cravingame

I am no pro hunter but have spent some years in the woods. Saturday is opening day for muzzle-loader and the wind is going in the only wrong direction for all of my good morning stands. I' ve hunted this farm and this farm only for four years straight and have covered just about every spot at least five or six times. I know where the deer are (beding, food, travel, ect.). I have several lock on stands out and own a climber for the mobile stuff. I am a scent-control freek, I mean Freek(washed clothes are carried to the feild in scent control bags inside of a rubbermaid trash can and I dress 50yrsd. from the truck. I shower, wear rubber knee high boots, hunt high, the whole nine yards. Here is the hard part, I am going to hold out for a trophy buck this year. Always took what was presented before (but not this year). Have killed a couple nice bucks but no wall-hangers. The stands I want to hunt are great stands but because of the access to and from them (ie. property lines/road access) I don' t want to hunt them unless the wind is right, I feel like if I hunt them when the wind is wrong I will notify deer of my position and it would be pointless to hunt with the wind wrong (this just seem ten time as important now that I' m hunting stricky for mature bucks). Am I to weary about the wind/scent-control. or is this good trophy hunting philosiphy? Tell me what you think! Thanks in advance and good hunting.

LIVE2HUNTNFISH

I' m not an expert either by no means, but I' d say if you are as careful as you are with the scent situation and you hunt high enough, then it might pay off to hunt the stands where you have the most confidence. I am the same way you are about covering/eleminating scent but I never worry about the wind because I hunt high. I' m sure these guys/gals can help you more than I can, but if it were me, I' d say hunt where you expect the most activity.

cravingame

Yeh, but how much scent do I leave on the ground on the way in? How long after do you think a deer will be weary of where you walked in at(in rubber boots and eliminating as much scent as possible, of course)? Thanks

LIVE2HUNTNFISH

I' ve seen an even 40 deer this year and have killed 2 and all of these deer have been within 40 yards(usually 15-20) of me. I' d say 35 of the 40 have stepped across the path I walked in on and never spooked or even acted like they smelled anything. The 2 deer I killed were 8 yards downwind of my stand and 3 yards from the trail I walk in on. As far as how long the scent from your boots will remain, I don' t know but I' ve seen several deer 10 to 20 mins. after walking in and they never alerted to anything.I use (Rocky) boot scent eliminator and (H.S. Scent) scent neutralizer. You might have a totally different outcome but I just thought I would share this with you.................GOOD LUCK!!!!!

Rack-attack

Before my rubber boot days I have had mature bucks cross my 24 hour old path and do an about face on me.

We stink like dead rotting fish to deer

Tazman

The wind is your worst enemy or your best friend, I prefer a cross wind over it straight in my face, if you have a stand that will give you a good crosswind hunt it. If the wind is blowing from you towards there bedding area I don' t care how high you hunt, your scent will carry into their bedding area.

skeeter 7MM

Walk in and hunt with the wind in your favor, it is the only sure formula to big bucks and deer in general not smelling your presence. Deer will encounter your trails and scent regardless of how you enter the woods, how they act or respond is dependant on each deer/mood/etc. and not something that can be assessed. The best way is to get to a spot(your spot) undetected as possible and use the wind in your favor. Plain and simple if the wind is blowing in the wrong direction of all of your spots you are better off not going then chancing it, if you are truly serious about hunting big " trophy" class deer. I know we can' t pick the weather, wind, conditions only the day to which we can hunt, but you must then adapt to the hand that has been dealt to you and play it to the best of our abilities...hunting a marginal wind isn' t doing so and hunting the wrong wind is even worse. i know how frustrating it can be as i have a few places that are gold but I need a wind that isn' t pervailing during rifle season, many times I have waited several days for the right wind to come and even not been able to hunt in the entire year. However everytime I have done it the right way the results have been positive. Being a " trophy" guy myself I live by 2 rules: 1) Education/Pressure is not a good thing 2) Big deer only make one mistake a year . You can see how they are related and how it is very important to chose your spots appropriately and yes the wind is the most obvious deciding factor on where you hunt that day or time. Deer are smart enough and when we educate them or do something that favours their senses or ability to detect danger they are even smarter. Be smart, hunt hard & have patience are keys to successful tallies on big bucks. A dose of good old fashion luck don' t hurt either.

BTW I think your well on your way, you know you don' t want to comprimise your spot or educate the deer(obvious by your scent free rituals and question/mixed emotions) & have set up a goal/standard for yourself to achieve. Just need patience, as you know the area, the deer and their movements...wait out the perfect wind and go tag that hawg!

Good luck

PS weather man have been known to be wrong, so this is where luck plays into the mix

raim

I commend the actions that you take to keep scent-free. I do think that even if you are up high, your scent can and will spread out, usually conveniently where the deer are. Have you tried using cover scents or buck scents as well? Even a skunk scent will help.
raim

cravingame

Thanks for all your replies. Went opening day with the wind partaily in my favor but not perfect. Planned to hunt all day and actually stayed(my Knees killed me later that night). I usualy want the wind blowing back in the direction that I came in from that way the only area affected by my scent is my route to and from my stand. The way the wind was opening day my scent blew over a small portion of one of the bedding areas near my travel route but I figured that I would intercept any deer headed there in the morning before they would be able to detect me. 830am saw 2 does up-wind 80yards into the woods, 230pm saw 6does and what looked like an 8pter same place as the 2 early, but the buck turned around and header back where they came from(guess he was just scent checking them and didn' t find any thing hot enough to pursue), prime-time 515pm here he came from right behind me (of course), it was that same 8pter but was actually a 9pter(double browe-tine). He was just inside the ear and not quite what I would consider a trophy so he walked right under my stand and over my travel route, and even hung around down wind of me form 10mins or so. Then he walked off as I said to myself " that' s a dead deer walking" HAHA![&:]. Then at last shooting light/half dark what looked like a shooter trotted through the bedding area that my scent blew towards with no alarm. He never presented a shot and it was getting to dark( didn' t want to take a questionable shot that I' d regret).

I love this trophy hunting stuff! Last year I would have shot that 9pter. It makes me proud that I out smarted him and mabye some-day he will be my trophy deer.
I' ve been hunting since and have had a basket 7pter and a tall spike under me, down wind of me, and on my travel route with no bad reactions. I' ve been seeing a lot more deer now that I quite shooting the first thing that moved.

As for cover scents, I' ve used some coon urine in the past but didn' t see it help any/ nor did I see it hurt but I just hate messin' with that stank stuff. I do use a small amount of pine cover scent mixed in with my scent eliminater spray. It has seemed to work good so far, just don' t know if it will trick the wise, old, big boys. Never really tried any buck or does urines, always tought that the only people that thought that stuff was great were the ones selling it. How can it smell fresh? Most of what I' ve smelt smells like ammonia(like it' s fermented). But never tried any. To scard to do any testing while I' m huntin' . What kind(s) do you all use?

Do any of you set personal rules that you " only hunt a stand once a week and/or three day in a row" before you stay out of the area for a while? I don' t know of any deer that I' ve spooked but I' m sure some if not all the deer in the area know I' ve been in there. Just don' t want to pressure any bucks out of the area or send them nocturnal.

Thanks again to all your responses and happy huntin' !!!!!!!!!!!

cravingame

Noone wants to reply huh?[]