I think i am just going to hunt this year

[Otto]

I very rarely wash my hunting clothes, even those I use for duck or turkey hunting. I keep them in the basement or in my bedroom in a ceder chest. I've never used scent free spray. Actually, I have been trying to remember to spray tick repellant on my clothes each time, and that stuff really stinks.

Edited October 9, 2015 by Otto

[Jeremy K]

There is a new invention out there, called binoculars.

LOL ,I'll have to check those out.

[wolc123]

The wind is the key thing to be aware of. Deer can not smell you from upwind no matter how good their noses are. When I hunt a large area, I will always start at the farthest "downwind" area, and work my way upwind. The prevailing wind in most areas where I hunt is from the southwest. I simply adjust my plan for the occasional "nor-easters", and such.

Getting high up in a tree is the easiest way to defeat a deer's nose coming from downwind. The older I get, the more I like hunting from the ground however, so that don't work so good for me anymore. I do use those scent free detergents, hang hunting clothes down in the basement, shower with scent free soap, use unscented deodorant and such. None of that can hurt, and does not take more time or cost that much more. I don't bother with the scent-free spray.

When it is cold, I pack a thermos of warm cider. The odor that gives off is not offensive to deer (unlike coffee which even my nose can pick up from 50 yards away). I never smoked, but when I was younger, I chewed tobacco a bit. I even killed my first antlered buck as he had his nose in the "tobacco" stain I was making in the snow under my treestand.

Hunting mainly just the weekends from the middle of archery until the end of ML, I usually average about 2 deer per season deploying these simple scent-control methods, and I can usually count on a mature (2-1/2 year +) buck every few years. Meat is my primary objective and I have no issue killing larger-bodied 1-1/2 year old bucks. That's what I end up tagging most years without regret. The scrawny little ones usually get a pass from me these days though. I will be a little less selective with my archery/ML tag this year since they "outlawed" killing bucks in our zone for late ML.

[Jaeger]

I like the idea of "just going hunting".  The scent thing started with the boom in bow hunting.  It is valid and certainly has its advantages, but to me all the descenting prep seems to take away from the experience.

 

Here's something to think about, I laid out a short, 70 yard blood track line for schatz yesterday morning.  I sprayed my rubber boots and upper pant legs with e3 odor terminator before and walked about a yard or two to the side of the line as I was laying it out.  Gave it about 1/2 hour to set.

 

Schatz followed my path when ever she was uncertain about a "thin spot" I deliberately set in the line.  

 

Sooo, in spite of "descenting" my boots and legs she was still able to smell any other scent that may have dropped off me.

 

Just something to think about when we think we are sufficiently clean!!

[G-Man]

People shot deer for thousands of years off the ground with no scent control, if it gives you confidence use it, but I bet even in the books most records weren't taken with scent control, Jordan buck and lucky buck, and hundreds of other monsters were taken before it became the thing..

[ncountry]

Yeap, I wash all my hunting clothes before the season starts with the tide pods without scent and all the other stuff and that's the end of my scent control. Shower with irish spring soap..(ha ha.I think the deer like it.) and hunt down wind. There was  a time when I jumped through all the hoops to be scent free, but I personally have not ever seen the advantage yet..Not that there probably isn't  a small advantage, just not worth it for me.. I have plenty of deer on the walls.. I have had just as many deer spook then as I do now. Playing the wind seems to be the key. .Just getting into the woods is what it is all about...

I am still thinking of trying the  wood smoke method though.

[Core]

I've been involved in several hobbies and hunting is my newest.

 

It seems infected by the same thing most other hobbies are: an excessive amount of products and people who get away from the basics and instead try and buy success. Most (all?) of these products seem supported by a scant, at best, amount of scientific data. I think archery suffers the same thing.

Edited October 10, 2015 by Core

[Buckmaster7600]

The cover scent sprays always baffled me. Nothing is odorless, deer are not born knowing what humans smell like. So if every hunter uses "cover scent" guess what humans smell like.

[Five Seasons]

I have seen a lot of guys that spend their hard earned cash on anything and everything that has a good marketing ploy. And if they haven't done the wind direction thing, they still get busted. I have an old pair of camo cover-alls that hang year around down in the basement for the past 25 years (never seen a washing machine), and I have been within touching distance of several deer simply because I paid attention to the basics of wind direction. What I have found is that you can't buy success, and that hunting is more about what you do in the field rather than what some chemist sitting in a lab will do for you.

 

I have no idea what works for other people, but for me there are no purchased shortcuts that I am willing to invest in.

 

One thing is probably true, if buying all the scent-free paraphernalia and scent eradication sprays and mystical processes and rituals and whatever, gives you extra confidence without making you careless about the fundamentals, then maybe it has served some kind of purpose for you. But like ApexerER, I tend to try not getting too crazy about buying every product that people are hawking and just enjoy the hunt. Maybe I am too casual, or maybe I simply am not treating my hunting like my life depends on getting a deer. Also, I enjoy my hunting however it turns out, and try not to be too upset if I don't happen to have the absolute latest in what everyone is trying to sell me. Of course, the fact that I am just plain cheap does form a lot of my attitude .... lol. But I generally enjoy an adequate amount of success.

 

I'm not sure I would agree that anything I buy hasn't helped with success. Sure, I could still hunt with an old recurve, but my compound is more accurate and the range is better. The same can be said for rifles. When it comes to gadgets, camo, gear etc. Almost everyone I've bought has mostly just been to make my hunt easier/more comfortable. nothing wrong with that.

 

[Five Seasons]

If a deer is down wind it can smell you! No matter what spray, clothes, rituals you do if it's doen wind it knows your there!

 

not going to totally disagree with  you, but I've killed a handful of deer downwind. The deer weren't pushed and they were unspooked. Could be the height of the stand and the thermals, and it could be I didn't smell "enough" like irish spring or cigs for the deer to care. Regardless, nobody who is "scent free" or who doesn't practice scent control can say they've never been busted. I choose to limit my odds.

Edited October 12, 2015 by Belo

[Doc]

not going to totally disagree with  you, but I've killed a handful of deer downwind. The deer weren't pushed and they were unspooked. Could be the height of the stand and the thermals, and it could be I didn't smell "enough" like irish spring or cigs for the deer to care. Regardless, nobody who is "scent free" or who doesn't practice scent control can say they've never been busted. I choose to limit my odds.

It is interesting sometimes to set free a few milkweed seed from your stand. I always have a small baggie full of them with me. It is very instructive to watch how those things will go out and meander around and circle and do all kinds of things that you would think it is impossible for the wind to do. So when you judge that a deer is downwind of you, that frequently is not the case. There are so many land features that baffle wind around. I used to get a hint back when I smoked by watching the smoke curl out and take right hand turns and left hand turns and sometimes turn around and come right back at me. When I started using the milkweed seeds and got to see the entire path of a breeze, I was shocked.

 

I have sworn that I had killed deer that were downwind, but from what I have since learned from the milkweed seeds, maybe they really weren't. Scent can take a mighty devious and winding way as it travels away from us.

[greensider]

i feel the same way i stopped using all sprays and attractants i just set up down wind of trails or still hunt into the wind no gimics and i take just as many deer as i have in the past i do have a scent lock suit but i only wear it when bow hunting from a stand

[DirtTime]

I am just going to hunt this year! I am not going to concern myself with web sites, what other people have to say anymore, I am just going to hunt the woods. Deer, rabbit, squirrel, or anything else I can kill legally and eat. That's what hunting is.

[AdirondackBH]

Back to basics deer hunting is something I do every now and again, mainly for the nostalgia. I record my hunts on video and let me tell you, between the camera, tripods, camera arms, audio equipment, my pack is completely full and weighs at least 40 pounds. I take this setup with me every single time I go out and there are plenty of time while I'm setting up all this equipment that I think back to the "easy" days of just hunting with my dad. No crazy scent control products or anything like that. 

 

With that being said, I am personally one of those freaks about scent control. There are a lot of snake oil companies out there just looking to make a dollar but there are also some companies that have some serious tech in these sprays and they do work to reduce your scent profile. My reasoning is this:

 

In any given day, the wind usually blows predominantly from one direction and this is my first line of scent control, always. But, have you ever been sitting next to a camp fire and no matter where you move, you somehow get engulfed in smoke at some point? That is how the wind works at ground level. It changes frequently even if you aren't sitting in "swirling" conditions. 

 

That is the only reason I am a freak about reducing my scent profile and it has, on more than one occasion been a critical factor in having a successful hunt. In fact, the buck I killed on Sunday prob would not have happened if I didn't care so much about scent control. Right when he came in, the wind died and the thermals kicked in, right to where he was standing. Within a few minutes, he knew something wasn't right, but he also wasn't so spooked that he was blasting out of there and that is really the point. By reducing your scent profile you aren't getting away from a deer's nose, but if he isn't inhaling a nose full of your body odor then I find they react differently. Just my two cents but I can 100% relate to what most of you have said. 

[LetEmGrow]

LMAO. We're gonna putb the scent less people out of business cuz common sense sunk in. Keep your clothes free of detergents and you as clean as you can, and (like always) hunt in the right wind.

[LetEmGrow]

These guys on TV have not one, but two guys up the tree. None of them ever seem to talk about getting dressed at the car. Often times you see them lolly gagging around at camp before they go out.