scent control.

[new hunter]

To what extent does everyone go to to cover their scent ?
I always shower with scent killer the night before , my hunting boots are only used for hunting , they have never been to a gas station , or even in my bathroom for that matter . When I wash my camos I use that descenting soap , but I don't store my clothes outside or even with foliage from my hunting area , I store them out in the open in my bedroom . The night before a hunt I spray them down with scent killer , but thats all .
I try and hunt into the wind , but that isn't always possible .
How far does everyone else take it , and who thinks it isn't important .

[SimilkameenSlayer]

not much, i just try to be up wind. i also stand in the smoke from a smokey fire.

[gitnadoix]

If you do a little research on how you scent is created and carried, you will stop buy those sprays and just hunt the wind.....your clothes smell like you in 60 seconds of putting them on.....infact just standing over them they start to smell like you,,,

Watch a hound track a human and you will quickly see that its impossible to hide that you are there or have been there....

[huntwriter]

Save your money and just watch the wind.

[new hunter]

I was thinking of packing my gear with a bunch of branches as additional scent cover, I guess it won't make much difference though . I'll probably keep showering with scent soap the night before though , I kind of like the Idea of a ritual before I go out on the land.

[shed-hunter1]

we should ask the buck that charged me on oct 1 about scent control

[new hunter]

I wish a buck would charge me , I havent seen antlers since august .

[huntwriter]

I was thinking of packing my gear with a bunch of branches as additional scent cover, I guess it won't make much difference though . I'll probably keep showering with scent soap the night before though , I kind of like the Idea of a ritual before I go out on the land.

Shower on the morning before you go hunting and wear fresh clothing. Showering the night before defeats the purpose.

[CanuckShooter]

I was thinking of packing my gear with a bunch of branches as additional scent cover, I guess it won't make much difference though . I'll probably keep showering with scent soap the night before though , I kind of like the Idea of a ritual before I go out on the land.

If you hunt from a blind, spraying some deer/elk/moose in heat urine around your blind doesn't hurt....I can think of a couple rituals that would be far more pleasurable!! ;-)

[Weatherby Fan]

If using scent cover soap makes you feel better about hunting go for it,there's a few things you can do to mask your scent but the reallity is it's near impossible to get rid of your scent,
In stead of spending a bunch of money on store bought stuff use natural cover up from where your hunting,Ill throw my fleece in a bag with some juniper berries and branches,rub the berries all over my boots.

My older brother always pins a cpl of tarsal glands from a rutting buck on his boots and if that doesn't cover up your scent nothing will,I won't even let him in my truck but he seems to whack a decent buck every year stinking like that,and on top of that he buys doe in heat urine and adds a little of that to his boots !
He just cuts them off a buck and puts them in a ziplock and throws them in the freezer for next year.

Mainly watch your wind,Ill hike a few kilometers around a hill to hunt into the wind.
I proved my point to my son last year doing this hike with a little grumbling from him until we walked up on a huge 3 point bedded on a steep bank,he was laying just below a juniper bush,we got within 30 yards of him with a a decent breeze blowing he couldn't hear us or smell us.
WF

[brian]

Shower on the morning before you go hunting and wear fresh clothing. Showering the night before defeats the purpose. It won't matter that much anyways. Deer and dogs have roughly equivalent senses of smell (or so I've read). And dogs are that little species that is used to smell explosives, drugs, contraband, convicts, people under rubble, cancer, and anything even remotely resembling food. Here is what wikipedia has to say about a dogs sense of smell.


While the human brain is dominated by a large visual cortex (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_cortex), the dog brain is dominated by an olfactory cortex (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olfactory_system).The olfactory bulb (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olfactory_bulb) in dogs is roughly forty times bigger than the olfactory bulb in humans, relative to total brain size, with 125 to 220 million smell-sensitive receptors. The bloodhound (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloodhound) exceeds this standard with nearly 300 million receptors. Dogs can discriminate odors at concentrations nearly 100 million times lower than humans can.So really, who do we think we are fooling? We are scent factories. So I hunt with the wind in my face. Until that strong south wind swirls over the mountain and becomes a gentle northern breeze that gusts to the east and the west. Then I ineptly hunt around in circles while the deer point and laugh at me. I can still hear their mocking laughter ringing in my ears.

[huntwriter]

It won't matter that much anyways. Deer and dogs have roughly equivalent senses of smell (or so I've read). And dogs are that little species that is used to smell explosives, drugs, contraband, convicts, people under rubble, cancer, and anything even remotely resembling food. Here is what wikipedia has to say about a dogs sense of smell.
So really, who do we think we are fooling? We are scent factories. So I hunt with the wind in my face. Until that strong south wind swirls over the mountain and becomes a gentle northern breeze that gusts to the east and the west. Then I ineptly hunt around in circles while the deer point and laugh at me. I can still hear their mocking laughter ringing in my ears.

That is absolutely true. There is no defense against the nose of a deer or dog. but with a good shower you can fool a deer into thinking that you are much further away then you're in reality. Having said that, hunting with the face in the wind or a good crosswind is the only guarantee that a deer will not smell you.

[brian]

That is absolutely true. There is no defense against the nose of a deer or dog. but with a good shower you can fool a deer into thinking that you are much further away then you're in reality. Having said that, hunting with the face in the wind or a good crosswind is the only guarantee that a deer will not smell you.

I always figured our breath alone will give them enough of a warning to the danger that could be coming their way.

[longstonec]

I think myth busters busted this one too. I remember reading about it on another thread. cant find video though. apparently they wrapped somebody up in plastic somehow and dogs still found him. I have been in camp with 3 smelly other guys for over a week and had deer walk withing 5 feet of me while I was crouched down not moving a muscle. if the wind had turned i probably would have been hoofed in the face.

[wrenchhead]

I always hunt the wind but one trick I do is of there's cows in the area I step in a nice patty after I leave the truck, I figure the deer are used to smelling those stinky cows.