I know what you mean jeff. Not saying anybody isn’t but im maticulos about my scent. I never purposely carry any scent from the house to my truck and i pay attention or why go hunting. I put a clean unscented towel on my truck seat befor i get in that goes the full length of my seat. When i get to my spot i take my feet out carefully and put on my hunting boots plus all my hunting clothes that are in a bag, sometimes behing the truck when its a little windy doing this with my hunting gloves that i keep in a seperate sack after opening the truck door then I’ll walk in the snow to do so in my longjohns, brrrrrrr. Deer don’t move when winds above 15 miles an hour. I leave the truck almost scent free 95% im hoping and still thinking of ways to be better at it. I always spray racoon scent on my boots, they smell like it too. I know its the absense of other animals scents in the area that make deer very wary not necessarily human scent over a prolonged period of time. Im kinda proud to say ive havent gotten busted by a deer in the last 7 years and i’ve had as many as 3 under my tree at one time that i’ve called in. Young bucks but thier the vernable ones and will come to anything. I’ve had deer look right up my tree and look right through me and the’d go back to what they were doing because i mimick the barks colors of the tree im in while putting on color to hide my profile. I’ve got a seperate washer that i wash my clothes in that i protect with my life around hunting season and i always hang my clothes outside to dry no matter the temperature because they will dry in a few days. One very important thing to remember is never dry your clothes in the family drier because of fabric softeners that have been used and perfumed detergents and always run the washer empty with descenting liquid at least once befor drying, it helps. All it takes is one mistake and they smell a person. I’ve stood and watched a doe smell me at 150 yrds and there was no wind, just drift and very little at that after i stood there for 15 minutes just testing her. She turned around completly surprised, blew through her nostrils and hauled as- out of there. I’ve raked trails with a rake to see how many deer were walking through an area in a night and did it with my hunting clothes on to my tree and they never smelled me. Heres a trick to try, find a trail that close to the meadows edge and clear all the limbs that might touch a bucks rack. These trail that run along the timbers edge are the trails that the bucks use to follow does before they come into heat and don’t want the bucks near them, thats why you only see activity on them close to rut. They can then walk silently along these trails to follow does and not be heard because the limbs don’t hit thier racks or brush along thier sides. I works for me especially when im grunt snort wheezing mimicking fighting bucks. The local bucks know these trails that the bucks follow and they come running looking at the fighting thats going to take place. It kinda like you hear about a fight between two young guys in junior high and everybody shows up in the alley to watch them fight and thier in the area because its rut, all the young guys come in to watch. I still make it my no. 1 priority to hunt with the wind because i make mistakes too. I leave my truck well befor dawn and im in my seat and watch the sun come up and never leave my stand until after dawn unless absolutely neccesary even at 20 below unless the wind comes up and its pushing numbing temperatures then. I’ve got electric socks and 4 batteries with me then and pull over booties that are wool to the inside of my boots to keep my feet warm. I always glass out the direction im going befor i walk because of the deer still in the meadows that are feeding in the predawn. I’ll walk a mile in the snow to make sure they don’t see me. Heres another trick that works When your walking to your stand and a deer sees you, glass them to see if thier ready to run, if they are walk in a straight line right for them because other deer do this too to join up with them, never walk sideways to get away,showing a persons profile. Holding your arms in and never tell them anything with body language if a guy can. I go early in the season and check to see if my pully is on the tree that i use to pull my doe pee scent rag to on a nylon string about 20 to 35 yrds from my stand depending on what it takes for a good shot. Plus im very careful when the snows wet because it holds human scent better than dry snow. Also birds don’t smell so no worrying there but they are the sentries of the woods and will tell you when somethings walking near by. These are some of the things i do to hunt and read the woods day to day.
