Scent control idea

[Jeremy K]

I always wash and hang my clothes about a month before the season starts ,try to get them rained on a few times . I've been thinking about getting one of those netted laundry bags and dipping my hunting clothes in the Creek near my stand a few times before the season starts. What is your thoughts?

[moog5050]

From what I understand, you are giving off scent from the shedding of dead skin cells.  That is unrelated to clothing.  While I try my best not to stink like Tide, I just use scent free soap and hunt the wind.  I don't think creek water clothes will prevent a deer from scenting you  if they are downwind. JMHO

[Jeremy K]

I'd be better off washing myself in the creek

[moog5050]

16 minutes ago, Jeremy K said:

I'd be better off washing myself in the creek

I can't help but think of the skunk analogy.  If a skunk walked upwind of you, do you think you would be fooled if it was wearing clothes washed in the creek?   lol  I am guessing we smell way stronger to a deer.

 

That said, if you shoot a boone and crocket downwind of you after washing your clothes in the creek, I will be right behind you in the line at the creek next season. 

Edited August 22, 2016 by moog5050

[stubby68]

the human body is giving off scent. Unless you are using scent control products every second you are on stand it is useless. Spraying down works while you are spraying. By the time you put the bottle away you are producing oder. Wash your clothes in scent free soap fine but when the hit the air or touch anything including your body they are absorbing oders. If doing these things gives you confidences then by all means do them. I'm just pointing out that nothing you do will stop your scent for more then a minute or 2. Deer and other animals use smell to avoid danger and find food every day. They can detect even small amounts of oder.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

26 minutes ago, stubby68 said:

the human body is giving off scent. Unless you are using scent control products every second you are on stand it is useless. Spraying down works while you are spraying. By the time you put the bottle away you are producing oder. Wash your clothes in scent free soap fine but when the hit the air or touch anything including your body they are absorbing oders. If doing these things gives you confidences then by all means do them. I'm just pointing out that nothing you do will stop your scent for more then a minute or 2. Deer and other animals use smell to avoid danger and find food every day. They can detect even small amounts of oder.

And Moog hit it on the head. The one thing the animals can't do and it is defy the laws of nature. They can't get scent to move up the wind current to that very sensitive nose. best part of playing the wind as your #1 strategy is it is FREE. Yes I've shot deer downwind of me and some pretty good ones but my first thought when looking at any stand site or approach path is the wind.  

[airedale]

• Deer have seven glands that are used primarily for scent communication.
• The nose of a whitetail deer has up to 297 million olfactory receptors, dogs have 220 million with humans limiting out with just five million… [in other words] the whitetail deer’s sense of smell is nearly 1/3 greater than that of a canine [and unfathomably greater than ours].
• whitetail deer have two giant olfactory bulbs attached to the brain which decode every smell they encounter. The bulbs weigh around 60 grams, four times as much as human olfactory bulbs.
• In tests dogs have been able to pick up chemical solutions that form one or two parts in a trillion. That is the equivalent of smelling one bad apple in two billion barrels. This is relative to a whitetail deer’s sense of smell as[this part is important] some hunters believe they can cover their human scent with cover up scents. Wrong!
• Dogs can detect odors that are up to 40 feet underground, thus deer can detect them even deeper than that depth.
• Estimates state that a whitetail deer can detect human scent for up to 10 days after it’s left.
• As far as dogs and whitetail deer are concerned, all humans have a unique smell. They can pick people out according to body and other odors …Therefore, the deer your hunting may quite possibly know the difference between how the farmer smells that works in the field that is NOT a threat to them, and you the hunter–
• [another key point regarding cover scents] If you are the hunter that wears cover scents then know the whitetail deer are probably associating your cover scents with those of a predator. Cover scents will hurt you more than help you.
• …dogs can track human smells over long distances. Scientists think they can pick up on the difference in odors from different footprints to work out which direction their prey is headed. They can do this twenty minutes after a person has passed by, even though the footprints are made a single second apart. If this is accurate, then again with the whitetail deer having a keener sense of smell – it is very possible whitetail deer can smell which way you are headed and avoid you by going the other direction.
• Based on 42 trials it has been concluded that scent absorbing suits with carbon lining had little to no affect on a dog’s ability to track human beings. However environmental factors such as the wind did effect the dog’s ability to locate. This information suggests carbon lined clothing as odor absorbing suits may not keep a whitetail deer from detecting the hunter.
• It is a scientific fact that it takes 600 degree [heat] for carbon to reactivate, however the modern day clothing dryer averages 175 degrees maximum temperature. Thus you aren’t reactivating your carbon lined clothing whether or not you think you are.

Conclusion

There is no [scientifically proven] way to reduce human scent 100%. [This fact is especially true when dealing with whitetail deer.]

Like mentioned above it is all about playing the wind the best you can.

Al

Edited August 22, 2016 by airedale

[DirtTime]

I use Ivory soap to shower when going hunting. I also use it to wash my hunting clothes. Then I will put a few pine bows in the plastic container with my hunting clothes. If you dunk them in a creek, while they are drying on a line they will still end up smelling like what ever is on the wind that's drying them. It sounds good in theory though.

[philoshop]

The only way to fool a deer's nose is to make sure you're downwind of the critter. If he's downwind, he knows what you had for breakfast before you even get out of your truck.

[stoneam2006]

The only way to fool a deer's nose is to make sure you're downwind of the critter. If he's downwind, he knows what you had for breakfast before you even get out of your truck.

That's it...you cant fool an animal this is what they do. What they are built for. I don't buy into scent control I don't do anything special other than not wash them in normal laundry soap. I always hunt the wind and unfortunately I also smoke in the woods and have shot deer with my cig sitting next to me. It's wind.

I do use cover scent alot tho bc I always have it with me...idk if it helps or not but always have a bottle of fox pee I squirt on tree and branches around me as well as put on my boots...and drag rag is normally doe pee

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

[DirtTime]

One thing I started doing a long time ago for deer hunting is not wearing my hunting clothes to or from the hunt. I put them on when I get there, and unless I get a deer, they go back in the tote when I head home. Small game and turkey, I don't worry about it too much. If a turkey winds me, that's one awesome bird!