Human Scent

[dan]

I don’t use any type of scent control, I also don’t have any means of washing any of my clothes while hunting for weeks at a time when I’m away from home so I embrace it lol. This year during a a 5 week period none of my clothing was washed and I only used a total of 3 pair of socks during that period. I wore each pair like 5 days in a row then gave them a break I only hung them on a chair to fry till next morning . I’ve actually been doing this last 5 or 6 years cause I have my favorite pairs lol . Every year I bring a bag full of socks but never wear them every year I’ve killed a mature buck so the moral of the story is play the wind ……

Throught the 90's I had an insulated flannel that I loved for hunting and really wore it everywhere and called it my lucky jacket. A lot of my biggest bucks were shot wearing that jacket. It was never ever washed. It got bloody, it got sweaty, it was worn to resturants, to work, etc. There were times I hung it out side cause it had a funk, but it never got washed to my knowledge unless carol snuck and did it. Which is possible cause she detested that stanky jacket... I wore it till it litterally fell apart and it was a sad day when it finally was cremated in my fire pit... Kinda like a pet dog dieing.

[Groundhunter@1]

My favorite bow shirt has been my red and black check flannel and my home made camo Hoodia. It was grey and I painted black squiggles on it. I have hunted grouse all day in that shirt and killed deer on the afternoon wearing it.

[Brokenarrow1980]

I wear a leafy suit with a mask because usually I will but up against a tree trunk or some brush and catch deer totally off guard then I won't sit in that exact place again. I'm about to loose the leafy bottoms this year and go with olive wranglers. Being I'm sitting on the ground my bottom doesn't need the extra bulk. I've gave up scent control Years ago Being it doesn't work. Usually I smell like old spice deodorant and cologne lol.

[Deerkins]

Ground scent , is 100% manageable. By Limiting your time in an area and wearing Rubber boots that are clean and not touching anything, Will go a long way in not getting busted. Atmosphere conditions are also huge.. WIND and hot dry weather will dissipate scent better than just about anything, except a serious torrential rain.

Scent coming directly off the body , is a whole other animal all together, and the work involved of limiting a scent signature to any meaningful effect..involves time, money, effort and having a very meticulous nature, that most people are not cut out for.

Then, after incorporating all that into your efforts, you have to ask, is it realistically worth it. Considering, there’s still a good chance , albeit less that You’ll get detected, and that most of the time, there are options available with an advantageous wind direction to hunt any particular deer

[tim]

I don’t use any type of scent control, I also don’t have any means of washing any of my clothes while hunting for weeks at a time when I’m away from home so I embrace it lol. This year during a a 5 week period none of my clothing was washed and I only used a total of 3 pair of socks during that period. I wore each pair like 5 days in a row then gave them a break I only hung them on a chair to fry till next morning . I’ve actually been doing this last 5 or 6 years cause I have my favorite pairs lol . Every year I bring a bag full of socks but never wear them every year I’ve killed a mature buck so the moral of the story is play the wind ……

Throught the 90's I had an insulated flannel that I loved for hunting and really wore it everywhere and called it my lucky jacket. A lot of my biggest bucks were shot wearing that jacket. It was never ever washed. It got bloody, it got sweaty, it was worn to resturants, to work, etc. There were times I hung it out side cause it had a funk, but it never got washed to my knowledge unless carol snuck and did it. Which is possible cause she detested that stanky jacket... I wore it till it litterally fell apart and it was a sad day when it finally was cremated in my fire pit... Kinda like a pet dog dieing.

I was the same way from like 2005-2018 I think with my favorite blue ballcap . Thing was waxy it had so much funk lol. I killed a lot of deer wearing that thing if it was cold it was still under my stocking cap to keep the elements off my glasses. It’s in all my pictures and then the snaps on the back broke . I’ve been partial to another one though lately lol

[Yoder]

I tried scent loc clothing, scent killer sprays, scent killer soaps, getting dressed outside. I would see deer, but not many. Last few years I scout 10x more, hunt the wind and plan my access. I don't do anything for scent control. I don't even wear rubber boots, they hurt my feet. I've seen more deer than I ever have in my life. Even if scent control would buy me an extra 10 yards or 10 minutes, it's just not worth the hassle. If you spend the time scouting instead of messing with scent control, you are better off.

[aprince1536]

I’ve scouted as many spots in a 45mi radius of my house as I think are worth looking at. That said, I’m sure there’s some spots I have missed, but all in all I’ve got probably 25 good, unique public areas with good amounts of deer traffic and good buck sign. I’d say 3-4 of them are really good, overlooked areas far out from any towns, that see very little pressure. Another 3-4 are really good rut funnels. I’ll inventory bucks summer thru Sept In a dozen or so spots by camera, and go after the best 2 or 3. Come Halloween, I’ll shift to areas of best sign, usually around my funnel areas with good doe bedding.

With this many areas, I can rotate year to year based on buck activity. But best of all, sign of any hunter competition in one area just gives me the opportunity to hop over to another spot of mine. Not very beasty, but if I can have most of these areas to myself, why work harder? I’ll still wear rubber boots when scouting or placing cameras, pretty sure total ground scent is definitely affected to some extent, and the effort to wear ‘em is nil. And any close, near-season intrusion to said areas will be done before good forecasted rain.

Good luck in ‘23, everyone!

[iowa whitetail]

Honestly it’s way easier to learn how to kill big deer than it is learning scent control. Any kind of scent control doesn’t fool deer it fools you.

[Rich M]

Ground scent , is 100% manageable. By Limiting your time in an area and wearing Rubber boots that are clean and not touching anything, Will go a long way in not getting busted. Atmosphere conditions are also huge.. WIND and hot dry weather will dissipate scent better than just about anything, except a serious torrential rain.

Scent coming directly off the body , is a whole other animal all together, and the work involved of limiting a scent signature to any meaningful effect..involves time, money, effort and having a very meticulous nature, that most people are not cut out for.

Then, after incorporating all that into your efforts, you have to ask, is it realistically worth it. Considering, there’s still a good chance , albeit less that You’ll get detected, and that most of the time, there are options available with an advantageous wind direction to hunt any particular deer

FL Public land deer will not cross a human scent trail - rubber boots, not touching branches & leaves, on packed dirt, etc. It is incredible - then they follow the last guy to leave the area, to find out where he went. Then they turn around and retrace their steps. It is theme that keeps repeating itself as I get better at deer hunting.

[Deerkins]

If They’re following , or retracing where hunters have walked, they’re trying to figure out what went through an area.. mature deer in NY or anywhere else don’t follow, or retrace steps where they know hunters have walked.

With stinking tennis shoes, as compared to clean rubber boots, a deer Will positively ID a human , much faster, and for a much longer period of time, then someone taking ground scent precautions.

Take a coyote trapper, that boils their traps, and wears rubber boots, gloves.. and compare their success to a slob trapper that’s handling their equipment bare handed , and wearing leather work boots..

With all skills equivalent, the cleaner trapper wins every time.

[purebowhunting]

If They’re following , or retracing where hunters have walked, they’re trying to figure out what went through an area.. mature deer in NY or anywhere else don’t follow, or retrace steps where they know hunters have walked.

With stinking tennis shoes, as compared to clean rubber boots, a deer Will positively ID a human , much faster, and for a much longer period of time, then someone taking ground scent precautions.

Take a coyote trapper, that boils their traps, and wears rubber boots, gloves.. and compare their success to a slob trapper that’s handling their equipment bare handed , and wearing leather work boots..

With all skills equivalent, the cleaner trapper wins every time.

There are plenty of trappers that take less scent precautions and see no difference in results. Can't be careless, but boiling traps and rubber gloves are appearing to be less important than a well bedded trap set on sign.

[Deerkins]

Not going to argue here. If you wanna scout and walk around yer hunting areas in gas soaked, sweat pants and dirty tennis shoes , trouncing through thick brush.. , because “hey, it doesn’t matter anyway” have at it.

I seriously don’t recommend it though, and kinda felt obligated to speak up, in case the average newbie hunter, hunting an average deer herd, decides it’s okay to throw all caution to the wind, when it comes to the very simple and basic tasks of controlling their ground scent.

In my post, comparing trapping to hunting , I replied “all skills being equal” meaning their locations, and methods of bedding traps are the same..

In this case, a clean trapper, will continuously have many first night catches, that a trapper taking zero scent precautions won’t..the results will be obvious in time.

Same with hunting, the damage a dirty hunter does, is not what happens during the hunt , but at night, hours, or even days after a hunt, when your target deer comes through and smells yer tennis shoe trail.

He then knows to avoid that area, whereas someone getting in and out clean, does have some leeway, in pulling off multiple hunts in a specific area undetected. Often, in real world scenarios , that’s exactly what’s needed to connect on a particular deer.. because for whatever myriad reasons, he just doesn’t happen to show up, the first time you’re there.

[Brokenarrow1980]

Not going to argue here. If you wanna scout and walk around yer hunting areas in gas soaked, sweat pants and dirty tennis shoes , trouncing through thick brush.. , because “hey, it doesn’t matter anyway” have at it.

I seriously don’t recommend it though, and kinda felt obligated to speak up, in case the average newbie hunter, hunting an average deer herd, decides it’s okay to throw all caution to the wind, when it comes to the very simple and basic tasks of controlling their ground scent.

In my post, comparing trapping to hunting , I replied “all skills being equal” meaning their locations, and methods of bedding traps are the same..

In this case, a clean trapper, will continuously have many first night catches, that a trapper taking zero scent precautions won’t..the results will be obvious in time.

Same with hunting, the damage a dirty hunter does, is not what happens during the hunt , but at night, hours, or even days after a hunt, when your target deer comes through and smells yer tennis shoe trail.

He then knows to avoid that area, whereas someone getting in and out clean, does have some leeway, in pulling off multiple hunts in a specific area undetected. Often, in real world scenarios , that’s exactly what’s needed to connect on a particular deer.. because for whatever myriad reasons, he just doesn’t happen to show up, the first time you’re there.

If you plan on revisiting a spot or have a limited # of spots I will tend to agree with you but if your sitting a spot once and moving on I think your exit doesn't mean that much. Even if I key in on an area I don't sit the same hub, I move around. If a deer smells you were there it will either A). Go nocturnal which the spot is burnt anyway or B). He will shift slightly and avoid the exact area he smells danger. I find most deer will shift so eventually you will get on him.

[dan]

Not going to argue here. If you wanna scout and walk around yer hunting areas in gas soaked, sweat pants and dirty tennis shoes , trouncing through thick brush.. , because “hey, it doesn’t matter anyway” have at it.

I seriously don’t recommend it though, and kinda felt obligated to speak up, in case the average newbie hunter, hunting an average deer herd, decides it’s okay to throw all caution to the wind, when it comes to the very simple and basic tasks of controlling their ground scent.

In my post, comparing trapping to hunting , I replied “all skills being equal” meaning their locations, and methods of bedding traps are the same..

In this case, a clean trapper, will continuously have many first night catches, that a trapper taking zero scent precautions won’t..the results will be obvious in time.

Same with hunting, the damage a dirty hunter does, is not what happens during the hunt , but at night, hours, or even days after a hunt, when your target deer comes through and smells yer tennis shoe trail.

He then knows to avoid that area, whereas someone getting in and out clean, does have some leeway, in pulling off multiple hunts in a specific area undetected. Often, in real world scenarios , that’s exactly what’s needed to connect on a particular deer.. because for whatever myriad reasons, he just doesn’t happen to show up, the first time you’re there.

Lol... Throw cautiously to the wind??? It seems the veterans who understand how deer nose work and who looked hard at the "real" science behind olfactory glands and scent are the ones realizing caution and care are what kills bucks not make believe scent control.... It is generally the newbies that go down rhe scent control rabbit hole and the experienced guys that crime back out according to my observation.

[Groundhunter@1]

Just curious. Dan how come your post shows the next day date and time?