- Joined
- Apr 1, 2014
- Messages
- 700
Scent Control Debate????????
I'm struggling with the concept of debating over whether something works or not when I've unequivocally proven it to myself several thousand times that it works and have never had an instance when I knew I was doing everything right, that it didn't. To debate on the extent at which a hunter is willing to go or the work ethic in which a hunter is willing to put in to have a scent regiment that will fool a mature deer's nose, well that's not really a debate but rather a discussion over self-discipline. Honestly, a persons self-discipline can only be debated by that person themselves.
I, and I'm sure most of you learn your most valuable lessons in life by personal trial and error. When I was young I used to get speeding tickets and tickets for not coming to a complete stop at stop signs. I could visually see the cop give me a ticket, the money go from my checking account to the county court, and the increase in my insurance rates. These were things I could positively verify without the need to debate whether or not they happened.
For the first 35 of my 52 bow seasons I had learned by trial and error how to be as successful a bowhunter as I could be for the areas I was hunting in. By the end of that 35 year period I had bowhunting by strictly paying attention to wind direction down to as much a science as possible, but there were many visually verified times that I still got winded and other times when I heard deer downwind snorting at me from beyond sight.
You can strictly bowhunt the wind and still kill deer, that's been done for hundreds of years, but having to hunt the wind definitely lowers your odds of success because deer don't always accommodate us with their movement habits. Absolutely anyone that states they can just hunt the wind and never have it affect their success is a flat out liar. Depending on where they hunt they may always fill their tags, but to state they never have deer unexpectedly downwind of them is just a flat out lie.
Wind direction used to affect absolutely everything I did concerning; terrain features in which I wouldn't prepare locations due to the nature of swirling winds, which trees I prepared at small destination areas such as scrape areas and at mast and fruit trees, and most importantly when and sometimes if I got to hunt my best locations. Each of those concerns based solely on wind direction kept me from either; preparing sites at what would otherwise be great locations, preparing the tree that best suited the location, and capitalizing on current activity instead of having to wait for the proper wind. And these are just 3 of a multitude of things that having to hunt the wind affects.
For the past 17 years, in every aspect of; how I scout, choose locations, choose trees, and hunt, wind direction is irrelevant. I can't remember the last time I was winded and because I don't consider wind direction when doing anything, it's rare when during a hunt that I don't have deer downwind of me. To be as blunt as possible, there is absolutely no way that I could hunt as I do, or be as successful, if I had to pay attention to wind direction. I'm not trying to come off as an arrogant bastard, just telling it the way it is and there's absolutely no reason the same scent regiment program wouldn't work the same for anyone else.
Just as using a harness system has greatly impacted my hunting success since 1981 by offering many advantages over any conventional stands, so has the advent of properly using and caring for activated lined clothing, in conjunction with clean boots and backpack. There is no debate on whether it works, the scent control debate is on to what extent is the individual hunter willing to take advantage of the technology.
I've been asked to lay out my scent regiment including what's in my van and if Red allows it, the next few posts on this topic will lay it out. On a different post some of this was covered last year but I guess I need to have them all in order.
I'm struggling with the concept of debating over whether something works or not when I've unequivocally proven it to myself several thousand times that it works and have never had an instance when I knew I was doing everything right, that it didn't. To debate on the extent at which a hunter is willing to go or the work ethic in which a hunter is willing to put in to have a scent regiment that will fool a mature deer's nose, well that's not really a debate but rather a discussion over self-discipline. Honestly, a persons self-discipline can only be debated by that person themselves.
I, and I'm sure most of you learn your most valuable lessons in life by personal trial and error. When I was young I used to get speeding tickets and tickets for not coming to a complete stop at stop signs. I could visually see the cop give me a ticket, the money go from my checking account to the county court, and the increase in my insurance rates. These were things I could positively verify without the need to debate whether or not they happened.
For the first 35 of my 52 bow seasons I had learned by trial and error how to be as successful a bowhunter as I could be for the areas I was hunting in. By the end of that 35 year period I had bowhunting by strictly paying attention to wind direction down to as much a science as possible, but there were many visually verified times that I still got winded and other times when I heard deer downwind snorting at me from beyond sight.
You can strictly bowhunt the wind and still kill deer, that's been done for hundreds of years, but having to hunt the wind definitely lowers your odds of success because deer don't always accommodate us with their movement habits. Absolutely anyone that states they can just hunt the wind and never have it affect their success is a flat out liar. Depending on where they hunt they may always fill their tags, but to state they never have deer unexpectedly downwind of them is just a flat out lie.
Wind direction used to affect absolutely everything I did concerning; terrain features in which I wouldn't prepare locations due to the nature of swirling winds, which trees I prepared at small destination areas such as scrape areas and at mast and fruit trees, and most importantly when and sometimes if I got to hunt my best locations. Each of those concerns based solely on wind direction kept me from either; preparing sites at what would otherwise be great locations, preparing the tree that best suited the location, and capitalizing on current activity instead of having to wait for the proper wind. And these are just 3 of a multitude of things that having to hunt the wind affects.
For the past 17 years, in every aspect of; how I scout, choose locations, choose trees, and hunt, wind direction is irrelevant. I can't remember the last time I was winded and because I don't consider wind direction when doing anything, it's rare when during a hunt that I don't have deer downwind of me. To be as blunt as possible, there is absolutely no way that I could hunt as I do, or be as successful, if I had to pay attention to wind direction. I'm not trying to come off as an arrogant bastard, just telling it the way it is and there's absolutely no reason the same scent regiment program wouldn't work the same for anyone else.
Just as using a harness system has greatly impacted my hunting success since 1981 by offering many advantages over any conventional stands, so has the advent of properly using and caring for activated lined clothing, in conjunction with clean boots and backpack. There is no debate on whether it works, the scent control debate is on to what extent is the individual hunter willing to take advantage of the technology.
I've been asked to lay out my scent regiment including what's in my van and if Red allows it, the next few posts on this topic will lay it out. On a different post some of this was covered last year but I guess I need to have them all in order.