MUP said:
Also, I have a theory that what the deer smell(providing we have showered scent-free and washed clothing accordingly) is actually the disturbed freshened scent of the ground, or grass, that we have brushed up against or stepped on, instead of the actual scent from the boots or clothing. Have you considered this or maybe tested this theory?
Anything is possible.
But an experience I had years ago really stuck in my head and made me realize how critical it is to mow down tall grasses, weeds, and brush along any entrance trail. I had one particular stand way back on a long ridge, and the easiest route to reach the stand was to walk the old log-skidder road that ran down the crest of the ridge (in fact, that road was the major deer trail for deer walking up and down the ridge). Over time, sunlight on that road had allowed it to fill in with broomsedge and other tall grasses, which would stand dead all winter in the roadbed. One morning during MZ season, I walked down the old road to my stand and set-up looking back up the road the way I had come. Just before sunrise, a very nice 3 1/2 year-old 10-point came walking up and over the ridge. I raised my MZ, ready to shoot as the buck crossed the road, but just as he reached the road he sniffed the mid-thigh high grass I had walked through. He reacted like he had touched and electric fence. He jumped back several feet, immediately went on super-high alert, and then very, very slowly stepped forward, stretched his neck out and started sniffing each blade of grass my pants had brushed against. He must have spent 3 or 4 minutes sniffing up and down the grass along the trail. Eventually he hunkered down and
backed away (he literally slunk backwards, low to the ground like a scolded dog) from the road and out of sight.
Since that experience, we always mow all of our old roads and trails with at least a pull-behind ATV brush mower just before the season, generally in late September, around the end of the weed and grass growing season. I don't want anything touching my pants as I walk to the stand.
I've also had deer cross my trail and not react in the least, but have had them stop and check it out too. Since I've started only wearing my boots just before I head into the woods, I can't recall any reaction of a deer cutting my trail I don't think tho.
Ever since I started wearing my hunting boots ONLY in the woods (not even on an ATV or in my truck), and hosing them down with scent-reducing sprays almost daily, I have not observed a deer noticing my boot prints. Before I started doing that--even when I wore rubber boots--I watched deer literally trail me right to my stand, sniffing every individual boot print.