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Tide for cover sent

wyetterp

wyetterp

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2019
Messages
239
Location
LowCountry, SC
Okay I know this sounds crazy but just bear with me with this one.

I know it's supposed to be a sin to wash your hunting clothes in fragrant detergents. I always make sure to only use bacon soda. But...I swear, over the years, when my wife occasionally sneaks & washes them in Tide, I end up seeing more than normal or when I do see stuff it often seems really calm. I've had them come directly on my paths & under me cool as a cucumber. Never skittish. Never had them blow at me from a distance just cause they smell me with it. I also know when I use baking soda & it's stupid hot out I can smell myself more than with tide in the clothes.

I'm starting to wonder if there may be something in tide that might have a calming smell & help mask/cover our own smell a little more. Maybe it makes us not perceived as threatening or something. I'm a believer that even if we wear a hazmat suit ducked taped up & sprayed down they're still going to smell us. But also know that some sents have a calming effect & can be perceived as less threatening. Evercalm for example.

So I'm considering actually just using a lot of tide to see what happens. I know this is hunting blasphemy, but I swear there's something to tide in particular. It's not going to get rid of my scent (as nothing truly will) but may actually work as a calming cover scent.

What do ya think? I know I'm crazy, but does anyone else have any experiences with tide in their hunting clothes?

Okay, doors open for the inbound jokes. That's fine, but I'm telling ya there's got to be something in tide. Maybe it's something deeply physcological with being born & raised a alabama fan or just a by product of my Alabama education. Whatever it is, I see more & they're typically calm when I see 'em. Two of my nicest bucks were while I was smelling all pretty in my leafy suit.
 
You got me on this one. I say trust your gut. Go 100% Tide detergent for a season and compare the results. I would be curious to know what you find out. Heck, I wouldn't mind trying it out in the off season during scouting.
 
Give it a try. From your experience so far, it seems to not spook them. There may be something to it. You never know until you test it out. Maybe you could wash a clean camo T shirt in tide and hang it just off a heavy deer trail and put a camera over it to see if they avoid it. Put the camera where it will get the shirt in the picture along with any deer. That way you might not jeopardize any real hunts. Then you could change out the shirts for one washed in baking soda.
 
If those types of odors spooked deer, then there would never be a road kill on a busy highway because 90% of the vehicles are carrying occupants that reek of that crap.
If it spooked deer then you wouldn't have deer feeding on lawn shrubs 5 feet from dryer vents. I still try to be as odor free as possible and I especially despise the smell of laundry products but I'm more and more convinced that deer are not alarmed by incidental chemical odors in their environment. They live with these odors pretty much 24-7.
What does alarm deer is predator odor. Humans, coyotes, bear, etc, not chemicals.
 
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I agree with what Tom said - incidental odors like laundry detergent don’t spook deer, human odor does. People use ozone and smoke for odor reduction and cover scent and it works - not 100%, but it does work. Deer smell it, so hey know it’s there and some deer are fine with it, some spook and some are somewhere in between. Other cover scents like apple and vanilla have been used for years. Why not Tide???
 
wyetterp said:
Okay I know this sounds crazy but just bear with me with this one.

I know it's supposed to be a sin to wash your hunting clothes in fragrant detergents. I always make sure to only use bacon soda. But...I swear, over the years, when my wife occasionally sneaks & washes them in Tide, I end up seeing more than normal or when I do see stuff it often seems really calm. I've had them come directly on my paths & under me cool as a cucumber. Never skittish. Never had them blow at me from a distance just cause they smell me with it. I also know when I use baking soda & it's stupid hot out I can smell myself more than with tide in the clothes.

I'm starting to wonder if there may be something in tide that might have a calming smell & help mask/cover our own smell a little more. Maybe it makes us not perceived as threatening or something. I'm a believer that even if we wear a hazmat suit ducked taped up & sprayed down they're still going to smell us. But also know that some sents have a calming effect & can be perceived as less threatening. Evercalm for example.

So I'm considering actually just using a lot of tide to see what happens. I know this is hunting blasphemy, but I swear there's something to tide in particular. It's not going to get rid of my scent (as nothing truly will) but may actually work as a calming cover scent.

What do ya think? I know I'm crazy, but does anyone else have any experiences with tide in their hunting clothes?

Okay, doors open for the inbound jokes. That's fine, but I'm telling ya there's got to be something in tide. Maybe it's something deeply physcological with being born & raised a alabama fan or just a by product of my Alabama education. Whatever it is, I see more & they're typically calm when I see 'em. Two of my nicest bucks were while I was smelling all pretty in my leafy suit.
Click to expand...

How urban an area do you hunt? Is there a farm house nearby that could be a source of Tide smell? Deer, animals in general, are less frightened or things they are familiar with so if the deer heard you are hunting is habituated to Tide than they may not view it as a threat
 
Three years ago in stand I smelled laundry and realized the neighbors about 350 yards upwind must be doing laundry… it’s amazing how far the smell travelled. The herd crosses that area multiple times a day, it must smack em right in the sniffers. I’ve been using no perfume detergent for so long the smell of having it on almost makes me sick, but it never did occur to me that deer in that area are smelling that laundry too and it might be a possible effective cover scent… sounds like a decent theory!
 
if it works it ain’t stupid. Im with everyone else, I say try it. Maybe it’ll confuse the deer, they be like no way that’s a hunter he smells great. Must be a bird watcher.
my old hunting partner used to slather on lotion that smelled like almonds and cherry and that fool saw tons of deerz. We’d be hunting I’d text him man it’s quiet haven’t seen nothing, he’d text back a pic of a doe right beneath his stand.
 
Red Beard said:
Man. I'm so tempted to try this. And also spray UV brighteners all over my clothes...
Click to expand...
Shoot. I forgot about the uv brightener. Are they in tide too? I don't have a uv light to tell. Gotta go look it up. I am a believer in uv.

Okay I'm back... Regular tide is full of uv brighteners. But... They make one called tide pure clean that's all natural & no uv brighteners.

I'm gunna give it a whirl.

Especially now that I can't seem to find bacon soda in stock anywhere. Makes scents though!
 
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