Steps for staying sent free
#24
Fork Horn
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Stitzer, Wisconsin
Posts: 201
I keep my clothes in a garage and dress in there, I am not overly cautious about scent control and I have yet to have a deer just blow and run when it gets down wind from me except one time when it was raining. I have had several deer licking the ladder of my ladder stand that I climbed up 20 minutes earlier. Maybe because I am in farm country with farmers and cattle, and tractors in their area they are less cautious but they certainly don't seem to notice my scent at all.
just my 2 cents
just my 2 cents
#25
Spike
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Idaho
Posts: 9
Don Sangster from Bass Pro Shops has some good ideas on staying scent free: http://drul.co/scent-control-part-2/
#26
Typical Buck
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 595
So this past weekend I took a trip south an hour and a half away. It was the last weekend of gun season here and well I got a little lazy. Threw all my stuff into the back of the truck and headed out. Walked to the stand in my rubber boots and a couple hours later 5 does/fawns came thru. A little one didn't care but a doe stuck her nose in my footprints and that was it. She didn't blow out of there but she wouldn't cross the line where I walked. She left and took all the deer with her. I wasn't going to shoot that doe anyways but that could have been a buck of a lifetime. Lesson learned by me and I will take better care till the season ends.
#27
Spike
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Michigan
Posts: 80
I do not believe you can become entirely scent free, but you can significantly reduce your scent. In my experience scent free or scent proof products have helped me in seeing more deer. Since I've began trying to reduce my scent I have had more deer come in down wind. I always try to hunt the wind, however deer can still come from any direction. I still get busted from time to time, but hey that's part of hunting.
I will say this, when I am 15 feet high in a tree stand and I have a deer that's within 15 yards and downwind, I believe my scent is blowing way above the deer. When I get winded, it's typically at least 50 yards away.
Before every hunt I shower with scent free soap and use scentless deodorant. I wash all of my clothes (including socks, underwear. etc.) with scent free detergent. (hmm I wash my towels with regular detergent though, never thought about that until now haha) I also keep all of my hunting clothes in a plastic tote with HS Scents Fresh Earth wafers. I haven't went as far as use the scent free brand of tooth pastes or gum though.
I will say this, when I am 15 feet high in a tree stand and I have a deer that's within 15 yards and downwind, I believe my scent is blowing way above the deer. When I get winded, it's typically at least 50 yards away.
Before every hunt I shower with scent free soap and use scentless deodorant. I wash all of my clothes (including socks, underwear. etc.) with scent free detergent. (hmm I wash my towels with regular detergent though, never thought about that until now haha) I also keep all of my hunting clothes in a plastic tote with HS Scents Fresh Earth wafers. I haven't went as far as use the scent free brand of tooth pastes or gum though.
Last edited by TheDudeAbides; 12-18-2013 at 01:12 PM. Reason: typo
#29
Typical Buck
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location:
Posts: 819
Scent control is all relative to the deer's proximity to you. At 300 yards away you may alarm a deer, but won't spook them off. AT 100 or 50 yards, it is less dispersed, and consequently stronger. Then they are on high alert, and will make every attempt to avoid you. I'm sure many deer have walked down wind of us and we never knew they were there, and just sneaked off.
Depending on how strong your scent is,
(most biologists believe most of our scent that alert deer is coming from our breathing) it will have an adverse reaction on their nose. The more you control your scent on a molecular level, the weaker your scent will be, allowing the deer, while maybe alarmed, to come closer to you because your scent is weakened, making them think you are further away.
So play the wind, and use all the scent control you can muster. Never wear your boots anywhere but in the field, as that is putting scent directly on the ground. Put them on when you leave the truck and take them off before you get back in. Put them in a Rubbermaid Bin when not wearing them. Going to a gas station and wearing your clothes, especially boots, will drag more odor in the woods than you can imagine.
Your biggest enemy in the Whitetail Woods is their nose. Remember, while it's nice to sit on a trail and think you know where they will come from, Deer do whatever the hell they want, whenever they want to. They have no where to go and all day to get there! So play the wind, but take every precaution to minimize your scent, because you never know when they will sneak up behind you Dead Down Wind!!
If you want to control your breath, avoid Garlic and other strong foods, floss, brush and use these breath control pills. http://www.pharmapacks.com/products....s#.UsDLsDOA2mI
Depending on how strong your scent is,
(most biologists believe most of our scent that alert deer is coming from our breathing) it will have an adverse reaction on their nose. The more you control your scent on a molecular level, the weaker your scent will be, allowing the deer, while maybe alarmed, to come closer to you because your scent is weakened, making them think you are further away.
So play the wind, and use all the scent control you can muster. Never wear your boots anywhere but in the field, as that is putting scent directly on the ground. Put them on when you leave the truck and take them off before you get back in. Put them in a Rubbermaid Bin when not wearing them. Going to a gas station and wearing your clothes, especially boots, will drag more odor in the woods than you can imagine.
Your biggest enemy in the Whitetail Woods is their nose. Remember, while it's nice to sit on a trail and think you know where they will come from, Deer do whatever the hell they want, whenever they want to. They have no where to go and all day to get there! So play the wind, but take every precaution to minimize your scent, because you never know when they will sneak up behind you Dead Down Wind!!
If you want to control your breath, avoid Garlic and other strong foods, floss, brush and use these breath control pills. http://www.pharmapacks.com/products....s#.UsDLsDOA2mI
#30
Typical Buck
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Indiana
Posts: 585
I had a guy arguing with me that deer will only come in from down wind no matter what. He couldn't get it through his head that this is not possible. I finally told him that if his theory is correct that every deer in the country would be standing on the Atlantic coast. The only scent control I take is to keep my overalls in a large zip lock style storage bag with a scent wafer in it. I am one of the people who think that the scent argument is a little blown out of proportion. Ive pumped gas in my cloths, ate Mcdonalds in the truck in my clothes, etc. My and another guy hunt a farm with two stands so we never hunt the wind. He smokes, I don't but I used too, both of us have had to put out a cigarette to shoot a deer. I killed a doe this year on Thanksgiving morning and gutted it right where it dropped. Yesterday I killed another doe in the same spot, she walked in the same trail heading to the same bedding area.