COVER SCENTS OPINION

[pryz366]

just wondering what other people do i wash my clothes with scent free detergent then ill store them in a bag with pine branches or even some apple peels depending on where i will be hunting. when i go in woods i spray my boots with fox urine and sometimes even a lil on my clothes for extra cover. when i do spray clothes they get washed again within a few days lol due to the smell.

[SteveB]

Deer process multiple scents at once. You cannot hide one odor from them with another. Put fox pee on your boots and they will smell boots and fox pee.

[pryz366]

the spraying of boots is to lay down a scent trail of a fox

[Doc]

I have always wondered how well such products work. But I have kind of come to the same conclusion as Steve B. I have watched deer sort out the track of a single doe from a whole herd of does. They seem to have no problem at all identifying the components of multiple scents. Tracking dogs never seem to get misled by huge mixtures of scents. So I have to wonder is you can use other scents to mask you own.

On the other hand, I have also seen bucks following the scent of a "drag-rag" where obviously my own scent would have been well mixed with the doe urine in the rag. In the two instances where this worked, the bucks seemed to be ignoring my scent being mixed in to the trail.

So this will be a good intereting thread filled with all kinds of theories I hope.

[Paula]

wouldn't deer run from a fox?

Edited September 9, 2012 by paula

[SteveB]

the spraying of boots is to lay down a scent trail of a fox

Then that would be an attractant/curiosity scent - not a cover.

Can't imagine a deer wanting to follow it any distance.

[pryz366]

why would the deer run from a fox? the fox is of no danger to it. i have seen them follow my trail with the fox urine maybe its feels safe cause fox is smart maybe its curiosity lol no idea

[Cabin Fever]

I just try to keep my clothes and boots as scent free as possible and play the wind. I wash my clothes in the scent killer unscented laundry detergent, hang outside for a few days to dry and air out, then store in garbage bags. My boots have been hanging outside now for 2 weeks to get any odor off of them. Right before season, I'll store them in a garbage bag to keep them as scent free as possible. I put them on right before walking into the woods to hunt, then immediately take them off as soon as I get back to camp and put them right back into the garbage bag. I'll spray scent killer on them and if walking past a swampy/muddy area on my way to the stand, I'll walk through it and drag my boots through the mud. If hunting some stands that I have near crabapple trees, I'll stomp on an apple and grind the bottoms of my boot on it.

[Paula]

I did start to edit what i had put, "run" i know the deer wont run from a fox just don't see that they want to be around them. deer are curious so if it works for you then thats great.

[RobC]

The fox scent isn't an attractant its used to put an animal at ease.

[ants]

I always wash my boots (soles too) with scent free soap after each hunt. Then I pretty much do the same thing as Cabin Fever, I put them on just before I head out and spray them down. If I walk past mud or a puddle I'll walk right through them. I've even been know to intentionally step in a cow pie or two. When I get to my stand I like to kick up the ground until I start to smell the dirt.

[SteveB]

At ease when it smells the human scent of the boot?

[RobC]

The scent of fox urine. I don't know anyone personally who uses boot scent. Also don't know anyone who puts it on themselves either as usually its used sparingly around the stand.

[ants]

At ease when it smells the human scent of the boot?

Thats why I think it's so important to actually wash your boots, with scent free soap, as often as possible. If you have the older style rubber boots, with the laces on top, lose the laces. They act like a big human scent wick IMHO

[agross]

I you have ever seen a dog hunt with scent (bird dog, coon hound, squirrel dog) you really get to realize just how strong an animals nose really is.

I wash all my close in scent free detergent then store them in a scent free duffel bag with dirt waffers thrown about. Really smells like dirt andevery time you put your clothes into a bag after a hunt the scent recharges.

I also use scent away spray on my exposed body parts, head, hands and on my boots then when im up in a tree (i like to set stands in hemlocks) i will break a couple small branches around me for additiona pine scent then give a spray or two of coon urine. oh and i also put on a base layer of scent away clothes.

That all being said, i do not think that you could ever remove any and all huan scent. The best that you can hope for is that the amount of scent a deer gets from you is so minimal that it is not alarming.

[growalot]

every thing is washed in scent free...on the way in during day light...I walk in every pile of deer pellets I see...when hunting near the goats I used to walk though their dung before going in..This year it will have to be deer only

[SteveMcD]

Yup, what SteveB said. Animals smell like we hear. They have the ability to take in all scents at once and break them down into what they are and where they came from. At best we can do is stay as "scent free" as possible, clothes washed in baking soda and stored in a scent free manner. And Hunt The Wind.

in my lowly opinion, most of the stuff on the market is all snake oil anyway.

Edited September 9, 2012 by SteveMcD

[pryz366]

idk what type of boots everone uses but i have rubber lacrosse and they stay outside all year long lol they never come in the house only time they move is into a bag and into a bin to go to the the woods.... im very carefull with scents. andd as far as deer scents i try and keep the urine from deer i get which the bottled stuff smells nothing like. and nothing beats a fresh doe scent gland or even a frozen one from the year before

[RobC]

Best bet is to use the wind to your advantage.

[Terry]

Best bet is to use the wind to your advantage.

Agreed. I don't think it's possible to fool a deer's nose.

[Early]

Animals, deer included, respond to external stimuli on a priority basis. When a deer encounters multiple smells, he does not respond to them all at once, but rather responds to that of highest priority...scents of low priority are ingnored, almost as if they weren't there. A buck, hot on the trail of a hot doe, will run very close to a man and ignore his scent totally because he is fixed on the scent of the doe. That scent ranks #1 in priority at that moment. This is why doe-in-heat lures really can/do work. (Ever see the picture of a whitatail buck with his nose right on a bottle of Rickard's Buck Lure? I knew the guy who took that picture. He had trouble getting the trip wire for his camera to work...rocked the cameral back and forth several times...even exclaimed, "Damn! Buck did not run away...He was too tuned into the scent in the Buck Lure to respond to other stimuli...That picture says a thousand words!)

Need convincing? Remember the old lab experiment where a cat is wired so that observers can tell what he can see/hear. Placed in a room with nothing but a ticking metronome, his brain will register hearing it. Then place a live mouse in the room, too.....and, VOILA...the cat will no longer hear the metronome! The mouse takes priority.

Several such experiments, scientific or field experiences, can confirm this animal response to stimuli on a priority basis.

So...can cover scents work? Sure...unless you are talking about a deer who has had an experience that has put him in "human avoidance" mode. Use any cover scent you want, and you won't fool him!

[pryz366]

which is why i use the fox i feel the deer thinks the fox is very clever and smart and even with the human scent the deer may follow the fox smell due to a fox being so clever and think nothing of me due to this idk just my opinion and it works for me others are intitled to there opinions

[Rev Ev]

I use coon urine as a cover scent and wash all my stuff in some scent killing detergent. Does it work? IDK but for $30 a season, its worth it to me to give it a shot.

What I'd really like to know is if that Ozonics that puts out O3 works or not? I know when I used to work in the hotel buisness we would use an ozone machine to get cig smoke out of a room and it worked really well. But at $200+ price for one I'm not gonna try it.

[sweet old bill]

play the wind at all times. I even have a small feather tied on the bow string to show me if the wind has shifted during the hunt. I do wah the hunting togs in baking soda and then dry outside and also keep the hunting togs on a rack in the garage / outside building .

[Cabin Fever]

One thing that I think even scent conscious hunters neglect to consider, is their breath! Especially, coffee and cigarettes, but also garlic and onion breath! I don't notice coffee breath much (as I drink it), but to my wife, who doesn't drink coffee, she can smell coffee and coffee breath a mile away! I can smell a pot of coffee brewing half way across the building at work. Another benefit of playing the wind, I guess!

If anyone wants to volunteer to test out fox urine mouthwash, let me know!