The never ending discussion…Scent Control.

Great offer, I really need to refinance the wifes Trailblazer, our current banks got us over a barrel so to speak.

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Great offer, I really need to refinance the wifes Trailblazer, our current banks got us over a barrel so to speak.

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Sorry I can’t be of assistance. You need to live work or worship in the 7 county metro area to be a member of CCFCU.

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Thanks for the offer Bob.

Unfortunately, I’m out of collateral!!

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Glad I could help

I know a lot of this is beating a dead horse but I wanted to see what you guys do for scent control in the field? Anything I’m missing or you have found to be effective.

The never ending battle. It’s just another thing where people’s opinions vary greatly. You always hear the story of ol’ Jim, who sat in the same stand every year for 50 years, smoking cigarettes like it’s going out of style, and seems to shoot big deer.

I heard some of these interesting facts, a lot of this is just beating a dead horse telling you how amazing deer are at busting you! But I found it pretty neat.

The nose of a whitetail deer has up to 297 million olfactory receptors, dogs have 220 million with humans limiting out with just five million… making the whitetail deer’s sense of smell is a third greater than that of a canine.
Experts state that a whitetail deer can detect human scent for up to 10 days after it’s left.
In tests, dogs have been able to pick up chemical solutions that form one or two parts in a trillion. That is the equivalent of smelling one bad apple in two billion barrels.

So in conclusion, deer are going to smell you if you are in bow range. Despite, all of the ozone emitters, scentlock clothing, cover scents, and what ever you want to throw at them.

Is wind your only friend in the field?

Now, I’m not saying I don’t use any scent control products because I sure do. The way I think about these products is like this: the deer may still smell you, but it creates “distance”. So if you are only 20 yards from a deer, these combination of scent control methods would make the deer think you are maybe 60 yards instead. This could possibly put them at alert but not enough to spook them out of the area.

Here is my scent control regime.

I’ll start this off in the shower. A day before I am planning on hunting, I’ll avoid any sort of scented deodorant, or cologne and opt for a scent free deodorant. I will shower with a scent “killing” body wash and shampoo. Another big thing is to avoid strong smelling foods. For example, I cut up an onion about 24 hours ago and I can still smell it on my hands after 2 showers.

Base layer. Early season scent control is extremely difficult, your sweat glands are more worked up than a teenage boy at the school dance! I don’t personally have any scent lock under-layer but use a moisture wicking shirt such as Under Armor. Everything I wear into the field has been washed in scent reducing or scent free laundry detergent and immediately put into a plastic container. Is this a little overkill…maybe! If it is going to mean the little difference between slamming a 100 grain broadhead into a buck or having it’s white flag raised in my face, overkill is okay!

Carbon clothing. The merits of carbon scent control clothing has been debated but again I do believe it creates “distance” for yourself. I will leave my clothes outside for a few hours to a day, outside hanging in a tree to let it “air out”

Accessories – Everything I bring into my blind or my treestand has been hosed down with scent spray. Blind, backpack, the whole works.
The morning/afternoon of the hunt. I won’t put on anything I plan on wearing into the stand on my drive to the hunting spot. I often stop at gas stations, and that would be a huge no-no. Another suggestion is to avoid wearing your hunting boots in the truck. I also put these in a plastic bin and put them on when I arrive to my spot. Often times I may be a little lax on changing my under layer before going to the field, but I never put on my outer clothing on before my car ride.

Arriving to the spot. I will throw on all of my gear, spray it down with scent spray, especially my boots and head on out to my stand or blind.

Now I go through this crazy routine every time I get to the stand. I have a good buddy who does a pretty good job but not to the extent I take it and then throws on Nose Jammer.

What are your guy’s thoughts on it? I am so on the fence about it, I don’t really want to smell like a giant blob of vanilla but I have seen it work for him first hand. I know vanilla extract has been a cover scent for years, is this just an expensive gimmick?

I haven’t had a huge issue with deer busting me but I would be willing to give it a try and maybe cool it a touch with my bi-polar like scent control.

What are your thoughts?

You are nuts… Like many guys here. I try to take it to your level, but I honestly lose interest very quickly. I always try to hunt with the wind in my face and I personally believe this is the best answer for everyone.

That said, I started using Nose Jammer last year. I was hesitant at first but my very first sit in Minnesota I had two coyotes cross me downwind about 5-15 yards away. I had a nice 5-8mph breeze that evening. The coyotes stopped about 25 yards from me and I zipped a Rage 2 blade through him.

Fast forward to this year. A couple buddies are running the Ozonic devices. They convinced me I should make the investment. My 2nd sit of the season in Mn, I drove right from work to the hunting land. Put on my clothes from a tote, sprayed down again and put Evercalm on my boots before the walk in. I sprayed the tree with Nose Jammer as soon as I settled in. I was sweaty! Sprayed myself again in the stand. Due to only having about 3 hours of battery life, I didn’t turn on my Ozonics until later. This night I had a nice 10mph + wind in my face. About 45 minutes before dark 3 deer, two does and a fawn came in directly downwind of me. They new something wasn’t right, but they still came right under my tree.

Read my SD buck story and watch the video. Those bucks were approximately 75 yards downwind of me. They new something wasn’t right, but once again my combination of Nose Jammer and Ozonics helped fool them. Of course using cow poo to cover my tracks doesn’t hurt either.

Do I believe these products are the end all to scent control, nope. I am in the camp of promoting each of them though!! I don’t own any scent killing clothing for the simple fact no matter how slow I walk to a stand, I’m sweated through whatever I’m wearing. I don’t care if it’s January coyote hunting. Personally, I say do what works for you. For those OCD guys, well, sucks to be you.

I’m personally a scent control nut. I try to do everything in my power to give myself an edge scent control wise from showering with unscented soap throughout the hunting season to keeping my gear in scent free totes to keeping them washed in scent free detergent after each weekend of use.

In regards to a scent spray, I do utilize this as well, but I have to say that I am a big believer in Nose Jammer as well. I was very skeptical when I first tried it, but after having deer down wind of me on numerous occasions for long periods of time, I’m a firm believer.

Wow! I do very minimal when it comes to scent control. I wash my outerwear in Wildlife Research Center Scent Killer Clothes Wash, and my husband usually insists on spraying me with Wildlife Research Center Scent Killer before we go out, but other than that I don’t really do anything. However, I think I have an advantage over the others in our hunting group… I am the only woman. So I theorize that the deer indeed smell me, they’re just more curious than alarmed.

In fact, they’re so curious, that the buck I shot last year was looking RIGHT at me while walking toward me (until I shot him of course!). All the deer I’ve shot have been within 30 yards of me, so my scent must not be alarming them too much. To be perfectly honest, I somehow have developed a habit of having to go to the bathroom just after arriving at my stand in the morning. This bathroom break requires the earth, and not my go-girl. At deer camp there’s a running joke that I must wake up earlier than everyone and “use the bathroom” at each of their stands opening morning. I’ve yet to agree to that.

You bring up and interesting side point. I’m a let her fly off the stand kind of person(luxury of being a boy I guess). Always have. In my Minnesota example above, I had actually relieved myself twice that night from the tree prior to the deer showing up.

Ben-
Great post. I do 98% of what you do.

When I set things up like you, I never have to pay attention to the wind – I just get to hunt. I have had dozens of deer directly downwind over the last five years, and have not been winded once. The exceptions have been early season hunts where I’ve had to hang stands at the time of the hunt, and then get all stinky while doing it, limiting myself to the up wind side.

Th only thing I do different is that I run my carbon base layer clothing in the dryer for about 20 mins before I head out. I feel I may as well have the freshest level of protection I can get. Since it’s heat activated, hanging outside doesn’t achieve the objective. Non-carbon I keep sealed in a scent proof container.

I do wash my clothing in scent killer every couple weeks.

Taking major precautions with scent control has definitely helped me harvest deer, that would have otherwise winded me.

I am 100% on board with you.

I wash my clothes and spray them and hang them daily. When traveling they go into scent blocker bags. I shower and use scent blocker hair and body deodorant.

I have a friend that let’s her fly out if the stand all time and still kills deer. I can’t bring myself to do so.

Personally I never will hunt a set if I know the wind is wrong or swirling especially if targeting an old deer. Always try and keep everything in your favor when it’s possible. As for scent control, I live on a farm which I think is a huge advantage because I don’t need to worry about always putting my clothes in a scent free bag, the scents from around the farm can take care of the foreign odors to a deer’s nose. A product that I have had a lot of success with is the Ti4 Titanium spray from scentblocker. All these things have helped me a lot. I don’t remember the last time that a deer was downwind and busted me, some deer will get cautious but it has been a very very long time since I have been busted.

Dad is now sold on Dead Down Wind products. His guides hooked him up with these products on his Elk Hunt last week. He told me on numerous occasions (3 to be exact) his guides got him inside the herd within 15′ of some cows who were down wind and they never spooked.

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Taking major precautions with scent control has definitely helped me harvest deer, that would have otherwise winded me.

I am 100% on board with you.

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I am totally on board with you as well Ben. I have often made mention here that I may have developed some OCD habits on scent control or the fact that the end of bow season is sad, but I am happy to know that the next day I will not be going through a long drawn out ritual of ensuring I am confident in my scent heading across terrain.

Basically, I prewash my wash machine with scent killer, then wash clothes, then clean lint trap, spray inside of dryer, dry clothes with scent killer dry towels, pack immediately into scent control bag (all after I have sprayed dryer and heat activated two bags worth of carbon filter sheets). I do this every 2-3 weeks pending on weather and how much Ive sweat heading to stand.

Before every sit my base layers are put into dryer, especially my scent blocker face mask. If I have sweat really at all the walk in on the last sit, I will rewash and dry my base layers. Base layers are taken from dryer and put out on deck to be sprayed down before I throw them into scent killer bag with other layers. Shower, however without scent killer soaps as it drives my skin nuts, only wear deodorant and wont put it on any day I am going to hunt nor soap in my hair any day I hunt. Brush teeth with no tooth paste, residual paste seems to clean but not really make your breath minty. I then put on normal clothes from a separate scent bag that have been washed in scent killer and stored, these are the clothes I wear in my truck to the hunting area.

Once parked where I will be hunting I completely change into my hunting clothes from my storage bag, every thing but boxers regardless of season or weather. I spray down my skin, hair and anything that may be exposed. While dressing I will spray down any layer that I feel a previous walk in has left any sweat on. I then double check all my walks in with the real wind compared to what I had planned from the forecast. I spray down boots that are left outside season long and walk in with no extra upper layers other than my base layer shirt and pack my safety system, jacket, and sometimes sweatshirt in my scent free washed backpack. I often stop on walk in to not get too warm.

Once in stand I do not put on sweatshirt, jacket, or safety system until I am cooled down. If I have warmed up to a degree I feel is too much I will use a small bottle of scent killer to wipe down my skin. Put on scent killer face mask and don’t breath outside of it till I’m done hunting.

If I end up in the stand with a wind I am not totally happy with, I’ll throw on my ozonics; however, I have more deer act like something is up with it on than If I do not use it at all. I feel that breath scent and sweat scent are major. When I started controlling my breath with a carbon mask the results were almost as big as understanding pressuring spots and jumping deer in the dark. Im not saying I have bad breath, but the fact is is that your breathing is a GIANT air exchange system that will be detected no doubt.

I may have a scent control issues (mentally). However, when I say that having deer act as though something is up, or getting winded during a bow season T’s me off; I’m dead serious and not trying to over exaggerate. I regularly have 15-25 deer (had up to 52 in mid december) in a food plot a night and getting winded by one will blow your sit and many sits after that.

I put pressure in front of scent at this point (i.e. do everything possible not to jump a deer on the way in or out, ill sit in a stand for well well after dark for a plot to clear so I don’t jump anything). However, I feel scent control is major, and as we all know mature bucks often do not travel our expected routes.

I’ve watched friends’ videos where a scent control guy up wind of the videographer is winded without that scent control guy ever even seeing the buck. This coincides with our your point, and my agreed perspective, of closing the distance with scent control. I will also second the comment about dead down wind. I’ve used alot of scent free sprays through the years; dead down wind is the product I will take over any. Also, farm scents can be integral for your own benefit. Kooty proved that point with his hunt too. I know a family that has many hog barns and a good piece of deer land ~15 miles away. They pump their hog barn pits and sweep inject it on the land around their hunting property the week before slug season. Wearing their hog chore clothes to stand, they have shot many many mature bucks through the years; no doubt holds merit to use available scents.

Your not alone in your scent free OCD… But I have to go, got a load of scent free laundry to care for

This may sound like an oxymoron but its related to scent control for your breath and Im convinced your breath is 50% of your entire scent control effect. It began when I was a young uneducated hunter and we discussed whether we should spit our chew on the ground or in a bottle. I told my buddies I had rarely sent deer packing and for the very reason I was spitting, deer would often come very close and smell the ground below me. I chewed MINT skoal back then. I would never advertise that it attracts deer but it had a certain curiosity effect. Well, since then (15yrs ago) until now I have switched to a much worse brand and trust me the effect is not the same and it was obvious when deer came directly below me.

It did however, develop a scent control method that is one of my most important to me and a much better habit. I always carry mint lifesavers in my pocket. I always put one in mouth when I get to stand first thing and every few hours on a long sit. I firmly believe Mint is calming and natural similar to the Vanilla in Nose Jammer. I have has great success with downwind deer for a number of years and I know at least one thing, deer would rather smell mint breath then any other breath I have haunted them with.

With some of the new products out there, Its interesting to see how they’ve been added into scent control regimens. Although, I am a bit of a nazi when it comes to scent control, I personally like to keep things somewhat simple and to be perfectly honest, I’m not sold on much of it. The only piece of carbon I own is a scent lock hat with face mask. I bought that more for covering up my face than believing it eliminates odors. The one thing I don’t like about carbon is that it locks scent in and I still feel as though there is a stream of scent coming out of that heading down wind. I think with the woods being loaded with hikers, etc. and a loss of habitat, there is a certain amount of human scent that a deer will tolerate before busting out of there. In areas that I hunt anyway. Now if you’re in area that doesn’t see much for human activity, I definitely think there is less of a tolerance to human scent….

Anyway, my regimen is much like everybody elses but one trick I learned is to cut some cedar, juniper or arborvitae branches and rub them on your clothes before heading into the woods. when doing that it releases the oils in the foliage leaving a natural cover scent behind on your clothes. While these trees may not be indigenous to all areas, I think it’s a natural smell that can work as a great cover scent.. I’m also sure to bring an apple or some hickory nuts with me to munch on as I think your breath stream is a major producer of scent. If a dog can sniff out diabetes on your breath, I’m guessing a deer can smell what you had for dinner a week ago. As I mentioned before, I think its more about scent tolerance than being able to become totally scent free.

Good call. I have also stored my things with some natural vegetation, especially in western ND. I’ll load up on sage and it comes out of the bin rather potent!

I am going to give Nose Jammer a go this weekend. I’m hoping nothing bad comes of it!

I agree 100% with the guys that said breath is very important.

I’m not a scent control freak, maybe i should be, I have tried various products and while i think they help, i have never had any encounters where i was convinced a deer didn’t wind be because I used a certain product or whatever.

I have had encounters where deer go down wind of me after i have showered good, washed my clothes the night before, didn’t wear them in the truck, sprayed down in the field, didn’t sweat getting to the stand yada yada yada and have gotten busted big time.

Other times i have been running late, booking to the stand, sweaty and i know i stink and have deer walk down wind of me and not bust me…not saying they didn’t know i was there, but they definitely didn’t spook.

I think all the things mentioned above help to some degree and certainly don’t hurt (i do much of what is stated above for that reason), but by far the overwhelming factor is just don’t let deer get down wind of you. I know sometimes you can’t help it or winds change, but i just flat out don’t rely on anything to cover my scent, i just hunt the wind.

my $0.02

Have the same routine as most, shower, sprays, wipe downs and constant under layer washing. I found myself grinning a couple times especially with fowler’s regime. I do basically the same when it comes to washing clothes, clean out the dryer vents and wash a load of my “layer” clothes first. then wipe out inside of dryer with scent killer wipes because it smells like fresh mountain blue mist from the girlfriends previous loads. I shake my head at myself like jeez, do you really think it matters that much?!? i dunno i just do it i guess, made sense when i first thought of it….

From there its directly into a scentlok bag to only get opened just before going to stand and back in immediately when out of stand. spray down with scent killer before going in, along with just getting settled into stands. Even in hotter temps i try to layer up as best as possible before sweating which if its over 80 it simply never works, with the thought process of my smell has to make it through more layers to get into the air. NEVER wear my boots outside of the woods, once im out they go into the back of the truck in the tote, if i pay attention to anything it is my boots, this is what is always in constant contact with the ground or foliage, which is where a deers head is always at. I can’t count how many deer (typically that one big doe with a fawn, or a little buck) hit my tracks of where i walked in and follow it directly to my tree. Darn near the best scent drag possible! only if it worked on the right deer.
When it comes to sprays I wish they would sell scent killer spray in 5 gallon pails, I would be the guy that would buy it, im usually walking in, in wet clothes just from spraying down.

I guess tough to explain everything that goes into a consistent routine of scent prevent nothing is 100%. I hunt all public land and a 30 minute walk is simply an average walk to get to areas where I concentrate my hunting. 9 out of 10 times that includes a stand on my back, along with a backpack full of camera gear, the stuff adds up! Going in with the assumption that the wind will be in my favor is darn near like me going in saying yep gunna smoke a tank tonight, just doesn’t happen, so i would say i “attempt” to do the very best i can to hunt with favorable winds but it is jnot always realistic. Just eliminate what odors i can and just go hunt.

Can’t honestly say i have ever figured out any kind of scent elimination brand of spray/wash that has worked better than another, if i ever get winded or get a deer that knows something is up downwind of me, always seems to be something i feel like i did wrong, or forgot to do, not necessarily any products wrongdoing. I would like to get myself into trying out the nose jammer products, sure seems like i hear an aweful lot of good experiences with them, but i just cant get myself over the thought of concealing my own scent and then spraying down with something that smells like a flower garden. Kinda goes against everything i try and NOT do, but hey i can’t argue if it works it works!

Might all be crazy, which sometimes even to me i shake my head with what i wipe or spray down but it comes down to one thing and thats CONFIDENCE, biggest factor in hunting in any matter i guess.

Something we haven’t talked about is overall deer awareness. I talk to my buddies all the time about this. “My deer” out in SD are used to being bumped by farm equipment etc… Example, my dad goes up and changes the chip on the camera every 3 weeks with his Mule. He leaves scent all over the place. Do the deer not associate that with a threat??? I know I’m blessed with the opportunity to hunt private ground. I just wonder if the deer get accustomed to us a bit??

I myself am taking scent control on a different level this year compared to previous years. A couple years ago, I read an article that compares different scent eliminating sprays against bacteria. The results showed that scent-a-way killed bacteria asopposed to wildlife research center and a few others, which masked bacteria. I switched to scent-a-way, and the results have made me a believer.
I have always used scent lok and scent blocker outerwear and kept them in a rubber bin. But this year, I designated innerlayer clothes just for hunting. In the years past, I have just grabbed clothes off the shelf and put them on after showering. But this year, I wash and rewash my clothes in scent-a-way detergent about every 10 days-while never wearwearingthe same clothes more than once.
I have had a lot of deer downwind of me by accident, and haven’t spooked. But of course, there have been a few that have. This method has been working for me and I’m sticking to it!

Play the wind

Depends on where you hunt. If you hunt a low traffic area where the deer rarely smell a human, then it’s far more important. If you hunt an area that is close to houses, or farms or where people are moving through the area a lot. Then it’s far less important.

We hunt an area that is close to a house where the owner cuts wood right by the stands and stuff like that. But he’s not in the woods daily or anything like that. But still nobody uses any kind of scent control. In fact it’s the opposite. We all stink to high heavens. There is never a shortage a deer parading under the stands with little care of fact that we stinky people are 20 yards away.

Two seasons ago my dad and his buddy are sitting in a box blink in their stinky work clothes, smoking cigarettes, drinking coffee and shooting the chit. The buddy shoots a 166 inch non-typical at 20 yards with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth and a cup of coffee by his side.

There have been many other close encounters with bigger bucks in the same area. I don’t know if it’s the fact that we are hunting a hundred yards from house or what. But the deer just don’t seem to care. Now I’m sure the couple monster bucks in the area avoid us because they know we are in the woods. But most deer still walk right by and either never act like they notice or they will look up at us and just keep going by.