It's been a while since I've read John's odor regimen but as best as I can remember, I'm at about 80% of what he does.
I'm not crazy enough to think that a human can become odorless to deer. Current technology has not yet cracked that nut and I hope they never do. I enjoy playing the game of odor reduction while playing the wind. It's all part of the overall strategy and I find it an enjoyable part of the entire pursuit.
As the saying goes "The devil is in the details" and odor reduction definitely falls into that saying. I've said it a thousand times...A successful hunt is the culmination of details. The more details that you address, the more consistently successful you'll be.
Guys get "dug-in" on one side or the other with this topic. Do what ever makes you happy. Playing the odor reduction game does make me happy, especially when I eyewitness the benefits of my practices. Learning surface wind behavior and applying it to stand selection also makes me happy, but we all know that wind patterns are not 100% dependable and the swirl, eddy, or negative thermal seems to rear it's ugly head at just the very worst time.
I'm fully confident that odor reduction improves the odds of a successful hunt. Addressing each and every detail ups the odds better than a half-hearted odor regimen. But no matter what we do, we are going to get busted from time to time.
I'm most concerned about 3 things...
1. The distance in which deer bust me. Close contact busts are most common but there's a distance out there where a minor bust becomes a no-bust. The closer that I can move that invisible line, the less educated the herd will be.
2. The intensity of the bust. We get busted and we often don't realize it. A minor bust may be nothing more that a slight difference in the deer's body language but there's no alarm or panic. The herd often continues their original intensions. The doe that barely gets a whiff is far less likely to blow-up the encounter.
3. And the longevity of the residual odor I leave at my stand and access routes. I have access to small acreage with limited access routes and limited feasible stand sites. I often need to hunt particular stands repeatedly. The less intense my odor is, the less residual odor I leave behind, the fresher my stand stay, and the less educated the deer are.
If there is one undeniable improvement that I've had from odor reduction, it would be a huge reduction in ground odor along my access routes. Deer pay little to no attention when they cross my trail. That's huge since I have so many limitations on access routes and stand sites.