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interesting perspective

kenn1320

kenn1320

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 15, 2015
Messages
2,753
OK if you've read any of my posts in this forum, you know I'm not a big fan of scent control. I recently found a video done by Dr Jim Brauker, a local qdm and habitat guy whom I have great respect for. His view on camouflage and scent control really hit home. Hope you enjoy.

https://youtube/Kvhdp7p5Lno
[youtube]Kvhdp7p5Lno[/youtube]
 
I've watched a bunch of Dr. Jim's videos too but I don't think this is the right video?
 
The link has been updated, not sure why its not embedding for me? mods?
 
:shock: holy cow. I have seen those videos but haven't ever watched them. If I had to go through that I would quit hunting.
 
clint6760 said:
:shock: holy cow. I have seen those videos but haven't ever watched them. If I had to go through that I would quit hunting.
Click to expand...
YUP!

Thanks,
Boswell
 
Yeah I'd quit bowhunting and just shoot them with their nose up in the air with a rifle from a distance! Lol
 
I will admit Dr. Jim makes it sure seem like a helluva lot of work, but I also wouldn't ignore the results of his scent routine or his QDM practices. Not only that he has some truly worthwhile insight into deer behavior.

He is out in the field observing deer many, many more days than most of us will in a lifetime, and has taken some really awesome bucks on his relatively small 47 acres in heavily pressured Michigan as a result of his hard work. It may seem extreme to most of us but then again so did John E.'s saddle hunting and his scent routine. And we all know John E. lays them down...
 
Yeah his routine is a lot of work for sure, and even then he gets busted after hours on stand and says its due to his system breaking down. I take it he means he starts to sweat, suit/carbon mask get saturated, etc. Seems an all day hunt is not possible given that break down shown on one of his videos.

My reason for posting the video I did in the first post was his comments on why try scent control. His opinion of hunters know camo doesn't make you invisible, it just minimizes your visual detection. All hunters know this and yet still wear camo. Then you mention scent control and many of those hunters say you can't eliminate your scent 100% so why bother at all? I just found that perspective interesting.
 
kenn1320 said:
Yeah his routine is a lot of work for sure, and even then he gets busted after hours on stand and says its due to his system breaking down. I take it he means he starts to sweat, suit/carbon mask get saturated, etc. Seems an all day hunt is not possible given that break down shown on one of his videos.

My reason for posting the video I did in the first post was his comments on why try scent control. His opinion of hunters know camo doesn't make you invisible, it just minimizes your visual detection. All hunters know this and yet still wear camo. Then you mention scent control and many of those hunters say you can't eliminate your scent 100% so why bother at all? I just found that perspective interesting.
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Well it's kind of easy actually to understand why a hunter of average intelligence would be leery of something they can't "see": Camo you can see. Scent you can't. Most guys have a hard time imagining themselves as a giant scent wick.


-Sent from d_mobile
 
I think in his situation scent control may help & it surly can't hurt. From what I've seen his property is heavily managed for deer & rather small in size. So small that it's probably less than a mile from the farthest points. Also his habitat manage practices are design for low - no pressure access so no way would he be crossing the property for stand access. Taking this into consideration his entry is likely a couple hundred yds & to a preset stand. Under these optimal conditions I could see how one could keep scent to a mini.

Now the reason I don't practice any scent control - my property is thousands of ac of public land, access is likely a mile plus, no preset stands, & low temps for my Southern hunting grounds is rarely below 40 degrees. So spending any amount of time & money on scent control would be waste after passing the 1/4 mile mark & that would only be in the cooler mths. In Oct it could be blown just getting out the truck & putting my boots on!!!!!
 
Like I said before there is no way I would spend the amount time he does on scent control. AND he still gets busted. If I was him I would try smoking my clothes and see how that worked. Be a hell of a lot easier and results probably wouldn't be much different. It just blows my mind that anybody would go through that much trouble. Maybe I'm dumb though.
 
clint6760 said:
Like I said before there is no way I would spend the amount time he does on scent control. AND he still gets busted. If I was him I would try smoking my clothes and see how that worked. Be a hell of a lot easier and results probably wouldn't be much different. It just blows my mind that anybody would go through that much trouble. Maybe I'm dumb though.
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It is only trouble in so much as it prevents you from achieving your goals. Many deer are killed upwind of hunters cautiously playing the wind every year. For some trying to mitigate the risk of the fickle wind is worth it, especially when they are not as privileged to hunt lightly pressured or managed areas, or own or hunt huge tracts of private land. Again it's all relative to your goals and also your hunting situation.



-Sent from d_mobile
 
Cbigbear said:
I think in his situation scent control may help & it surly can't hurt. From what I've seen his property is heavily managed for deer & rather small in size. So small that it's probably less than a mile from the farthest points. Also his habitat manage practices are design for low - no pressure access so no way would he be crossing the property for stand access. Taking this into consideration his entry is likely a couple hundred yds & to a preset stand. Under these optimal conditions I could see how one could keep scent to a mini.

Now the reason I don't practice any scent control - my property is thousands of ac of public land, access is likely a mile plus, no preset stands, & low temps for my Southern hunting grounds is rarely below 40 degrees. So spending any amount of time & money on scent control would be waste after passing the 1/4 mile mark & that would only be in the cooler mths. In Oct it could be blown just getting out the truck & putting my boots on!!!!!
Click to expand...

I'm in the south too and getting to the same point myself. If you're doing anything but hunting the front porch of the camp you're gonna be sweatin good somewhere along the way :) . I'll keep using no scent soaps and that sort of thing because it's easy but have given up trying to be obsessive about it. Better scouting and hunting tactics seems to have helped a lot more over the long run than scent control.
 
Its a lot but there is always something to learn that you could add to your routine. Not many people have a building with equipment just to practice scent control. Some of us travel far to public land and sleep in tents and have long atv trails to get to areas just to walk a mile or so more. Carrying 4 totes to get dress once the walking begins isn't an option. Plus carrying your hunting gear and leaving room to haul out a deer. And try getting dress in the mud and having your ATV and gear covered in mud by the time you get to your destination. Or having heavy clothes for the cold atv ride then have to take off and re-dress in clean clothes. We all have different obstacles to overcome. No one man's routine will work for everyone and not a single routine will work for one person that hunts different terrain features. Adapt and over come the best we can. Thats what makes it fun and more rewarding in the end when we kill.
I remember one hunt my tent was so muddy by the end of the weekend I just wanted to burn it down where it stood rather than pack it up to clean once I got home. Mud sucks! lol
 
WOW. No way I am going through all that! Obviously he doesn't travel to hunt and stay in a place with no running water for several days on end. When I hunt at my lease in Ohio where I stay in a camper with no water for several days I simply smoke all my clothes and gear in wood smoke before each outing. I have killed numerous deer using this method and I have video of downwind deer doing the same exact thing he showed in his video of the deer busting him. I had three bucks this year, all downwind at 18 yards, smelling the air but then just continuing to feed. They never once seemed concerned over the scent. I've seen a doe at over 100 yards away get my scent stream and follow it to my tree with her nose in the air and then feed around me without spooking. Best of all it costs no money and I can do it quickly before the hunt. My dad and I both killed real nice bucks this year while smoking our clothes and lots of encounters at close range. If all that works for him that's great. Just insane the amount of time and money used to still get busted!
 
swampsnyper said:
Mud sucks! lol
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Can We Get A Amen!!! I would rather hunt thirty strait days of freezing temps rather than one day in the mud. Besides snow and ice makes for prettier blood.
 
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