How worried should I be about scent

I’ve never gone to great lengths to reduce or eliminate my scent when deer hunting. I only hunt during the general firearms season and I only hunt in a rifle zone. So my range is a long ways compared to archery hunting. I don’t need the deer to come very close to take a shot. I take my blaze orange out of the basement for a few days ahead of time, spray it down with scent killer, and let it hang outside. I spray my boots with scent killer every morning before I walk to my stand too.

My question is, should I be doing more to reduce my scent during firearms deer season?

Thanks for you the replies and advice.

No.

I wouldn’t worry about it. I do the same as you and have never had an issue.

No, and I wouldn’t waste any more money on scent killer either. Even if it works (which is highly questionable imo) it doesn’t cover up your bodies scent, which includes some combination of last nights chili, bonfire, IPA/whisky, soap and/or natural BO.

Just keep the wind direction in mind and you should be fine.

Scent killer is snake oil. Play the wind and you’ll give yourself a much better advantage than you ever would messing around with scent killer. With that said, don’t be smoking cigarettes or adding any unnecessary scent while walking to/from or in your stand, as much as you can help it.

Check out the hunting public YouTube channel. Those guys shoot more mature bucks than anyone else out there and they don’t touch scent killer, they just play the wind.

I never understood the fanatical approach to scent control for gun season….taking great pains to be scent fee, then grabbing a gun that smells of oil, burnt powder, hoppes #9, etc, and heading to the woods…..

I guess it depends on what you’re hunting for. Big buck or brown it’s down? I wash all my clothes in no scent soaps and shower with no scent soaps. All my clothes go into gasketed scent free totes. I only use the spray on my boots. I have had multiple does/deer down wind and along comes the buck I am looking for. In my opinion it depends on what you are looking to harvest.
Sometimes the wind switches or you only have one stand ypiou can hunt and the wind isn’t ideal.

Whether its bow or gun that’s how I roll. I am more concerned when bow hunting however. I get the gun smell and just try not to have it dripping with oil. I’ve hunted with guys that have cigarettes hanging out of their mouth and guys that brush their teeth with baking soda and both shoot bucks… Which one more or bigger? Not sure as they all seem to have different standards, too.

I follow similar steps as beardly. I washed my clothes in sent killer and have them outside in totes a week before the gun season. I also shower with scent less soap and use scent less deodorant. I try not to wear anything I wear into the field inside the shack. I’m not sure how much it matters but I’ll take any advantage I can get. It’s a short season!

I’m not caught up in the scent killer products but I do wash all my hunting gear in a non scented UV killer soap. I believe UV killer keeps the “glow” off you clothing.

In another thread here someone alluded to the idea that deer can be acclimated to people and smells and sounds as they relate to people just doesn’t seem to bother them. I think this is spot on here in SE Minnesota.

The landowner where I hunt and I were cutting buckthorn earlier this year….chainsaws and atvs running a lot. On two occasions we had two and four deer walk down the trail next to where we were cutting only twenty yards away. As long as we didn’t make any quick movements, the deer paid no attention to us as they walked past us. Right past an atv that was still ticking from heat. On another occasion the two of us were knocking down some deep weeds and had stopped for a break and two deer came walking thru while we were drinking water and taking. On each of these occasions it was hot and we were sweating, yet those deer were not the least bit concerned.

At the cabin we’ve seeded the yard heavily with clover in a couple areas. I can mow with the tractor while deer dine on the clover. If I get too close they simply move a few feet over. I can walk the yard picking up sticks and branches the wind brings down while deer are in the yard and they don’t go flying out of there. They keep an eye on me but unless I walk right at them they just do their own thing.

I’ve said it before and will repeat it again, what comes out of a person on his breath is the biggest give-away to deer as long as one’s body is clean. The scent shield clothing is a hoax that cost a lot of people a ton of money.

Interesting you bring up scent and deer hunting. Years ago my uncle use to take the week prior to deer season off in order to trap. During the night while at deer camp we awoke to an intense smell. Something like some rubber boots fell and smoldered on the wood burning stove. The smell filled the entire farm house. The next morning we opened up the windows and went hunting. When we returned from hunting and the house had a chance to air out a bit the smell was obviously skunk. The best we could tell is some skunks had dragged a muskrat carcass under the house and there was some kind of fight over it. All of our clothing was impregnated with it. I don’t remember if we shot any deer that weekend but it didn’t stop us from hunting.

ClownColor wrote:

I’m not caught up in the scent killer products but I do wash all my hunting gear in a non scented UV killer soap. I believe UV killer keeps the “glow” off you clothing.

I have started to do this too. I don’t know for sure that the UV is an issue, but I bought a bottle of the detergent several years ago and still working it. I have never used scent killer in my 45 years of hunting. I’m sure there have been times when it impacted me, but it’s far and few times. Dad always smoked while he hunted, he shot a lot of nice deer.

What Tom says above is true. I think if you spend more time in your woods the deer aren’t as disturbed when you show up in Nov. They become a little desensitized to your presence. At least that’s what I’ve been telling my wife every time I want to go hang out in the woods through out the year! 😉

Urinate on a bunch of trees in the area and see what happens. The deer have no idea what it is, a curious cat situation

Well, I can tell you my experience. Most of the summer, on my friends hunting land, we have been sitting often drinking adult beverages, talking a bunch, and smoking cigars. We have had multiple deer come in, less than 20 yards, as we talk to them, puff on our cigars, just no quick movements. They stuck around for almost 1/2 hour. I believe it is just what ever they are used to. If they aren’t use to people around, use scent blockers, etc. Otherwise, just do what they are used to and have fun.

You will never be able to fool a deer’s sense of smell, regardless of what hocus-pocus, fairy dust you try. All wild animals smell scent on a level that we can never comprehend. When we smell a pizza, we smell pizza, they smell each and every ingredient individually on that pizza.

Play the wind and thermals and don’t waste your money on “scent elimination” gimmicks.