Am I wasting my time on scent control?

[Brassy]

Besides the obvious of hunting the wind, does scent control really make much, if any difference? I've heard there is no real way to fool a deer's nose, but if you can reduce your scent to where he thinks your 200 yards away when in reality your only 50 yards, you have succeeded. And by using various products from soaps, sprays, ozone, to not getting dressed until in the field. Each one works just a little bit, but when added all together can make a real difference in not getting busted.
My question is after going through all the preventative measures, but then cracking open a bag of beef jerky or even having a candy bar in your pack, have I negated all the countermeasures? What about are firearms, surely deer can smell those if they can smell my breath?
I think having the special clothing, and uncle Chester's super secret swamp spray, is a confidence booster for most of us, ( which can make a difference ) but at the end of the day is it just a con?

 

[backyardtndeer]

I am still very conscientious of my scent control. Too many times I have had deer come from where they weren't expected to and end up downwind of me. I think it can make a big difference, and while you may not be able to fool a deer's nose, you can definitely cut down your scent profile and make them less likely to catch your wind when they happen to come in from the wrong way or get around you.

 

[poorhunter]

I gave up on being too awful worried about scent control when I started hunting the hills and hollers in middle Tennessee. I do wash my clothes in scent free soap, like backyard said to cut down scent profile, but that's really it. I try and use the wind to my advantage as best I can, but with thermals and terrain it seems like a crapshoot most days. I can tell for sure which direction they won't wind me if there is a steady 5-10 mph wind, but that may only cover 45 degrees. I have found much better success hunting good spots and not banking on where the deer will be coming from.

 

[deerhunter10]

Con imo all of it. We purely 100 percent play the wind. Have for a while now. Bought ozone several years back. It works kind of. Not enough to fool with imo.

 

[timberjack86]

I hunt from the ground mostly, seen it work often enough I still do it. I've seen mature does smell me and get goosey but not pinpoint me.

 

[CrossVolle]

Cannot beat a deer's nose no matter what you do.

 

[knightrider]

Wasted time and money, since ive stopped all the foolishness of buying scent control crap and taking all the precautions, to washing my camo in tide hanging it in my closet with everything else ive seen zero difference

 

[swampbadger]

Con imo all of it. We purely 100 percent play the wind. Have for a while now. Bought ozone several years back. It works kind of. Not enough to fool with imo.

100 percent agree!

If you are a steady deer killer every year try ditching one piece of your scent free regimen every year until it's all just a thing of the past.

our fore fathers slayed a many of deer from the ground with iron sights. No camo, no deodorant, no clue about wind. They'd just burn a pack of marlboro reds while wearing dirty blue jeans, greasy work boots and red flannel shirts!

 

[losthunter]

Scent control products are designed to seperate you from your money. Just go hunt and save your money. If your worried about the wind, turn around and hunt the opposite direction.

 

[Ski]

Wasted time and money, since ive stopped all the foolishness of buying scent control crap and taking all the precautions, to washing my camo in tide hanging it in my closet with everything else ive seen zero difference

Bingo. That's pretty much exactly what I've seen. I still wash my stuff in detergent that doesn't have brighteners but I don't worry much about scent. I hunt as carefully as reasonably possible and that seems to be fine.

 

[tree_ghost]

Save your time and money on scent control and put it towards something else IMO

 

[knightrider]

Bingo. That's pretty much exactly what I've seen. I still wash my stuff in detergent that doesn't have brighteners but I don't worry much about scent. I hunt as carefully as reasonably possible and that seems to be fine.

Since ive learned thermals and wind tunnels and what topography moves the wind my sightings and not getting busted have sky rocketed without all the scent control crap

 

[NChunt1]

The only thing I do anymore is wear rubber boots and spray them down before I walk in. I have never had a deer cut my walking sign doing so and I constantly walk through the middle of my plots for evening hunts and never had one smell where I walked. But if a deer gets down wind it's going to smell you. Most people who say they have had deer down wind and didn't smell them I believe aren't considering the thermal pulls in the morning, I would bet they are not having that happen with evening thermals.

 

[megalomaniac]

It's ALL about whether the deer smell your scent or not. NOT scent control in and by itself.

I hunt 30 to 40 days out of the year, and I will get blown at by a doe only once or twice an entire season.

Sometimes it's because I'm hunting deer 400y away and they just can't smell me that far.

Sometimes it's because I'm in an enclosed shooting house that is airtight with windows down and they are 15y away downwind.

Sometimes I'm hunting in 15 to 20mph winds high in a tree with deer all over me downwind, but winds are too high for my scent to be detectable by them.

Once in a blue moon I get lucky and a deer comes in from a place he wasn't supposed to and doesn't smell me.

I'm not a scent control fanatic. It's important... I wash in scent free body wash, wash clothes in unscented detergent, use unscented deodorant. But that's it for scent control. No cover scents, no ozonics, no clothes sealed in Tupperware or plastic...

But after 40 years of hunting, I've learned which spots to hunt and more importantly which spots NOT to hunt for any given wind. Learning that came with deer blowing at me at least every 3rd hunt 20y ago. Just part of the learning process.

 

[rem270]

I wash my camo in non scented detergent in hopes to reduce my scent by a fraction and play the wind. Other then that I don't get carried away.

 

[BSK]

I take a different tack. I think it helps. But that's because I set all my stands up like I am bowhunting. All my encounters with deer are at VERY close range. Since I've been using a scent-control regime, deer no long blow and bolt when they smell me. They lock-up and go on high alert. Then they either slowly back out of the situation or continue on at super high attention. Both scenarios can give me a shooting opportunity. Blowing and bolting does not. That said, I only hunt a given stand when the wind is most to my advantage. But I have to admit, I'm no longer super-anal about my scent-control. I wash all my clothes in scent-reducing soaps, air dry them, and keep them in airtight containers. Inner-most layers only get worn once before being rewashed, mid-layers a couple of times, outer layers simply get sprayed down periodically with scent reducers. I don 't wear my boots indoors or in my truck. But I used to go to extraordinary lengths to reduce scent, like not touching anything without wear surgical gloves. I don't go to those extremes anymore.

 

[Lost Lake]

When I first started deer hunting years ago, I'd try anything that was all the rage as far as scent control.

These days I'll wash my clothes in hunting type detergents, and use hunters soap and unscented deodorant. I don't wear my hunting boots or clothes anywhere but the woods and store them in a big cedar chest.

I've had better luck by avoiding walking in on trails the deer use if possible, and avoiding stand sites that the prevailing winds are bad for. That's no guarantee they won't shift on me though.

That's about it. You can fool their noses sometimes, but never totally defeat them.

 

[swampbadger]

Since ive learned thermals and wind tunnels and what topography moves the wind my sightings and not getting busted have sky rocketed without all the scent control crap

and using a little milkweed really helps too!

 

[knightrider]

and using a little milkweed really helps too!

Why? Because its the cool tv thing to do or are you getting down and completely moving the moment it shows the wind isnt in your favor? Milkweed is cool to watch but once you realize you screwed up its already to late. I see everyone on youtube and tv use it but never see anyone get down and leave. Milkweed does nothing except show you that few seconds what its doing, learn thermals and topography wind shifts and tunnels and leave all the gimmicks alone and for goodness sake dont listen the weatherman

 

[cbhunter]

Yes

 

[Gravey]

I try to neutralize my scent as much as possible but you can't eliminate it. My #1 rule is playing the wind as best you can. That helps more than anything but regardless of what you do you can't fool their nose.

 

[Iglow]

Once I'd seen my squirrel dogs get 50-60 yds downwind of a gray squirrel 30 feet up in a tree and then follow the scent to the tree and start hammering on the exact tree it was in I knew scent control was hopeless. That squirrel is only a pound and a half at most and I dont think a dogs nose is as good as a deers yet the dogs can pinpoint the squirrel… just imagine what a deer can do with a 200 lb man and all that surface area emitting scent. I just plan for the right wind and hope it holds long enough at the right time. You gotta remember if the wind swirls and blows the wrong direction if it changes 180 degrees all that scent that went in the wrong direction is blown back and past you in the right direction when it switches.

 

[Rakkin6]

So personally I am anal retentive about scent. Hunting the wind is obviously the preferred method but not always possible in public land. Especially Fort Campbell where you are "assigned" an area and if you do not get to a certain spot on that one area you are assigned you may not be able to walk into an area where the wind works to your advantage. So I like to assume that I will not get there first just in case. I use the detergent, soap, and scent free Arm and Hammer deodorant. All my clothes are stored in 30 gallon zip lock bags with a little baking soda and put into a sealable tote. The three biggest thing to me are boots get out on where I park and taken off when I get back to the truck, and I do spray them down before walking in. Second thing is avoid touching vegetation etc with my hands as much as possible and third is I hunt high 25'-30' even with archery equipment I get up a minimum of 22'-23' and hope the thermals will pull my scent up and away.

 

[Bgoodman30]

Why? Because its the cool tv thing to do or are you getting down and completely moving the moment it shows the wind isnt in your favor? Milkweed is cool to watch but once you realize you screwed up its already to late. I see everyone on youtube and tv use it but never see anyone get down and leave. Milkweed does nothing except show you that few seconds what its doing, learn thermals and topography wind shifts and tunnels and leave all the gimmicks alone and for goodness sake dont listen the weatherman

This why I use milkweed because I don't listen to the weatherman and yes I get down and move stands I did it three times the other day.. I get blown at almost every hunt. There's deer 360 where I hunt way too many does right now. If you don't want to get busted you got to have your back to road which isn't as fun..

 

[Bgoodman30]

Also I think folks get busted a lot more than they think. When I have been winded by a mature deer they rarely announce it they just bounce.. Had one wind me last year at 325 yards wind was blowing out of the west and he was due south..

 

[deerhunter10]

Also I think folks get busted a lot more than they think. When I have been winded by a mature deer they rarely announce it they just bounce.. Had one wind me last year at 325 yards wind was blowing out of the west and he was due south..

I think it would amaze people how many deer they spook. A lot of time deer will never blow or let you know.

Got lucky several years ago and got to hunt in snow. The tripod was tuck in a spot I though was out of swirling winds from the ridge. Til I hunted and saw how the snow was moving around. We moved it another 70 yards to get out of that swirl.

 

[ZachMarkus]

Really paying attention to the wind direction/thermals and hunting accordingly will serve you better than any scent control regimen in my opinion.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

I take a different tack. I think it helps. But that's because I set all my stands up like I am bowhunting. All my encounters with deer are at VERY close range. Since I've been using a scent-control regime, deer no long blow and bolt when they smell me. They lock-up and go on high alert. Then they either slowly back out of the situation or continue on at super high attention. Both scenarios can give me a shooting opportunity. Blowing and bolting does not. That said, I only hunt a given stand when the wind is most to my advantage. But I have to admit, I'm no longer super-anal about my scent-control. I wash all my clothes in scent-reducing soaps, air dry them, and keep them in airtight containers. Inner-most layers only get worn once before being rewashed, mid-layers a couple of times, outer layers simply get sprayed down periodically with scent reducers. I don 't wear my boots indoors or in my truck. But I used to go to extraordinary lengths to reduce scent, like not touching anything without wear surgical gloves. I don't go to those extremes anymore.

This is me to a T. If the deer is going to smell you, he's going to smell you, no matter what you do. What you CAN do is #1 - make your scent faint enough where he thinks your 100 yards away when your really 20 yards, hence them not busting out of there and them starting to become very suspicious….which often times gives you a shot opportunity after they've smelled you. And #2 - I think this is most important. Have dedicated boots for only hunting that never see the indoors and are only walked on dirt/grass (from the time they're pulled out of the box. I'd have to really think hard on the last time a deer busted my trail on the walk in or out

 

[Bgoodman30]

Really paying attention to the wind direction/thermals and hunting accordingly will serve you better than any scent control regimen in my opinion.

Thermals have been key this season because winds have been light until now.

 

[ScLowCountry]

I don't even wear camo most of the time. I even use regular shampoo and soap. Haven't noticed a difference