Scent Control Podcast with Dan Infalt & John Eberhart

[AJB]

I hope for Mr. Eberharts sake that there are no beasts hunting the same public land bucks as him with those "crazy" bed tactics while playing the wind and hunting the October Lull when nothing is happening!

[RidgeReaper]

Years ago i was dumb enough to waste money on a scent-loc suit. I took the charcoal liner out of mine and threw it away. Thank God i found this site! If i hadn't, I would be broke.

Me too. I own two Scent Lok suit with facemask, gloves, bought Scent Killer by the gallon and always kept my other gear meticulously clean and stored in sealed scent free bags. I was fully commited just like John mentions for a good number of years. I still played the wind so that's a different approach than he uses. It just seemed real stupid not take the wind into consideration and can't believe he pushes that. I wonder if he ever even used milkweed or understands thermals. I would hope so but never heard him mention that.

There were plenty of times I was convinced my system was working because deer came from downwind and never smelled me. Later on when I discovered Dan's old site I learned about milkweed. Talk about an awakening. Milkweed proved without a doubt that air currents and thermals can do some pretty crazy things with your scent stream. This proved to me that Scent Lok actually gave me zero advantage over and over. Whenever deer were downwind I realeased some milkweed and time after time my scent was never really reaching the deer. If it was reaching them even with Scent Lok I got busted. I haven't used Scent Lok for probably the last 6-7 years now and honestly still have the same amount of deer coming in downwind that never smell me usually due to a just off wind or air currents and thermals carrying my scent away. I live and die by the wind and avoid all that other junk now. It's the only thing proven to work over and over and it's free.

Your statements are interesting as I have not seen anyone say they watched milkweed or knew their scent was hitting the deer and the deer busted them wearing Scent Lok (or other brands). Now, I have seen it said many tomes that when deer didn't bust them coming in from downwind it's because the scent was eluding deer.

I totally believe you Dewey but I wonder if anyone else has done a specific observation like this. Would be interesting to see it tested out.it would be interesting to see some other guys who are still using scent reducing garments provide their observations. I guess the only issue would be thatJon E. could say the hunter didn't go far enough in his prep which as I stated earlier is an out for him.

Exactly. Whenever I got busted that is what I was told by the diehard Scent Lok guys.

Dewey,
You forgot to shave your entire body and only eat rose pedals and raw green beans... Try that, and if it don't work I will come up with some other reason.

Now that is hilarious!!

[Dave.Bechtel]

I just listened to the podcast and I found that both made some extremely interesting points about scent control. The biggest take away from it was the approach and delivery of the message. Jon seemed to be on the defensive most of the time and had a sense of ignorance towards people who don't believe in scent control. It was very frustrating and I guess I just don't believe or buy into the whole "forget the wind" approach. The bottom line is that you can't beat a deers nose. The only way you can truly beat the nose of a mature whitetail is by playing the wind. Do I think that all of the stuff Jon talked about would help, Yes. But overall, I think you can be just as successful if you understand wind and all of it's different properties. It is interesting to listen to the different perspectives and how they are delivered. It is going to be fun to listen to the next two podcasts.

[<DK>]

I just listened to the podcast and I found that both made some extremely interesting points about scent control. The biggest take away from it was the approach and delivery of the message. Jon seemed to be on the defensive most of the time and had a sense of ignorance towards people who don't believe in scent control. It was very frustrating and I guess I just don't believe or buy into the whole "forget the wind" approach. The bottom line is that you can't beat a deers nose. The only way you can truly beat the nose of a mature whitetail is by playing the wind. Do I think that all of the stuff Jon talked about would help, Yes. But overall, I think you can be just as successful if you understand wind and all of it's different properties. It is interesting to listen to the different perspectives and how they are delivered. It is going to be fun to listen to the next two podcasts.

Good post

[Josh_S]

John seemed quite defensive, and like Obama seems more concerned about his legacy. I feel like he was disrespectfully trying to discredit Dan and his tactics. I think in reality Jon is envious that more hunters are becoming VERY successful using Dan's tactics, paying more attention to wind and bedding, and less attention to "scent control."

"I'm not paid by scent-lok but I'm on their pro-staff and get suits for free"

I got your scent control testimonial right here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfQ_JTL9B_0

[cmbrown337]

I will be listening to this podcast tonight at work. I am looking forward to it as I feel both hunters are knowledgeable in hunting mature bucks.

I feel a lot of hunters try and mimick one successful hunters way of hunting which is ok but I like to take bits and pieces I learn along the way and fit it into my style of hunting. I will comment my thoughts once I listen to the podcast.

[Clink]

Good listen.

If we were to assume both tactics work equally well, there's absolutely no way I'd choose John's scent control tactics tactics over Dan's lack there of. I'd choose to play the wind every time. I KNOW playing the wind works. I'm not saying I'll always be able to predict the wind, but when I do I know my scent is not an issue.

Keeping an almost finatical scent lock regiment would take out some of the fun of the hunt for me. I'm worried about killing big bucks and I'd rather watch the cool little milkweed seeds float through the air than spend half my time preparing my clothing and body for the hunt.

If I get off work a couple of hours early and can fit in an evening hunt, like many I would have to go straight from work to the property I'm hunting.

The lengthy regiment John proposes would be no where near practical. Nor do I get a new ScentLok suit free every year for being on their Pro-staff.

In the end, both are succesful and although I side with Dan, I really can't knock John for his opinion. The proof is in the pudding, and both guys have killed big deer.

In addition, I think it's a very important point to make that John strictly hunts from 30 feet up. At that height, your scent stream dramatically changes compared to say 15-20 feet. I'd be interested to see what would happen if he completely disregarded the wind at say, 18-20 feet.

Eiberhart came off a little agrresive against Dan's bedding tactics whether he ment it or not. But, in the end, I don't think either care what the other does. They both are confident in their own ways and are getting it done.

[BA-IV]

I think pretty much everyone including Dan, do a great job being very open minded when it comes to tactics and discussing them. Why this is probably one, if not the best, group of guys to learn from. John, regardless of the success, came off as close minded and used the word NEVER and ALWAYS a lot and those two words just don't go with mature buck tendencies.

You can't argue with success, by there is always room for improvement. I enjoy humble guys.

[dan]

I guess my question would be, if he hinted the wind and he has success for 35 years, why would he switch to something that doesn't work? I think honestly everyone should think about that.

I wouldn't expect him to or ask him too, the context of this podcast was to put two opposing views together so people could learn from each. Not for me and John to argue. Ive been interviewed with john in articles about both of us, we say hi to each other at the shows, his son friended me long ago on facebook. I like John. A little dissapointed with some of the comments, but if he is being honest, thats ok. A lot of my friends, and good members on this site have views that oppose mine. Heck, I don't think any group of serious buck killers are going to agree on everything. But no reason we can't all be like family and be respectable of each other. This ain't like other sites. We love opposing views, but not infighting or name calling.

[dan]

Haven't listened yet but the comments are a good read. I told dan when it came out I couldn't wait to hear this one, and I like Deerslayer don't listen to many podcasts.

Just one question for now, I wonder if John has come here to read the comments?

Thats a valid question...

[LEARNING]

Agreed. I think John was very prejudiced against some beast tactics. About as much as some posts I have read here at some of Johns tactics. Dan was a humble gentleman on the interview. I am grateful for all the info shared by both of these guys, I believe I have all of their combined material that they offer that pertains to my geographic whitetail hunting. And am trying to implement it all in my realm. The wall says both of these methods can be successful. Which one works for me more efficiently is still TBD.

[cbigbear]

I guess my question would be, if he hinted the wind and he has success for 35 years, why would he switch to something that doesn't work? I think honestly everyone should think about that.

I did some thinking on this & per John's site he has hunt 53 season so 35 yrs per scent lok & 18 seasons post with 57 2 1/2 yr old + buck kills. So my question did his success rate tremendously increase post scent lok or were the 57 kills somewhat evenly spread over 53 seasons? If the kills did increase post scent lok how sure can this be attributable to scent lok vs to natural hunter progression or experience?

[oldrank]

I think Dan is a better teacher and has broken his methods down to share with other. Dan focuses on beds and it starts from there. He tells it how HE does it.

John I feel has a ability to kill mature bucks he has honed for himself. He has the intangibles but may not be able to break down the hunt to others as well. Also I believe he keys on the rut stages. He tells it how HE does it.

I believe John is in his mid-late 60s. He doesn't need to change. I think his legacy is pretty much laid out. He has reason to be cocky about mature buck hunting. He knows what he is doing. It works.

I think when Dan speaks about mature bucks he also has a tone that he is very confident in his understanding. I also feel with opening himself up in a public forum has humbled him probably many years ago and he knows how to deal with people and challenges with an open mind..

I enjoyed the podcast. I am looking forward to the next ones.

[jwilkstn]

Like everyone has already said, the two men carry themselves very differently.

In my experience, to truly be respected by others you have to show respect for them. I don't know how anyone could listen to part one and think that both men were equally respectful.

For John to say that he'd never heard of Dan before Mike and/ or Adam mentioned he was the other side of the debate is not only disrespectful, it's a mistruth. Personally, I find that I can't believe anything he says regarding scent control after hearing that.

Just for context, I've been somewhere in between the two arguments regarding scent control. Last season I still took sent precautions (everything but the scent lok suits - sold that junk years ago), AND used beast tactics to the best of my learning. I had no plans to change anything significantly this year. I may continue or altogether quit my scent precautions, I don't know yet. I do know I dang sure won't be going back to the carbon activated suits because John told me to

[Waymore]

I've have really been thinking about this subject of scent lately with all the threads recently posted. Let's say hypothetically that activated carbon eliminates your scent and you don't need to worry about the wind. Isn't that almost like cheating? Your taking away the deer's #1 defense giving you an unfair advantage. Atleast with the wind there is some strategy needed in order to go undetected. Like Dan said in another thread which didn't sink in till now is hunters are trying to make it more challenging by hunting with recurves but using ScentLok to make it easier to kill. Isn't that what makes bow hunting whitetail rewarding is the challenge it presents. John is still a great hunter and but maybe doing himself a disservice by giving ScentLok too much credit for his kills.