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Activated Carbon Information

Thanks , that was good read. Looks like I will be making a purchase this spring. Now I just have to decide what I want.
 
1simplemann said:
Thanks , that was good read. Looks like I will be making a purchase this spring. Now I just have to decide what I want.

Keep an eye on their website store and clearance section and sign up for their emails. You can get some really good deals, especially at the end of the season.
 
redsquirrel said:
1simplemann said:
Thanks , that was good read. Looks like I will be making a purchase this spring. Now I just have to decide what I want.

Keep an eye on their website store and clearance section and sign up for their emails. You can get some really good deals, especially at the end of the season.
That's what I'm waiting for!
 
1simplemann said:
redsquirrel said:
1simplemann said:
Thanks , that was good read. Looks like I will be making a purchase this spring. Now I just have to decide what I want.

Keep an eye on their website store and clearance section and sign up for their emails. You can get some really good deals, especially at the end of the season.
That's what I'm waiting for!

Cabelas will also have massive discounts on most of their camo after the holidays too - a lot of which is scentlok. Check out their "bargain cave"


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
For the record

After the Scent Lok lawsuit was over, Scent Lok had an UnderArmour tech suit (UA uses Zeolite) and a Scent Blocker suit (SB uses Trinity which is a synthetic adsorbent) to the same Chemist lab (Rutgers University) that did the testing for the District Court lawsuit. The UA suit (Zeolite) tested at 5% of the adsorptive capacity of Scent Lok's activated carbon and Scent Blockers suit (synthetic) tested at 16% of the adsorbtive capacity of Scent Lok.

For those that may question how the UA and SB suits got to Rutgers, Scent Lok requested they be sent to the University by a customer that carries all 3 brands. In other words the UA and SB suits never touched a Scent Lok employees hand. SL wanted to make sure they weren't blamed for altering the suits, which of course they would have been had they touched them.

There will be ads showing these results in 2015.
 
John Eberhart said:
For the record

After the Scent Lok lawsuit was over, Scent Lok had an UnderArmour tech suit (UA uses Zeolite) and a Scent Blocker suit (SB uses Trinity which is a synthetic adsorbent) to the same Chemist lab (Rutgers University) that did the testing for the District Court lawsuit. The UA suit (Zeolite) tested at 5% of the adsorptive capacity of Scent Lok's activated carbon and Scent Blockers suit (synthetic) tested at 16% of the adsorbtive capacity of Scent Lok.

For those that may question how the UA and SB suits got to Rutgers, Scent Lok requested they be sent to the University by a customer that carries all 3 brands. In other words the UA and SB suits never touched a Scent Lok employees hand. SL wanted to make sure they weren't blamed for altering the suits, which of course they would have been had they touched them.

There will be ads showing these results in 2015.

Very interesting!
 
After talking to John Eberhart and seeing this article - I decided to try scent lok again (had actually tried it before and had good success). I became pretty fanatical about my entire scent routine (washing, showering, rubber boots, deodorants, etc... and I used scent lok base layers and outer shells when it was cool enough. I had one of the best season's ever and had several close encounters on P&Y deer that aren't supposed to be on the lands I hunt. Now I will admit, I also followed John's advice as outlined in Precision Bow hunting and did the post season scouting and tree setups. I also used a lot of mineral sites on fringes to inventory buck populations. I used to be a non-believer in carbon clothing - but no more. While I believe it helps control your scent and keeps deer from getting too much of your scent while hunting that is NOT the primary reason I wear it. I wear it because I absolutely believe it helps reduce the scent as you go into and leave your set ups. I also paid attention to deer as they crossed my track and while some picked up something I am convinced it was not at the threat level as before. In the past if a buck crossed your path 95% of the time it was over for that day. I also noticed that the more I hunted that stand the less I saw them. I believe most of the damage was done after the hunt was over and the buck was deciphering my approach into his core area. This year they have not altered their behavior due to my approach and departure routes. Now I did go out of my way to find creative ways to get in and out without them knowing - I still had several deer cross my path and not react like they have every year before.

So for me - carbon clothing is helping as is totally clean rubber boots (I now give my boots the most attention when it comes to washing and cleaning them)

Thanks again Mr. Eberhart for the videos, for bringing this information to light and for helping me get my saddle hunting down. And thanks to the folks on this site that have helped me along and provided some great solutions to problems I presented.
 
DaveT1963 said:
I wear it because I absolutely believe it helps reduce the scent as you go into and leave your set ups.

I think this is a huge thing that many people overlook. I will never forget the day that I had a buck come in and hang up out of shooting range after I gave him a grunt. I hung in that tree until well after dark because he was in the area, and wouldn't you know it, about 10 minutes after dark he walked straight to the bottom of my tree and stood there, eventually walking off. I'm sure this happens more often than we realize, and if you are leaving your scent on the ground your goose is cooked.

I'm glad you like the site, its great to have you! :D
 
As someone who didn't start his hunting career until late in life and with no real hunting mentor to show me bad habits, I was fortunate enough to have my BIL more or less indoctrinate me into scent control from my first few hunts by outfitting me in an entire scentlok outfit. At the time, even though my scent routine was less than stellar, I was still having a lot of close encounters with deer. Initially I thought it was mostly luck and I didn't quite understand the benefits of carbon activated clothing. But over a few seasons, many close encounters with deer dead down wind, my own and other scholarly research, and perhaps most importantly - field observation of those who don't practice and use a scent routine the benefits became more than obvious.

Now using carbon activated clothing and having a stringent scent routine is just part of my overall hunting strategy and routine. It still pains me to see some of my fellow family members get scent busted time and time again and know they are damaging and ruining opportunities to hunt on their parcels. Worse yet is their inability or complete dismissal of the technology and its benefits. It's hard for me to understand how people become so stubborn and dismissive of technology - whether it be carbon activated clothing, an iPad, or whatever.

But I'll keep using it, and if something proves itself better on the market I'll gladly keep an open mind and try it. The worst that could happen when using carbon activated clothing is the same results you would experience without it. But I think most hunters who properly care for and use their carbon garments will see immediate benefits.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I think as with anything in hunting it is a matter of many small things coming together for success and I think those who've had success with carbon clothes like Scent Lok don't just rely on the clothing it is another tool in their hunting arsenal. You still have to minimize you scent foot print as much as possible and while ignoring everything and else and throwing on a carbon suit won't work it doesn't mean that carbon clothing doesn't. I think if you stay as scent free as possible and use rubber boots and carbon clothing you are tipping the odds in your favor as much as possible.

Today everyone is looking for the magic bullet or a short cut but the truth of the matter is to be successful it takes a lot of hard work and attention to detail and no single thing, in my humble opinion, will give you success all the time. I have used ScentLok suits for years and think they help but I don't think they can overcome bad scent control habits and while truly believe they help I don't think wearing one makes me invisible to the whitetails nose but then again I don't think anything will. What I'm looking to do is reduce my scent to the point that they aren't alarmed or can't pinpoint where I am until it's too late and the arrow is on it's way.

Thanks, Roger
 
I was a skeptic for years. I don't believe scent lok will keep all your scent from reaching a deer downwind 100% of the time - but it difintiely helped me this year - especially with ground scent.

But here is a test anyone can try provided they have a clean dryer that doesn't smell like perfumed dryer sheets.

Take one set of cotton/poly cotton/fleece or any other non-carbon clothes. take one set of scent lok camo. Wear both for a week stright and stink them up as much as you can. Give them bothe equal stink time. After a solid week smell both. I gaurantee you teh scetn lok will not reek like the other clothes will. Now, here is the real test. DO NOT WASH EITHER. Rather throw them in the dryer for 30 minute on high heat, take them out and smell them. The scent lok will smell fresh and the others - not so much. Wonder why that is??? Don't take my word on it try it and see. I am amazed each time I pull my scetn lok out fo the dryer that they dont have any lingering odor - at least not like other camo would have.
 
Im a student of the woods. Anytime someone wants to give me info on it, I read and then decide. Theres a lot of great hunters this day in age and all have some piece of the puzzle, from Dan Infalt who could kill a buck in a public tool shed to John who seems to have a knack for finding bucks that are on public evading pressure to Andrae Dquisto and on down the line we go. A LOT of great hunters this day in age.

Ive been to the front of this line and back again. This was my 16th season bow hunting central pa's most pressured public woods. Ive tried everything from getting dressed outside, washing my clothes every day, smoke, ozone... my friends laugh at the amount of things I have tried over the years. At one point I gave up on scent control completely and I still got on deer but I do think theres something to be said for undisturbed ground scent. I myself am looking at the scent side of things because ive seen it work and it not work at all what I know about the scent industry is there is no standard and what youre getting once likely isnt what you might get next, thats a whole other topic. But... ive began looking at not only scent control from our perspective but a trappers perspective. How do animals use the scent in their environment. If youre at all familiar with trapping, different scents, different urines, different baits all entice a different response. Why do we try to put a deer gland in a bottle then use it on a licking branch when the end result we want is the deer to lick the branch right? Shouldnt we put something on the branch and let the deer lick it to deposit the scent were after?

Anyway, ive come full circle on scent control, carbon has a use, so does spray and ozone and the more you can stack the odds to get the ground scent down is where I think this comes into play. I was running trail cams when forums didnt exist. I have a pic somewhere of a buck that is in dead center of the frame but in brush, if you dont know hes there the pic peeks no interest. So these masters of disguise are probably at times hitting our entry hundreds of yards out and turning around to go another way. Ever wonder why Bill Winke is so successful? The dude will climb a boulder field if he can to get to his stand because he knows the deer arent gonna walk their, it has a visual aspect too but focus on the scent side. Guys that are beating the wind mostly are catching deer so close to bed the deer have no chance to get a ground scent, they scout that much and are that in tune with whats going on to pull it off, are you? Dan or Andrae shoot the buck before he even knows someone walked in there, they both say in their writings or videos if you go to far, then back up its over, theyre catching the disruption of ground scent mixed with human or not.

I 100% believe you cannot beat a whitetails nose without a thermal or wind kink or something in your favor but I do think you can trick them with ground scent, if you couldnt the drag line would never be successful, is it the days the line is successful that scenting wasnt ideal to pick up on the hunter, or did the hunter do well at masking scent. How does a bird dog work a field, how do they do in the wet vs dry.

Were thinking about this on a way dumbed down level and we need to look at it from every avenue. If ozone can destroy odor, wouldnt it stand to reason that you can destroy odor in carbon with ozone?

Like I said, im looking at things from trapping, gun dogs, hunters themselves, the whys and hows and whens. I personally believe that I could take a gland tincture, add the right amount of other ingredients and create a long call scrape scent. Ill tell you this, the best trappers dont believe in using a doe scent of any type or form. Why? Cause its too volitle and what do male dogs do... mark territory, its very odd that female dogs do that and some do but the male dog elicits a response from every male dog that walks by!
 
Deer which we all know have incredible scenting ability, like a dog that was mentioned before. We have all been busted and go through that ah sh..... moment; as the buck snorts and coughs at us. When a deer coughs like a dog it is scenting you through its mouth. Yup it's is true actually tasting your scent. Had it happen more than once by hunting to close to beds as a kid.

Bring a new born baby home from the hospital. The family dog of course is very inquisitive of the new born. Most dogs will mouth the air around the baby. Getting the babies scent , by tasting it the scent and making the child in the dogs mind a part of the pack. How many times have you heard of a dog getting to close to a baby; most people do not realize this is what is going on and they punish the dog.

My Father was a Korean vet. He had 31 months in combat. One of the most amazing stories that I remember is how a South Korean could smell the difference a North Korean and South Korean. He said through survival he learned the difference. He always kept a South Korean around. (This all had to do with different foods they were eating)

I experienced similiar enhanced senses when I was in the Marine Corps. In the field your senses become very acute; Hense survival. Well deer are like people they have their own personalities, intelligence levels etc.

Anything you can do to control scent, movement, etc. I am up for. Yes, thank God for Carbon Activated Suits. They do work for scent control and chemicals.
 
I started hunting whitetail with a bow 2 years ago. I'm out to learn all that I can about the process. I've decided to hunt in a saddle this year and just purchased my first saddle from Ebay. I currently have an entire Firstlite Kit, but after reading all of John's books and talking to a lot of people I'm going to buy scentlok overalls, gloves and headcover. Hopefully this way I can still use the rest of my gear underneath and still have the scent advantage.

All thoughts on the above are welcome.

Also, what is a good scent routine for my rubber boots?

Thanks in advance!
 
Josh, first lite is its own carbon. Some of their clothing already has it, other pieces are merino wool which by its very nature doesnt hold scent. I wouldnt buy any more clothing, if you want make your own carbon based dip or spray using a product like carbon synergy or bulk bags of activated carbon. The gloves and head cover arent a bad idea.

Boots, I just take them and run them through the ozone machine. Then scrub them with baking soda/water/carbon using a scrub brush that was never used prior on anything else, think dollar store.

Ive got two pairs of mucks but I am a fan of real mountain boots due to the amount and varying terrain I cover.
 
Josh

First Lite does not use activated carbon but does use merino wool which does adsorb to some extent and inhibit odor. As you thought, First Lite offers good base layer pieces.

There is nothing whatsoever in the marketplace that adsorbs odor molecule even relatively close to what Scent Loks patented activated carbon lined suits do. You do need a SL jacket, pants, head cover, and gloves and a clean pair of either rubber or neoprene knee high boots and a clean backpack. Keep in mind that if the SL clothing is not properly cared for, it will eventually render itself worthless. Also make sure to drape your pant legs over the boots and not tuck them in.

Activated carbon in any bag, jar, or spray form is extremely dirty and will trash your clothing and your wife will love the washer and dryer after using them to wash your clothing. I've been sent all those things and not only are they messy, you can't get an even distribution of product throughout the garments. Scent Lok and there licensed partners already have garments with even distribution of activated carbon and there clean.

A company sent me 3 ozone machines to test at N/C and they work as designed but when used on clothing, as soon as you put the clothing on your odor molecules will permeate through the fabric and you better play the wind. With the waterproof boots there's no need to use an ozone machine as your pant legs will adsorb the odor molecules as they escape the throat of the boots.

I think earlier in this post I have care instructions and information on activated carbon.

Good luck and call me if you want some tips on using the saddle.

John - 989-644-6067
 
Just picked up a scent lok carbon suit, gloves and headwear. I've always tried to be very conscious of my scent control and implemented John's recommendations from his books but could never bring myself to shell out the cash for these. New Aero saddle last month and now this I'll need to intercept the credit card bills so the wife doesn't see it :D
 
I would like to apologize for being so abrupt and rude on my previous activated carbon posts last fall and winter.

After recently struggling through several TV shows that are sponsored by Scent Lok, I can certainly see how hunters that use Scent Lok in a similar fashion as some of the so-called hunting experts would think it doesn't work, because if hunters simulate the same procedures, they better pay attention to wind direction because the SL garments don't reach beyond their fabric.

Logo ball caps with hair hanging out, beards, exposed neck, exposed face with face paint, likely unwashed backpack, likely an unwashed Hunter Safety System fall arrest harness, couldn't believe the hanging of SL garments in the garage as if airing out, and the list goes on. Any one of these glitches in a scent control regiment will get a hunter winded, let alone a slew of them as I've seen in every show I watched. Their very fortunate to be hunting the Midwest or on pay to hunt ranches where deer will tolerate a lot of human odor before spooking.
 
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