you before he reveals himself. I've also had deer standing 5 yards from me and even a coyote walked up give feet from me on the ground this season.

kswild

Love the vid! If I didn't know better I'd say that buck tipped toed over your scent trail. lol I can tell by your reply you've spent some time in the woods because your answer is spot on! Have a great season!
Live it up! Deerwoods Doug

onion721

Shot my first deer(7pt) in 1984.

Oh and for sure he tip toed, little buck in vid.

I've probably got 20+ hrs of video, but it's all on 8mm and I don't have a way of converting them to up loadable content.

I went through a decoying phase when I hunted some property that was conducive to deek set ups.
Man that was fun..
Nothing like watching a puffed up crab walking buck thrash a deek.

@ Master Chief
I disagree, it's not critical or even necessary imo.
I've harvested more deer in the time period that I quit using scents than the time period I was spending paychecks on bottled whatever.
I'll admit that I have had success with attractants, my first archery buck came in on a Tink's scent trail.
But I've also seen deer react negatively to scents, more than I've seen positive reactions.
Therefore I've made the decision to go scentless.

Master Chief

Onion-

I do agree with you that Cover Scent is not a necessary however it typically will be a critical part of your hunt when the wind is blowing wrong. Even with it the wind can mess your hunt up. Last weekend I got winded by a group of young bucks and I was using scent cover. That of course just shows how true your statement "it depends on the deer" is. But To me it's better to be safe than sorry.

And about scent attractants- they do help but definately aren't needed

isatarak

If the deer didn't smell you, it wouldn't have smelled you under any conditions. In certain conditions, they will smell you, no matter what you do, and other conditions you can get by with anything. Try to keep your clothes as scent free as possible and take a shower with scentless soap before you go hunting. Keep your clothes in a container until you are at the hunting area if possible and change clothes there. Or do nothing and you will still kill some deer, but you'll get busted a lot more.

kswild

This is exactly what I'm talking about. You don't NEED to do any of the things you said and you will STILL have deer get close to you. People selling scent free products and cover scents have convinced you of the need to do all the things you stated above when in reality doing all that stuff is worthless. I get busted no more than the average hunter and kill just as many deer if not more deer than someone who is convinced they need to do all those rituals just to get close to deer. The more time you spend spraying yourself down with those worthless concoctions means LESS time in the field actually hunting. Take it for what it's worth. Just saying! BTW you may THINK your scent free but there is no such thing as Scent free!
Live it up! Deerwoods Doug

SteveBNy

Cover scents are a myth - nothing else.
It is impossible to hide one smell from a deer by adding another - they simply smell them both.

Sfury

I have to agree with Steve. Deer can smell far better than we can. It's just the way it is.

I do agree that in some cases using cover scent (wind blowing towards where the deer are coming from) can be very beneficial.

In most cases though, it's really not needed when you do a few minor things to keep the gear not from being saturated in human smells.

Really, my family and I have seen better results by keeping our hunting gear outside in the hunting season so the different smells that we create (mostly from cooking) don't soak into the gear. Doing that alone has made a tremendous amount of difference. More than using, or not using, cover scents does.