Can deer smell gun cleaning solvents/oils?

[Appleman]

I'd say yes. What y'all think?

 

[TnLBS]

I was thinking that the other while sitting in the stand. I have no doubt they can smell it; if I can surely they can. The question is whether or not it spooks them.

 

[tasaman]

I don't think it spooks them. It may actually cause curiosity. Now once they smell you it doesn't matter that will spook most any deer.

 

[Winchester]

Sure they can, how they react would depend on if they have ever associated that smell with danger.

 

[Marlin308]

If you can smell it they can smell it x1,000.

 

[Pic IN the Casa]

Hunt the wind.

 

[in the dog house]

If you can smell it they can smell it x1,000.

X2

Anything that isn't normal to them they will spook.

 

[BSK]

Petroleum products (like gasoline) are used in "scent" experiments because they are one of the easiest substances to smell in very tiny amounts.

Absolutely deer can smell any type of oil.

And that's why it's impossible to be scent free.

But the really important question is, do deer associate lubricating oils with dangerous predators (Man)? I've watched deer completely ignore parked ATVs, UTVs, tractors, trucks, and cars. And the deer can certainly smell those vehicles.

 

[BSK]

Sure they can, how they react would depend on if they have ever associated that smell with danger.

That's the answer. In very remote wilderness, they may react very negatively, as they rarely interact with Man outside of hunting season. In farm or woodland areas where farming and logging equipment are commonplace, they will probably ignore the smell.

 

[Marlin308]

Very true BSK, which brings me to something I've been thinking about after getting busted during bow season by swirling winds.

Have there been any studies on "conditioning" deer to human scent? By this I mean tying a sweaty t-shirt on a few of your best stand locations and refreshing them every couple of weeks during the summer when you're at the property or checking cameras, etc. Knowing that the deer would smell the human odor, but having no adverse consequence, would they eventually become "conditioned" to the odor and not be alerted when they actually smell you in the tree stand during hunting season?

Has anyone ever tried this or have any studies been conducted on conditioning deer to human scent?

Sorry for the hijack...

 

[bowriter]

Can deer smell this? Can deer smell that? Deer can smell anything and everything. Will it spook them? Who knows. I quit worrying about that crap 20-years ago. Deer don't know that it is gun oil. If it aint natural, one of three things will happen. (1) Nothing (2)They spook (3) they come investigate.

You have a two out of three chance of it working out to your advantage. My guess is on number 1.

 

[pressfit]

they are not scared of oil smell.. heck my combine sat in the cornfield for a week and had deer all around it... and it leaks like a sieve.... probably wont have anything grow where it sat for 20 years...lol

 

[Marlin308]

they are not scared of oil smell.. heck my combine sat in the cornfield for a week and had deer all around it... and it leaks like a sieve.... probably wont have anything grow where it sat for 20 years...lol

Oh I agree they don't mind oil smell at all in ag fields but they might turn inside out if they smell it deep in the woods near a cedar thicket where it's not supposed to be.

 

[pcrc]

Lucky for me I hunt around a bunch of active oil wells so I don't have to worry about it. Many mornings the air is so thick with oil and gas I can hardly stand it. Doesn't seem to affect the deer in the least.

 

[Nealmeally]

Sure they can, how they react would depend on if they have ever associated that smell with danger.

That's the answer. In very remote wilderness, they may react very negatively, as they rarely interact with Man outside of hunting season. In farm or woodland areas where farming and logging equipment are commonplace, they will probably ignore the smell.

Exactly, I hunt some big agricultural bottoms and the deer are used to trucks and equipment driving around and in fields. When we check cameras or move or hang stands we do it all by truck. They pay no attention to the truck. But soon as they see you on foot, they react.. I agree the same holds true to smells also.

 

[BSK]

Very true BSK, which brings me to something I've been thinking about after getting busted during bow season by swirling winds.

Have there been any studies on "conditioning" deer to human scent? By this I mean tying a sweaty t-shirt on a few of your best stand locations and refreshing them every couple of weeks during the summer when you're at the property or checking cameras, etc. Knowing that the deer would smell the human odor, but having no adverse consequence, would they eventually become "conditioned" to the odor and not be alerted when they actually smell you in the tree stand during hunting season?

Has anyone ever tried this or have any studies been conducted on conditioning deer to human scent?

Sorry for the hijack...

I have not seen any such studies.

But from watching deer's reaction on trail-camera to increased human intrusion (the sudden increase in human intrusion into the woods come deer season), I suspect deer would just react to that sweaty shirt by switching to more nocturnal movement through the area. That is how most deer avoid human predators--switch to moving through certain areas only at night.

 

[W.Seay]

Sure they can, how they react would depend on if they have ever associated that smell with danger.

X2

 

[BSK]

Marlin308,

If I may, let me expound on my above comments further. I really don't think hunters understand just how easily hunter-wary deer avoid us. All they have to do is move at night instead of during the day. And deer's eyes see perfectly well on the darkest nights. Moving at night is no real hindrance to their activities.

Many deer, even the most hunter-wary deer, have no problem with almost any level of human scent left in an area, including anything done to "condition" them to human scent. The deer simply learn move at night in that location. As an example, I have a scrape in a long narrow food plot that I've been monitoring since mid-October with a trail-cam. Including camera set-up, I've been back to that location to swap camera cards 6 times (at least once per week). I've also walked right past the scrape on the way to one of my stands. Yet even with all that human intrusion, fully mature bucks keep coming back to that scrape, just AT NIGHT.

Here's a visual example. Look at the time stamps on the below pictures. I'm walking to my stand right past the scrape (almost stepping in it) at 2:47 PM. I walk right past the scrape coming out from my stand at 5:14 PM. Yet a 2 1/2 year-old buck is working that scrape just an hour and 40 minutes later IN THE DARK by 6:54 PM, and a 5 1/2 year-old buck is working that scrape IN THE DARK at 12:52 AM the next morning, less than 8 hours after I walked by twice. He doesn't care that he can easily smell my presence. He simply reacts by visiting the scrape only at night (which he does almost every night).