How long does human scent linger?

[fairchaser]

It must vary depending on certain factors like proximity, moisture, etc. I was wondering for example how long scent blown from a hunter over a certain area would alert deer.

For example, if a swirling wind blew your scent to an area 100-200 yds away, could a whitetail pick up that scent if the wind had changed directions by the time deer encountered it. Could it pick up that scent from vegetation?

I often think we under estimate a whitetails nose especially on our approach to a setup.

 

[Ski]

Their sense of smell is so accute they can tell the difference between blown in odor and residual odor left from physical contact.

Wind blown odor has so many parts per million of your scent that will attach to literally every surface, losing potency as the distance expands. They smell you on everything, mostly the air, and it's strongest near you. They seem to know when you're close enough to pose danger.

Contrarily, odor left from contact such as brushing against weeds or getting snagged by briars will be concentrated. And that odor seems to take much longer to dissipate. Somehow they seem to know how old it is.

In my experience each deer is an individual. Some have a lower threshold of stink that spooks them, while others don't even seem to notice. It's an entire spectrum. I've often watched what sure seemed to be does teaching their fawns how to react to my scent, and then the fawns practicing/mimicking what momma just taught them. I'm convinced there's no tricking a deer's nose. Just try to be clean and hope the wind works for you.

 

[recurve60#]

It must vary depending on certain factors like proximity, moisture, etc. I was wondering for example how long scent blown from a hunter over a certain area would alert deer.

For example, if a swirling wind blew your scent to an area 100-200 yds away, could a whitetail pick up that scent if the wind had changed directions by the time deer encountered it. Could it pick up that scent from vegetation?

I often think we under estimate a whitetails nose especially on our approach to a setup.

To be honest, I think you're overestimating it.
But yes plan the approach, dont touch vegetation going in or out.
Scent in the wind is just that..in the wind.

 

[timberjack86]

It must vary depending on certain factors like proximity, moisture, etc. I was wondering for example how long scent blown from a hunter over a certain area would alert deer.

For example, if a swirling wind blew your scent to an area 100-200 yds away, could a whitetail pick up that scent if the wind had changed directions by the time deer encountered it. Could it pick up that scent from vegetation?

I often think we under estimate a whitetails nose especially on our approach to a setup.

I think if we didn't underestimate them we wouldn't have the confidence to hunt as many stands as we do and as many times as we do. Which the old saying goes is you can't kill them from the couch.

 

[mike243]

I used tinks every hunt for 2 years and stopped after watching 3 doe refuse to walk through the path of the scent, 2 of them tried multiple times to walk through it only to back out, finally they took off running and went by, another was smarter after 2 attempts she went up wind and passed by, lessons learned, I can tell you that a Krystal fart smell can be smelled 50-60y away on the Norris lake bank Just ask my son ,I have seen deer stop and refuse to pass tracks made on the way into the stand, no idea if cover scent could help that or not but I use nothing as It will be a dead give away imo

 

[THEdonkey0515]

I don't underestimate the nose of a deer I just understand there isn't alot I can do to beat it. So I don't let it ruin a hunt thinking about it much.

I'm about to go hunt in a wet pine thicket from the ground on Oakridge WMA gonna be Impossible not to brush up against 1million briars, weeds, and pines. I'll probably be sweating and have to piss time I get set up. O well I like my chances.

 

[BSK]

I have no idea how long wind-blown scent lasts in an area. However, I have watched a deer react violently to a greenbrier vine I had touched with my bare hands 10 days earlier.

I also believe much depends on where the scent is. If it is in an area where human scent is somewhat normal, they don't react much at all. If it is in an area where humans are rare, hence the scent is a major danger sign, the deer react very strongly to it.

 

[Shooter77]

Like BSK, I had some experience with deer reacting to scent left from days before. I was bowhunting on a Tuesday in mid Oct. Had a buck come through a on a trail and there was tree that blocked me from shooting him. I got down and cut this baseball size tree down. It rained on Wed night into Thurs AM. That Saturday AM, I had 3 does coming in on that trail, the old lead doe hit that tree and put her nose right where I had grabbed the tree with my bear hand while cutting it. She about flipped out, running off blowing all the way. That was one of the craziest things I've ever seen. On the flip side, I've had deer follow me in on the trail, smell the trees/bushes I just touched and have no response.

 

[Talome13]

Depends on what I ate the night before.

Seriously, as BSK and others have mentioned, I think this question completely depends on:

A.) The deer

B.) The habitat/environment you are hunting. Are the deer pressured? Are there houses around? Does uncle Bob live 300yards away and he urinates off the porch 10 times a day. Does uncle Bob smoke a pack of cigarettes while he's grilling hamburgers? Do I have an uncle Bob? Maybe?

As far as answering the question of how long a smell can linger? I really have no clue.

 

[backyardtndeer]

Think there are a lot of factors. How heavy the scent is, the type of scent, the proximity of the scent to homes, could go on.

I have watched deer walk across my tracks where I wore rubber boots on my way in. No vegetation to brush against. The deer never paid any attention. Have done the same wearing my leather cabelas snake boots and watched deer hang up or flat out turn and burn.

Been times in the stand that I could smell bacon cooking, was watching deer, and they did not seem bothered by it. I had no idea exactly where they were, but knew duck hunters must have had a blind on a bordering property. When the duck hunters in the nearby blind cut loose shooting, the deer went to alert. If I could smell the bacon, could the deer smell the people. Probably so. Enough shooting went on that they cautiously made their way to cover.

I do believe deer can differentiate not only whether there is human scent present, but can also tell if it is still there. Part of what makes watching them educational, is seeing firsthand how they react to encounters.

 

[Ski]

Deer have 300,000,000 scent receptacles. Dogs have 290,000,000. And cadaver dogs can find civil war and native American burial sites. There's zero chance of beating a deer's nose, and we probably can't even comprehend how accute the sense is. All we can do is hope they aren't alerted by us.

 

[ronnycl]

This was in an area where human scent would be rare, and 7 days after my presence & rain ; I have a video of a very mature buck spinning 180 and bolting out of there. That buck spun 180 when he picked up my daughters scent where she was sitting on the ground playing with a ball. I was hanging trail cams. The does/small bucks never checked up on video. The monster buck was the only deer who freaked out with human scent.

 

[fairchaser]

This was in an area where human scent would be rare, and 7 days after my presence & rain ; I have a video of a very mature buck spinning 180 and bolting out of there. That buck spun 180 when he picked up my daughters scent where she was sitting on the ground playing with a ball. I was hanging trail cams. The does/small bucks never checked up on video. The monster buck was the only deer who freaked out with human scent.

I agree there are too many factors to consider especially in areas where human scent is rare. Any whiff of human scent would be a factor where in other areas, human scent is a non event especially days old human scent. If I could pick the ideal spot for a stand, it would be where human scent is fairly common and an open area that bucks prefer or have to cross. I would get as far as practical to shoot and always approach it down wind from the crossing. I would kill my target buck only and allow the does and younger deer to move freely. I'm often tempted to get in the thick stuff with them but I know that's a recipe for failure unless I can get it done on the first hunt.

 

[Shed Hunter]

I would speculate human pheromones play a big role in the deer's response to the scent they detect. You stink a lot worse than you think you do, and that smell changes with the way you are thinking. As powerful as a deer's nose is I am inclined to believe they can identify these smells and are more aware of their ability to do so than humans. When you see a deer coming in and the buck fever kicks in your body is in an adrenaline rush. It is very likely that deer will sense something isn't right and will become alarmed. Have you ever seen a video of a perfectly healthy deer walking right up to a hunter that had no intentions of shooting it? It probably doesn't have much to do with the scent control the hunter is using. Instead the deer probably couldn't see the person, hear the person, or identify the human scent as a threat because it wasnt

 

[ROVERBOY]

Like BSK, I had some experience with deer reacting to scent left from days before. I was bowhunting on a Tuesday in mid Oct. Had a buck come through a on a trail and there was tree that blocked me from shooting him. I got down and cut this baseball size tree down. It rained on Wed night into Thurs AM. That Saturday AM, I had 3 does coming in on that trail, the old lead doe hit that tree and put her nose right where I had grabbed the tree with my bear hand while cutting it. She about flipped out, running off blowing all the way. That was one of the craziest things I've ever seen. On the flip side, I've had deer follow me in on the trail, smell the trees/bushes I just touched and have no response.

Yeah, deer react differently sometimes. I've had them smell where I've touched something and react nervously, and sometimes not act nervous at all. Deer smell things differently than we do. We can smell something fowl or sickening, and about puke. Deer may smell it, and they can pick out the different parts of the smell. Like a buck smelling doe urine, to us it smells like piss. To the buck he can pick out the if she's in heat or not. An older doe is the worst, to freak out on human scent.