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Are some rubber boots better with ground scent?

Bowtech12

Bowtech12

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2017
Messages
393
Location
Western New York
Just learning there are big differences in rubber boots. Lacrosse and the big box store boots are made with more clay than rubber

Then gumleaf boots are made with 80% rubber but cost $350
Is there a difference in the ground scent left?
 
I don't think so. If the rubber boot is water tight, it won't let water molecules in or scent molecules out. The rubber content has more to do with how long the boot can be expected to last. I have both Lacrosse and Gumleaf and see no difference as far as scent transmission goes. I would say to wear the boots out in the woods some before season and put them in some mud and water to get rid of any factory rubber smell. One point that needs to be made is to keep the boots free of contaminants. Don't wear then into a restaurant, convenience store, etc or pump gas in them. Put them on at the truck and take them off after hunting.
 
NMSbowhunter said:
I don't think so. If the rubber boot is water tight, it won't let water molecules in or scent molecules out. The rubber content has more to do with how long the boot can be expected to last. I have both Lacrosse and Gumleaf and see no difference as far as scent transmission goes. I would say to wear the boots out in the woods some before season and put them in some mud and water to get rid of any factory rubber smell. One point that needs to be made is to keep the boots free of contaminants. Don't wear then into a restaurant, convenience store, etc or pump gas in them. Put them on at the truck and take them off after hunting.
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I think some of the field sprays really do work and a nice touch on a boot kept in a tote and only worn hunting. I purposefully got a shirt full of BO as an experiment (wore it cutting grass for a month) and sprayed Scent Killer Gold on it and it took a lot of the smell out. I've also used it on mildewy stuff and it works.
 
For rubber boot longevity, don't leave mud/dirt on them long term, and condition them with a conditioning spray or olive oil before storage. Also, don't let them fold over lol.

Other than when necessary for wet/water access, I don't wear rubber boots anymore; but I always owned Lacrosse...
 
The rubber itself of some boots have a strong chemical odor. I realized this several years ago while in a Cabelas store. I was looking over a pair of boots that I was considering and I caught a whiff of something odd. I sniffed the boot soles and they indeed had a strong odor. At that point, I decided to check some other brands/models. Some were odorless and some were not. A sales woman saw me smelling the boots and asked me what I was doing. Haha, I think she thought I was nuts (she was very perceptive! LOL), until she sniffed one and then she knew what I was talking about.
I'm not sure if that odor would be something that would alarm deer or not. In most habitats, deer encounter chemical odors on a daily basis. I'm beginning to believe it's not chemical odors that alarm deer it's predator (human) odor that alarm deer. But why tempt fate? I still try to reduce all odors.

While we are on the subject, the common practice most hunters employ is to store boots in air-tight tubs and I do as well but with a caveat.
I only store dry and deodorized boots in an air tight tub. After each hunt, the inside of rubber boots are going to be damp with sweat, which will grow bacteria and stink. I do not want that boot enclosed in my air tight tub. I feel the odors from the inside of the boot will contaminate the entire boot, inside and out and will contaminate the tub as well.
On the drive home, I leave the lid off the tub until I get to my boot dryer. Boots have to be put on a dryer after every use. As soon as I get up the next morning, My dry boots go back in the tub and I run a short, 5-10 minute ozone cycle into the tub with the lid on. Yeah, O3 is hard on rubber but only if the rubber is exposed to O3 for extended periods of time. If I'm not hunting that day, I'll run the O3 and then air-out the boots immediately after. The O3 has done it's job so there is no need to store anything in a sealed environment of O3. After the boots air out, I close the tub and store it.
If I am hunting that day, I'll leave the boots in the closed tub for the short drive to my parking area and get dressed.
This regimen has not shown to have much, if any effect on the rubber.
Is it worth doing this? I think so. Busts from my ground odor are zero since I've started doing this a bunch of years ago. I firmly believe the only thing deer are smelling when they cross my trail is the odor of "ground disturbance", and not human odor. Do I leave human odor on the ground? Maybe, maybe not. I know all the arguments about tests with dogs. But I do, 100% know, that before I started doing this most deer would lock-up, or panic when they hit my trail. That never happens any more. Coincidence? Doubtful.
 
Yes, when they are new, I try to wear them out scouting for a while prior to season and break them in walking through water and mud. If I see deer poo I step in it, not over it.

For storage they usually reside in the back floorboard of my truck. I wipe mud, etc off them and they get a boot conditioner applied in the summer months. If I get water in them, I put them on the boot dryer with the insoles out so they will dry. I put them on when I leave the truck ad take them off before returning to "civilization".

Where I hunt rubber boots are pretty much a necessity and they barely cut it about half the time. I usually have water to cross several times in order to get to my hunting areas. Some of the areas are hip boot access only if we get a good bit of rain, and I have a few locations where it is chest wader access only. That leaves most folks behind, and the deer know it too.

For hill country, I don't like rubber boots. They are tough on my feet, and I prefer hikers. I have to be cognizant of where I walk near my stand sites wearing hikers since they do leave ground scent.
 
By my observations from the stand the last 20 plus years, I’ve never had a deer spook when they walk over my foot path when I’m wearing rubber boots. Any other hiker, Rocky style boot, they freaked out a lot of the time.


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Bowtech12 said:
Just learning there are big differences in rubber boots. Lacrosse and the big box store boots are made with more clay than rubber

Then gumleaf boots are made with 80% rubber but cost $350
Is there a difference in the ground scent left?
Click to expand...

Like Gumleaf, Le Chameau (which is what I prefer) are high percentage rubber, and like Gumleaf both outlast the other “rubber” boots ten fold. You pay for that quality. The difference in ground scent amounts to that difference in lifespan. All rubber boots carry odor that eventually fades, meaning there’s a timespan that has to be covered for scent to be gone. I know people not getting a season out of their Mucks or Lacrosse. No way a ten year old Le Chameau that’s been properly stored doesn’t create less ground scent than six month old Mucks. Piles of great brands making nice high percentage rubber boots, most in Europe, just Google “wellies.” Like I said, I prefer Le Chameau, either the Vierzonords or the Chasseurs.


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NMSbowhunter said:
Yes, when they are new, I try to wear them out scouting for a while prior to season and break them in walking through water and mud. If I see deer poo I step in it, not over it.

For storage they usually reside in the back floorboard of my truck. I wipe mud, etc off them and they get a boot conditioner applied in the summer months. If I get water in them, I put them on the boot dryer with the insoles out so they will dry. I put them on when I leave the truck ad take them off before returning to "civilization".

Where I hunt rubber boots are pretty much a necessity and they barely cut it about half the time. I usually have water to cross several times in order to get to my hunting areas. Some of the areas are hip boot access only if we get a good bit of rain, and I have a few locations where it is chest wader access only. That leaves most folks behind, and the deer know it too.

For hill country, I don't like rubber boots. They are tough on my feet, and I prefer hikers. I have to be cognizant of where I walk near my stand sites wearing hikers since they do leave ground scent.
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I’m a pronounced deer poo stepper as well!!! Best cover scent and ground scent eliminator there is. Cow plops in farm country too.
 
I do that a lot of times too. I like to find a clump of clover, mud, tall grass and rub my feet in them before entering the field. I mean absolutely destroy the clump of clover on my feet. I also have been experimenting with nose jammer the past few years. I now don't go hunting without it. That little pause previously mentioned when crossing my path does not happen anymore. I hunt in hiking boots now and have for the past 5 years. The only time I really wear rubber anymore is if we have had a large rain or I am hunting a swamp. If you are doing that then it doesn't matter what you do to your rubber boot, as soon as you walk through the water everything is washed off and you are back to new or smelling like creek water.
 
The act of "scent camouflaging" my boots is not something I typically do or think about. An animal that can differentiate that many individual odors in one whiff can most likely pick up on something if it's in there... Scent control spray and/or Nose Jammer, I will do! LOL.
 
bowhunthard88 said:
The act of "scent camouflaging" my boots is not something I typically do or think about. An animal that can differentiate that many individual odors in one whiff can most likely pick up on something if it's in there... Scent control spray and/or Nose Jammer, I will do! LOL.
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They will prolly smell the bad scent in there but is it hidden enough with the other smells to not signal immediate threat? I certainly dont know the answer. After a season of using nose jammer with multiple observations of deer crossing my trail or being directly downwind, I am going to use it next season for sure. Ozone washing clothes and nose jammer seemed to be a dividend paying combo for me.
 
bowhunthard88 said:
The act of "scent camouflaging" my boots is not something I typically do or think about. An animal that can differentiate that many individual odors in one whiff can most likely pick up on something if it's in there... Scent control spray and/or Nose Jammer, I will do! LOL.
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They alert more on stronger scents and less likely to miss it. If you can reduce the scent, they might think it is an older scent or not smell it unless they put their nose to the ground at that particular spot.
 
I definitely have a scent control regimen (although not as strict as some; ozone generator, frequent washes with Sport Wash), and I try to keep my boots clean, spray down, and use Nose Jammer. I just don't go out of my way to scuff into stuff lol, not saying that it can hurt, and maybe it helps, it just doesn't do anything for my confidence.
 
Still Kicking said:
I spray my boots well with Dead Downwind field spray and swipe a stick of Evercalm along the outside of each sole. I've been doing this for 5 years and haven't had a single deer pause on my incoming trail yet.
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I tried to use Evercalm, but that stuff is rank. It really does smell like a wet deer laid down and stunk an area of leaves up or something.
 
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