John Eberhart's COMPLETE scent control routine and minivan hunting rig setup.

[John Eberhart]

Also thought I would post pics of using the cart, sled, ramp, Raddison canoe and a boat while hunting.

 

[Cajunshooter]

What's hard to understand, my head isn't touching anything on my entries and exits and if I'm going through areas where I think it might I put on my headcover.

There is no damage if my bare face, neck or hair hasn't touched anything. I've been doing it for 17 seasons and can guarantee it hasn't altered any activity.

What’s hard to understand is that skin cells and hair have to be stuffing off your entire route, plus you are exhaling your breath at every step along the way, at the base of your tree and all the way up your tree. Those factors absolutely leave a scent.

I’m not sure why you would put the head gear on once you get up the tree if you’re not touching the vegetation with your head then.

There are fat people all over the place saying they lost 100 pounds by taking Notsofat supplements. What they don’t say is, they also started exercising, stopped eating a pound of donuts per day and started eating whole meats, fruits and vegetables.

Simply saying you’ve done it for years doesn’t answer my questions about the physics behind your methods.

Look, because of you I wear an entire Scentlok suit. I’ve been wearing the entire thing into the woods and up the tree. So you alone sold me on the idea. I’ve always wondered whether it was really helping or not. Now I’m really confused. I have zero doubt about your abilities in deer hunting but there’s much more to that than just the scent control.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Dakotablues]

Much respect for you John! I've attended your workshop so this video was the second time seeing the approach. Several observations - the first being that you're meticulous about your approach and attention to detail - that breeds confidence and efficiency I'm sure; much of which leads to your success. I recall seeing you disappear behind a tree in that saddle - I was instantly sold on trying the approach.

I respectfully have to disagree on the ScentLok suits, even properly activated. Though not scientific, I ensure you I've been around guys that have passed some serious gas from camp living, while wearing their freshly dryer-activated SL suits, and you'd know it, believe me! How can that be?

My other observation was the boots. You take great care with all the garments, yet your multiple pair of boots are strewn in the van? It would seem those would be contaminated, and they leave a trail entirely to your stand.

The other piece I didn't understand was the leather arm-guard. A nice throw-back feel for sure and highly functional, yet seemingly strong in odor and being contaminated with odor, no?

Scent control is taken at varying levels by hunters to say the least. I know a few other gents here in Michigan that literally cover themselves in activated carbon. They look like coal miners! Definitely not for everyone.

Anyways - thank you again for introducing me to saddle hunting, and for being an inspiration in approach and preparedness - and frankly in being a big buck killer! I credit this buck from this year to you because without saddle hunting I'd have likely never been able to hunt the spot I needed to - an 8-10" tree that I'd have never even tried to set up in otherwise. Many thanks John and hope to catch up after season. Coffee on me in Central Michigan sir.

 

[d_rek]

I did Johns scent control routine with the exception of the mommy death wagon for the last 3 seasons. While I never got on any big mature bucks I can't ever remember getting winded. It seems like a lot of work, but once you have everything in place it's just another routine (or ritual, if you like) that you go through before your hunt. I didn't find it added any significant amount of time to preparing before or after a hunt, though there were times where I was cussing myself out for changing cloths at the back of the truck in single digit and rainy weather. The thing that was maybe the most time consuming was the dryer reactivation. I think I never went more than 3-4 hunts before I reactivated garments. Often I would sweat through them or they would get wet due to weather. Having to run a dryer-ful of clothing after a evening hunt and you're already exhausted can be a major deterrent.

This year I decided to pivot 180 and try just hunting the wind. So far I can't say it's been any worse than using a fairly extreme scent routine. I'll admit it has been refreshing to just grab gear and go. I've also been really paying attention to wind and seriously planning my entry and exit routes on land that I can do that. Have been seeing deer, but no shooters so far. Of course it helps if there is a known shooter in the area. If I feel like i'm worse off than I was previous seasons I might revert back to a scent control routine. But for now it's been a fun test and a learning experience.

Regardless of scent control routine I feel like hunting pressure is the greater equalizer of the three topics. More scent control doesn't mean you can hunt sloppier on small parcels and public land. And hunting the wind might be pointless when the areas your hunting might have already been boogered up by other hunters.

 

[GCTerpfan]

Though not scientific, I ensure you I've been around guys that have passed some serious gas from camp living, while wearing their freshly dryer-activated SL suits, and you'd know it, believe me! How can that be?

I have never understood this argument. I don't want to get into a debate about scent control in general as they tend to be never ending but, this has always seemed like such a bad argument against it to me. Do your friends always smell as strong as they do when they pass gas? If so, then you are probably correct in that scent lok won't help them. I would also question your choice of friends.

It seems a bit like saying if a bullet proof vest won't stop a 50 caliber how can it stop a .22.

 

[d_rek]

I have never understood this argument. I don't want to get into a debate about scent control in general as they tend to be never ending but, this has always seemed like such a bad argument against it to me. Do your friends always smell as strong as they do when they pass gas? If so, then you are probably correct in that scent lok won't help them. I would also question your choice of friends.

It seems a bit like saying if a bullet proof vest won't stop a 50 caliber how can it stop a .22.

https://www.myshreddies.com/

 

[Dakotablues]

I have never understood this argument. I don't want to get into a debate about scent control in general as they tend to be never ending but, this has always seemed like such a bad argument against it to me. Do your friends always smell as strong as they do when they pass gas? If so, then you are probably correct in that scent lok won't help them. I would also question your choice of friends.

It seems a bit like saying if a bullet proof vest won't stop a 50 caliber how can it stop a .22.

I'm just suggesting the suit is not a magic bullet. Our bodies all kick off scent constantly - the mouth being a major contributor as well. I've seen scent control efforts taken to obnoxious levels - all of which may help, but scent-free is a total myth, especially with obvious gaps in the overall program. YMMV

 

[GCTerpfan]

I'm just suggesting the suit is not a magic bullet. Our bodies all kick off scent constantly - the mouth being a major contributor as well. I've seen scent control efforts taken to obnoxious levels - all of which may help, but scent-free is a total myth, especially with obvious gaps in the overall program. YMMV

I think I agree with everything you just said above. I took your comment, and have seen others say that " I smelled a guy fart so it's all a bunch of bologna and the suits don't do anything" that's what I disagree with.

 

[Dakotablues]

I think I agree with everything you just said above. I took your comment, and have seen others say that " I smelled a guy fart so it's all a bunch of bologna and the suits don't do anything" that's what I disagree with.

Question: Do you feel that only scent perceivable to you or other humans (such as in the example we're discussing) is what somehow escapes through the suit, and if so, why? I'm much more concerned about what a deer can smell.

From the good ole net (and nothing new):

Deer have up to 297 million olfactory (scent) receptors in their nose. In comparison, dogs have 220 million and humans have just 5 million olfactory receptors. Not only do deer have a huge number of olfactory receptors in their nose, they also have a secondary scent gland called the vomeronasal organ that is located in their mouth.

Deer have 2 large scent processing areas in their brains. These processing areas are 9 times larger than a human's scent processing area. So a sniff test of yourself or your clothing is nothing compared to what a deer can do.

 

[Double D's]

https://www.myshreddies.com/

Lol.

 

[GCTerpfan]

Question: Do you feel that only scent perceivable to you or other humans (such as in the example we're discussing) is what somehow escapes through the suit, and if so, why? I'm much more concerned about what a deer can smell.

From the good ole net (and nothing new):

Deer have up to 297 million olfactory (scent) receptors in their nose. In comparison, dogs have 220 million and humans have just 5 million olfactory receptors. Not only do deer have a huge number of olfactory receptors in their nose, they also have a secondary scent gland called the vomeronasal organ that is located in their mouth.

Deer have 2 large scent processing areas in their brains. These processing areas are 9 times larger than a human's scent processing area. So a sniff test of yourself or your clothing is nothing compared to what a deer can do.

I think your question is irrelevant because like you I only care what a deer can smell.

Like I said above, I agree with your overall opinion after you explained it further. I just don't think the "I smelled a guy fart" actually proves the point most people are trying to make when they say it.

I didn't really want to get into the whole scent control debate because I don't have a strong opinion about it either way but, I'll add my (not strong) opinion which is the only truly scientific study I have seen concluded the suits can reduce human odor by 97%. So the question that matters is "does reducing your odor footprint by 97% make a deer less likely to become alarmed if it smells you, less likely to smell you on the edges of you scent cone, or more likely to think you are farther away and less of a threat" In my experience the answer to that question is "sometimes". And considering I bought all of my scent lok on closeout and spent less on it than the clothes sold at Walmart, it's worth it to try to slightly better my odds. I don't worry about scent control on all of my hunts but, I do try to wear it when hunting my own 90 acres that is almost completely in a bottom with constantly swirling wind currents. And my anecdotal evidence over the past couple years seems to confirm it "helps".

 

[Dakotablues]

I think your question is irrelevant because like you I only care what a deer can smell.

Like I said above, I agree with your overall opinion after you explained it further. I just don't think the "I smelled a guy fart" actually proves the point most people are trying to make when they say it.

I didn't really want to get into the whole scent control debate because I don't have a strong opinion about it either way but, I'll add my (not strong) opinion which is the only truly scientific study I have seen concluded the suits can reduce human odor by 97%. So the question that matters is "does reducing your odor footprint by 97% make a deer less likely to become alarmed if it smells you, less likely to smell you on the edges of you scent cone, or more likely to think you are farther away and less of a threat" In my experience the answer to that question is "sometimes". And considering I bought all of my scent lok on closeout and spent less on it than the clothes sold at Walmart, it's worth it to try to slightly better my odds. I don't worry about scent control on all of my hunts but, I do try to wear it when hunting my own 90 acres that is almost completely in a bottom with constantly swirling wind currents. And my anecdotal evidence over the past couple years seems to confirm it "helps".

Makes sense. I appreciate your response; and good luck to you this season! I will say, however, that the question is not irrelevant. The extreme example I mentioned illustrates a point, that is obvious to humans. The point is that smells CAN be detected through the suit, even if properly activated. What cannot be ascertained is a level of odor that we humans can't detect. Logic tells me (though science may prove otherwise, and if so I'd love to see it), that if we can detect odor through the suit, deer likely can detect other odor that we give off - through the suit.

 

[GCTerpfan]

Makes sense. I appreciate your response; and good luck to you this season!

Thanks. You too!

 

[John Eberhart]

What’s hard to understand is that skin cells and hair have to be stuffing off your entire route, plus you are exhaling your breath at every step along the way, at the base of your tree and all the way up your tree. Those factors absolutely leave a scent.

Cajun

I've never had an issue with not wearing a headcover with my entries and what minimal skin cells that fall have not been enough to alarm mature deer. If I were alarming deer I would absolutely wear a headcover during my entries and exits but until that becomes an issue, I don't.

Keep in mind that I totally hunted the wind for the first 35 season I hunted and if a deer got downwind, the hunt was over.

Anyway, not to start anything, I hope you've seen a change in your hunting since using ScentLok and I know in the south, it's much more difficult due to profuse sweating during entries and exits.

Good luck

 

[John Eberhart]

I respectfully have to disagree on the ScentLok suits, even properly activated. Though not scientific, I ensure you I've been around guys that have passed some serious gas from camp living, while wearing their freshly dryer-activated SL suits, and you'd know it, believe me! How can that be?

My other observation was the boots. You take great care with all the garments, yet your multiple pair of boots are strewn in the van? It would seem those would be contaminated, and they leave a trail entirely to your stand.

The other piece I didn't understand was the leather arm-guard. A nice throw-back feel for sure and highly functional, yet seemingly strong in odor and being contaminated with odor, no?

Unless wearing a ScentLok suit with a polyurethane membrane, they are all permeable meaning they allow air flow through them and the carbon in the pants in no manner can adsorb all the pressured air from passing gas, so of course you can smell it. When your body is expelling odor molecules they are not with the force of passing gas and the carbon has ample time to do its job.

My boots are all rubber which doesn't adsorb odors unless on the bottoms where there are soles with areas to hold odors if I were to step in something foreign. I never use my boots unless in a hunting situation so whatever odor is the bottom is from the field and also by the time I take a few steps in the grass, that's the newest odor on the soles. Of course if I stepped in oil or gas at a station, that would remain and overtake any grass odor from walking.

My leather arm guard is kept in my ScentLok pack which has made it odorless unless wet. The carbon in my pack is always adsorbing even when in an air tight container so I'm not concerned with the items in it having odor.

Nice buck by the way

 

[John Eberhart]

From the good ole net (and nothing new):

Deer have up to 297 million olfactory (scent) receptors in their nose. In comparison, dogs have 220 million and humans have just 5 million olfactory receptors. Not only do deer have a huge number of olfactory receptors in their nose, they also have a secondary scent gland called the vomeronasal organ that is located in their mouth.

Deer have 2 large scent processing areas in their brains. These processing areas are 9 times larger than a human's scent processing area. So a sniff test of yourself or your clothing is nothing compared to what a deer can do.

That's all very nice information which a lot of hunters on other forums love to embrace as though scent control is out of the question, however it's not, no matter how many.

 

[Dakotablues]

Unless wearing a ScentLok suit with a polyurethane membrane, they are all permeable meaning they allow air flow through them and the carbon in the pants in no manner can adsorb all the pressured air from passing gas, so of course you can smell it. When your body is expelling odor molecules they are not with the force of passing gas and the carbon has ample time to do its job.

My boots are all rubber which doesn't adsorb odors unless on the bottoms where there are soles with areas to hold odors if I were to step in something foreign. I never use my boots unless in a hunting situation so whatever odor is the bottom is from the field and also by the time I take a few steps in the grass, that's the newest odor on the soles. Of course if I stepped in oil or gas at a station, that would remain and overtake any grass odor from walking.

My leather arm guard is kept in my ScentLok pack which has made it odorless unless wet. The carbon in my pack is always adsorbing even when in an air tight container so I'm not concerned with the items in it having odor.

Nice buck by the way

Thanks much, John. Those points of clarification clear up some questions I was having. Offer still stands of course; I'll look you up for breakfast after season up your way; my treat as a thank you on my buck and for helping me with saddle hunting.

 

[GCTerpfan]

https://www.myshreddies.com/

I didn't notice the link you provided the first time I saw this post. That's some funny stuff, especially the ad with the dude smelling the women's rear. I mean she IS cute but............

 

[Allegheny Tom]

Ive said for years...my dream vehicle is a 4x4 cargo van. Quigley can convert a 2wd van for about $12k I think. Mini vans are nice but Quigley vans are too sweet.

 

[Wick]

Thanks @John Eberhart for taking the time to make the video and post responses in this thread. What do you think you would do differently to combat the heat if you were hunting in the south during our early bow season?