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Breath Cleansing?

I too have been thru the no scent ritual. When I was young I would quit eating meat and drinking coffee a month prior to season....and take chlorophyll capsules. I would drive to my hunting location and strip down then re-dress into scentless clothes, brush my teeth and gargle with baking soda then go hunt. This ritual was done day after day. I used scent lok and do believe it helped cover my scent when it was NEW.
I don't go to that extreme any more. I feel it did work to some extent. I too enjoyed the ritual...the attention to detail and have harvested some nice whitetails over the years.
Now days I keep my clothes scent free and shower with scent free soap etc but don't go to the same extreme. I hunt the wind and thermals. I try to set up where they cannot get 100% downwind of me (this is not always possible). Some natural barrier that makes it impossible.... a ravine, cut bank, water, downed tree, open field etc. They are walking the edge of my scent stream. Yes I get busted once in a while but I can tell you if a mature buck thinks he has the wind he will come in on a string IF he has any doubt....good luck!
There is no right or wrong just another way to play the game.
 
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The thread is entitled "Breath Cleansing", not odor control, although breath cleansing is a part of odor reduction.
For me, a typical pre-hunt mouth hygiene routine isn't really that much different than what we should all be doing 365 days a year.
We all brush our teeth, but daily flossing and cleaning below the gum line are a couple things a lot of us don't do. We should. Your dentist will thank you and you be able to chew venison into old age.
The breath cleansing aspect of odor reduction is not some time consuming ordeal. It takes a few minutes before each hunt.

Changing diet, and to what degree, is another matter. Giving up onions before a hunt can't really be compared to going veg for weeks before the season. That takes dedication that few of us care to utilize.

There is no doubt that what we put into our bodies changes our body chemistry. Body chemistry has an effect on body "odors". Recent medical science has shown that dogs can detect some cancers. I'm not sure they know exactly how they do it, but it's most likely thru smell. Pretty amazing to the extent of how dogs (and deer) utilize their olfactory systems. I don't believe humans an come close to comprehending just how these critters use their noses.

Do any of our schemes help reduce our odor to the point of influencing success or failure? We really don't know, do we. We are dealing with animals' noses that are light years ahead of ours. And to boot, those animals make decisions on how best to survive. One individual deer may be a lot less tolerant of a whiff of us than another deer and their attitude can change from day to day.

I believe the density of our odor molecules is what makes or breaks an encounter. A deer in the center of our scent cone, getting full nose of a contaminated hunter will react stronger than one that detects minimal human odor on the fringes of our scent cone. The outer edges of our scent cone is not a well defined line. It blurs at the edges. It's those fringes where I believe odor reduction pays dividends.

I still don't go all-out with odor reduction. I still eat a pizza with onions the night before the hunt. I still eat meat.
I do scrub in the shower before a hunt. I do wear fresh clothes for each hunt. I do use ozone to treat gear and my vehicle, and I do hunt the wind as best as possible and use milkweed religiously.

But it's just not possible, where I hunt, to hang stands only where deer cannot get downwind, while also still being within ethical shooting range, and still being able to find a suitable tree that's located within the herd's daylight travel zone.
One of my favorite lines by Barry Wensel..."I like the wind to be almost perfect for the deer and almost wrong for me". With that mindset, deer will often be right on that fringe of our scent cone. I choose to take a few extra steps to minimize my odor. I believe it makes a difference. It certainly makes a difference in the enjoyment of my hunt when I don't get severely winded by a deer that is just on the verge of getting a whiff.
 
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I saw the thread title and I also saw your posts which strayed from "Breath Cleansing" You seem to be looking to stir up ****. Ok for you to go off topic and no one else?

Back on topic - My mouth cleansing routine involves - flossing, brushing with baking soda, scraping my tongue and rinsing with baking soda. Something like 60% - 70% of bacteria odor come from your tongue?! I also have some chlorophyll gum that I have used doesn't taste the best not sure if it works or not? Somewhere I read that breathing thru you nose only also helps.
 
wayne county said:
I saw the thread title and I also saw your posts which strayed from "Breath Cleansing" You seem to be looking to stir up ****. Ok for you to go off topic and no one else?

Back on topic - My mouth cleansing routine involves - flossing, brushing with baking soda, scraping my tongue and rinsing with baking soda. Something like 60% - 70% of bacteria odor come from your tongue?! I also have some chlorophyll gum that I have used doesn't taste the best not sure if it works or not? Somewhere I read that breathing thru you nose only also helps.
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Sorry Wayne. I wasn't disagreeing with you or trying to stir up crap. Sorry if I chose any words to made you think that.

The 1st part of my post was directly related to the thread title.

The 2nd part of my post was meant to tie-in how odor reduction involves more than just breath cleansing...I'm assuming that the reason a hunter wants to cleans his breath is for odor reduction.
I don't care if another hunter employs odor reduction, although I will say that I do believe that sloppy odor practices do tend to make the herd more nocturnal which does effect the hunt quality for other hunters.
Did I stray off topic? Maybe slightly, unless the reason for breath cleansing is odor reduction. In that context, I don't think I was exactly morphing the thread.
I love the topics of odor reduction and wind complexities. And a lot of those 2 subjects overlap. And even within each subject there are broad concepts.
I just thought I was adding to the conversation...not trying to "stir up s**t"

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Lots of great and humorous advice! Did anyone mention that while good hygiene is important, playing the wind is #1. :)
 
Suddenly I find myself interested in this thread.....

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DaveH said:
Lots of great and humorous advice! Did anyone mention that while good hygiene is important, playing the wind is #1. :)
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Yep...play the wind as much as you can, but sure as s**t, the wind will screw you when you least want it to.
And wind can't do much for residual odor we leave behind after we depart.

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Last year I used a 24 hour odor killing mouthwash along with flossing daily. I feel it worked really well as I had multiple mature deer down wind and never got busted. I also made a Ozone tote that I used to shocked my clothes before and after each hunt. I don’t feel anything is bulletproof And playing the wind will always be #1.A4BF2BE1-BFD6-4A7F-8D78-0D1D19CB3DF1.png
 
Jnh said:
Last year I used a 24 hour odor killing mouthwash along with flossing daily. I feel it worked really well as I had multiple mature deer down wind and never got busted. I also made a Ozone tote that I used to shocked my clothes before and after each hunt. I don’t feel anything is bulletproof And playing the wind will always be #1.View attachment 7101
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I've been using Smartmouth for years. Also rinsing with peroxide, flossing, an using a Butler gizmo for cleaning below the gum line. Amazing how much plaque can hide in your mouth even after a thorough brushing and flossing.
Behind wisdom teeth is a spot most people miss. Plaque equals bacteria equals odor.

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Just use an activated carbon R95 dust mask. I have worn one while using a strong epoxy paint and couldn’t smell a thing. It would handle your breath no problem. Home Depot sells the 3M paint fume ones for cheap.


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