I set up for that purpose and that has never really been an issue, the problem is they usually come in curious and at alert as to what i am...i suspect they pick up some of my other scents i am putting off. The results have been mixed and i prefer to have deer enter unaware of me totally rather than in a curious state. After a few times the curious becomes a determined effort to see what is intruding into their area and the surprise attack becomes thwarted.
It is not fail proof by any means.

You can not cover human scent, a deer can pick out and tell the difference in many mixed scents. No matter how many scents are present, deer smell them individually.

Deep woods off is my favorite cover scent. I've killed plenty of deer and had opportunites to kill many, many more while wearing it. Helps that I'm not moving around swatting mosquitos.

99% scent eliminator, its all you need. Don't let anything know you are in the woods.

I been reading all this stuff about cover scents and I'm not sure any of us have a clue what we are talking about... I once used coon urine as a cover scent (3 tinks bomb containers full around me) and I wasn't hanging that high (18 ft.) in the tree.... I had two does and yerling walk all over me for approx. 50 minutes.... I was in the wide open from there direction and a few times the does would look UP my way while feeding.... They never figured me out but they were smelling something that caused them to look up my way...

Using buck urine last year and had a buck (Very nice 10 pt.)come in the wrong direction behind me off the ridge..... He stop short and started stomping for several minutes... I finally tried to turn on him (sling rubbed stand) and he went about 60 yards into a thicket but stopped and turned bac into my direction to figure out what was going on....

I don't believe any of these deer and others detected human scent..... I do want to add that I go to the extreme (washing, clothes, boots, spraying, and changing clothes before hunt) to eliminate scent....

I've had deer bed down directly underneath my tree and go to sleep, and I stunk to high heaven from the walk in wearing my stand and carrying another hunter's. Dropped pieces of apple on their heads just to see what they'd do... nothing, but eventually they got tired of it and moved. Having deer around doesn't prove anything about the effectiveness of cover scents.

I been reading all this stuff about cover scents and I'm not sure any of us have a clue what we are talking about... I once used coon urine as a cover scent (3 tinks bomb containers full around me) and I wasn't hanging that high (18 ft.) in the tree.... I had two does and yerling walk all over me for approx. 50 minutes.... I was in the wide open from there direction and a few times the does would look UP my way while feeding.... They never figured me out but they were smelling something that caused them to look up my way...

Using buck urine last year and had a buck (Very nice 10 pt.)come in the wrong direction behind me off the ridge..... He stop short and started stomping for several minutes... I finally tried to turn on him (sling rubbed stand) and he went about 60 yards into a thicket but stopped and turned bac into my direction to figure out what was going on....

I don't believe any of these deer and others detected human scent..... I do want to add that I go to the extreme (washing, clothes, boots, spraying, and changing clothes before hunt) to eliminate scent....

I been reading all this stuff about cover scents and I'm not sure any of us have a clue what we are talking about... I once used coon urine as a cover scent (3 tinks bomb containers full around me) and I wasn't hanging that high (18 ft.) in the tree.... I had two does and yerling walk all over me for approx. 50 minutes.... I was in the wide open from there direction and a few times the does would look UP my way while feeding.... They never figured me out but they were smelling something that caused them to look up my way...

Using buck urine last year and had a buck (Very nice 10 pt.)come in the wrong direction behind me off the ridge..... He stop short and started stomping for several minutes... I finally tried to turn on him (sling rubbed stand) and he went about 60 yards into a thicket but stopped and turned bac into my direction to figure out what was going on....

I don't believe any of these deer and others detected human scent..... I do want to add that I go to the extreme (washing, clothes, boots, spraying, and changing clothes before hunt) to eliminate scent....

Trying to ascertain what an animal was and wasn't perceiving simply through observation doesn't produce an accurate picture.

The concept of a "cover scent"--a scent so strong that a deer can't smell the human underneath--simply doesn't hold water. That's not how the sense of smell works. However, we humans too often consider things from our own perspective. We have one of the worst senses of smell in the mammilian world, yet we use our perceptions of our own sense of smell--which is easily overpowered or fooled--and think other animals sense of smell works the same way. That just isn't the case.

How long have drug-smugglers been trying to fool the noses of drug-sniffing dogs, and failing, even when the drugs are enclosed in airtight containers burried in strong smelling stuff like coffee or gasoline? Deer easily have noses better than the best bloodhound, yet we think some skunk scent or cedar smell can fool their noses? A good bloodhound can follow an individual person's scent down a paved sidewalk used by hundreds of different people days after the event. Deer have better noses than that, and we think we can "cover" our scent? Nope.

We will never fully understand other animals' sense of smell because we basically don't have one in comparison. We're talking about animals that can identify each other individually from the smell of footprints or urine that is days old. We simply can't fathom that ability.

I have seen deer cross my trail 5,6 hours old and it was like they hit a brick wall

I have watched deer react negatively to a branch I touched with my bare hands more than a week later, even after a rain

Are you serious BSK? A week later?

Ten days to be exact. And after a pretty good rain.

Hey Mup,just wondering,was the doe scent on the ground,and you up a tree?Could be that your scent was just above his nose,maybe.

BSK i have had a similar experience before. I had a BIG white oak acorn in my pocket one time and decided to just throw it out in front of my stand. about 4 days later (after a GOOD rain) i had 2 does come through feeding and sure enough when they got to that acorn it was like a shot went off!! they ran away quick and never looked back. that was a lesson learned for sure.

Great point Brian, I have read success stories for years as to the effectiveness of scents....even our ancestors used them in some form or another. it seems in the rut at times that scent has definitely worked for some folks. Do you use them? If not what type if any do you use?

I always have some old deer that can avoid my cameras even if they are left out for weeks at a time, but I can go watch them almost weekly in certian fields in the summer. I believe that they are traveling with their nose to the wind and smelling the camera before they get to it in most instances.

Are you using black-flash cameras?