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My experience with Scent Control

I am on a similar path. Every year I get more and more anal about scent control. As you stated, it's starting to take the fun away. I've gone so far as to leave the woods early because I felt like I "stunk too much" or a doe busted me earlier on in the hunt.

Lately I've really been reading up on smoking my clothes. No more washing after every hunt... maybe not all season. Just give it a good smoking couple times throughout the season. Looks cheap, simple, and effective.
 
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This is at least my 3rd year smoking my clothes. I make a conscious effort to play the wind the best I can. I strictly tried scentlok for a full year but still got busted. Smoking has worked well for me in those swirling conditions and when they don't come from where they are suppose to. I went hang out at a friends camp this weekend. Everyone was getting away from the campfire smoke. I hung my clothes on a stick and put them over the fire. You should have seen the looks I got. I through my jacket to my buddy. Told him I had been wearing it everyday. Asked him what it smelled like. He said smoke. I rest my case. I shot a hog and a deer with a long bow. Much better than what they did with crossbows and blackpowder. I'm a believer.
 
@Murph4028 . I have almost the exact same experience as your original post except I have never gone full bore into the realm of scent control like John does. I also agree that taking the fun out of hunting kills my reason for going.

Great comments from everybody so far.

Additionally if you haven't watched the Public land challenge for this year or listened to the podcast in reference to it both John and Dan conceded that their techniques for hunting and killing big deer are alike with the only real exception being the scent control. I have all the respect in the world for both hunters and would be lucky if I ever get one book worthy deer much less have a 1/4 of the success of these two fellas. For me the learnings in thermals and hunting the right wind have had the biggest pay offs and since figuring this out I have not spent a dime on scent control items what so ever. I plan my hunt including entry and exits based on the wind period.
 
GCTerpfan said:
This is an interesting statement because I hardly ever see anyone say that, at least on this site. This conversation usually starts with a couple people saying "Scent Lok doesn't work, you have to play the wind" Then several people chime in and say, "I use Scent Lok AND play the wind" then go on to describe how they think scent lok clothing is just one tool of many that helps REDUCE their scent, thereby increasing their odds just a little. Those posts are completely ignored and people go back to saying "scent Lok doesn't work you have to play the wind". It's kind of comical at times.
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I will admit that my experience is the same as far as guys on SH not being the ones I hear the I dont need to play the wind card from. It's mostly local guys that also say I'm ridiculous or try hard because I hang from a tree in a "hammock"........
 
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My experience with scent reduction:
4E2927EB-1DAC-4C2B-AAA3-4B27D81A0853.jpegA95CBCFE-1330-40D2-A5F7-B81FCBB4D384.jpeg

The top 4 deer all caught me off guard and were shot on my week side after spending a significant amount of time downwind. I practice a dedicated scent reduction process and rarely if ever get blown at by deer.

This season I have hunted almost entirely on public land in MI,WI and ND. I’ve hunted 38 days (12 all day sits) and have yet to visually spook or have a deer blow at me while in the tree

Scent reduction is a tool in your toolbox. You don’t need it to kill deer but it is very effective in a variety of situations. If you are interested in more information about why scent reduction is an effective tool there is a bunch of information in the scent control tread: “a different perspective on scent control”
 
Very glad for anyone who uses scent control to their advantage. If it's fun or just isn't an issue with you hunting with it great! For me and my limited time to hunt it's so much more fun not to worry about about my stink...LOL. Well not really.....milkweed, Huntstand, thermals and hunting areas where bucks are seeking. Travel corridors and edge........I will say that since learning alot recently I see more targeted animals and have not been winded to my knowledge. Mapping Trophy whitetails book took me to another level in my choosing stand sites and yes I probably wouldn't say that I won't be get busted but it is such fun to hunt this way and wouldn't go back to how I got anal about scent. Let's not forget that bucks use the wind and thermals and cruise down wind of bedding and I love trying to figure out where to go and matching wits with them. Use what you want to .......for me easier is better....less stress. I've got enough stuff to stress out about already...LOL
 
There is no other terms that are more arbitrary than "works" or "doesn't work". Its all a matter of to what DEGREE a tactic is (or isnt) effective.
The fact is, we interact with more deer that we don't even know they are present than the ones we actually see.
Add to that, deer are individuals that make decisions. What one deer tolerates, the next deer may not.
Yet another ingredient is atmospheric conditions. The slightest change in humidity, wind speed, temps, etc can mean the difference in a bust or not a bust.
I'm an all of the above guy. I try to play wind as best as I can, Im careful about access routes, and I minimize odors as much as I can.
Some days, I get away with murder and some days a bust is almost unexplainable as to how it happened.
For me, odor reduction is just part of the process of preperation. I dont question it or complain about it. I just do it. Not big effort IMO. Its just part of the hunt.
 
Allegheny Tom said:
There is no other terms that are more arbitrary than "works" or "doesn't work". Its all a matter of to what DEGREE a tactic is (or isnt) effective.
The fact is, we interact with more deer that we don't even know they are present than the ones we actually see.
Add to that, deer are individuals that make decisions. What one deer tolerates, the next deer may not.
Yet another ingredient is atmospheric conditions. The slightest change in humidity, wind speed, temps, etc can mean the difference in a bust or not a bust.
I'm an all of the above guy. I try to play wind as best as I can, Im careful about access routes, and I minimize odors as much as I can.
Some days, I get away with murder and some days a bust is almost unexplainable as to how it happened.
For me, odor reduction is just part of the process of preperation. I dont question it or complain about it. I just do it. Not big effort IMO. Its just part of the hunt.
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Totally get your point, and agree with you. I am not saying someone like you and you style is wrong. I am saying that the minority of the folks who only rely on scent ontrol and have a half hearted approach to it, aren't really in the game. Period that's it, personally I dont use it, but that's my style.
There is more than one way to skin a cat...... or a deer.
 
DaveT1963 said:
IMO we ALL use some form of scent control. Using the wind is a form of scent control. Do NOT underestimate the power of confidence - sometimes things happen/work because we believe they will - and vice versa.
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Yes, if you just believe... it will happen! exactly why before every hunt I draw a circle in the stones at the state game land parking lot, and sit Indian style in it. Recite some mantras, cast a few spells, make sure my chakras are aligned, stick a needle arrow in my voodeer doll and off I go!
 
Art_Vandelay said:
Yes, if you just believe... it will happen! exactly why before every hunt I draw a circle in the stones at the state game land parking lot, and sit Indian style in it. Recite some mantras, cast a few spells, make sure my chakras are aligned, stick a needle arrow in my voodeer doll and off I go!
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If you sit there, he will come!
 
Rangermatthews said:
My experience with scent reduction:

This season I have hunted almost entirely on public land in MI,WI...”
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And that is the answer to your success with it. I have hunted those states and I found that I could get by with just about anything up there as compared to with southern deer. I am not knocking your success, but this is not a one size fits all deal and I will allow John E to hunt my land here and prove he can do any better than we do. Temperature and the general demeanor of deer are major regional factors, but the biggest is how many mature bucks you have up there as compared to here. Simple statistics 101.
 
Bwhana said:
And that is the answer to your success with it. I have hunted those states and I found that I could get by with just about anything up there as compared to with southern deer. I am not knocking your success, but this is not a one size fits all deal and I will allow John E to hunt my land here and prove he can do any better than we do. Temperature and the general demeanor of deer are major regional factors, but the biggest is how many mature bucks you have up there as compared to here. Simple statistics 101.
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I totally agree with you. I just don’t think you can discount scent reduction as an effective tool in a variety of hunting situations. It’s not necessary to do it but at the same time you can’t say that it doesn’t work.

That being said I don’t have very much Scentlok clothing and the most important factor other than wind direction is tree stand height. After that if you can significantly reduce the odor coming off your body you can throw a monkey wrench into the deer’s ability to judge the distance to the source of the odor.
 
Art_Vandelay said:
Yes, if you just believe... it will happen! exactly why before every hunt I draw a circle in the stones at the state game land parking lot, and sit Indian style in it. Recite some mantras, cast a few spells, make sure my chakras are aligned, stick a needle arrow in my voodeer doll and off I go!
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Can we see a video of this procedure? I'm always will to try most anything.
 
The THP guys seem to get it done, and check out Zach. My man has those long, wavy locks that he doesn't even tuck up under his trucker cap. Don't tell me that he's not rocking the Garnier Fructis -- shampoo AND conditioner -- to maintain that suave coif. He must go afield every time reeking of passionfruit and essential oils, yet he's successful. Hey, maybe deer like passionfruit and jasmine essence? I dunno, I've never asked one.

But I suspect that the key to success for those guys is more about using the wind to advantage and deep study and knowledge of deer, how they move, how they act, etc.

On the other end of the spectrum you've got a guy like John Eberhart, who seems like he's one step shy of wearing an astronaut's EVA suit when he hunts. He's of course ridiculously successful. I suspect that if he were to forego his near-mystical pre-hunt scent ritual in the back of his aptly-named Mommy Wagon of Death, he's still be successful because, again, he just understands whitetail deer on a deep level.

I'll freely admit that I'm not as good of a hunter as any of those guys. For me, I'll try to minimize scent and play the wind and continue to study deer behavior. There are all tools in the toolbox, as someone above said. Each year I feel like I learn a ton, successful or not, and that makes me a better hunter and makes being in the woods more fun.
 
A lot has to do where you hunt. In the suburbs deer are use to smelling people but in the big woods where they don't encounter people that often they are more alert to human scent .
 
One thing that is seldom mentioned when "hunt the wind" crowd advocates their tactics is that you have to be able to hunt the wind.
On some properties, it's just not practical to solely depend on stable wind patterns.
This year, one property I hunt had an unusual East wind pattern for most of the 1st week of November. The lay of the land on that place makes for very few suitable stand locations when there is an East wind. There are trees for E wind, but the fact there aren't many of them means that the same stands end up being over hunted.
Barry Wensel is famous for saying that he prefers to hunt wind that is almost right for the deer and almost wrong for him. His success speaks for itself.
But when you hunt those "almost wrong" winds, you know that during the day it will drift and be more wrong than "almost". Those are the times when odor reduction is most beneficial.
I love hunting the wind and there is noting better when you find a stable pattern, with an updraft, that's located in a great spot. I have very few of those places where I hunt. I want every odd tilted in my favor.
 
Is it true that the further west you go the more consistent the wind is?

Hunting AL only the wind never seems consistent. I’ll pour over the forecast, check wind when walking in, get set up and more times than not it will shift a couple of times. Not all day, but enough to puzzle and frustrate. One of the reasons I get as high as possible in a tree.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
iamcorey said:
Is it true that the further west you go the more consistent the wind is?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Terrain and structure and wind speed are the biggest factors on the stability of surface winds.
The flat, East Shore of MD will have more stable wind than the mountainous region of Western MD. And leeward slopes have less stable surface wind than windward slopes.
Prevailing winds are formed by major weather patterns and are more consistent except when effected by a front.
Prevailing wind effects surface wind but they are not necessarily consistent with each other, especially in complex terrain.
 
Allegheny Tom said:
One thing that is seldom mentioned when "hunt the wind" crowd advocates their tactics is that you have to be able to hunt the wind.
On some properties, it's just not practical to solely depend on stable wind patterns.
This year, one property I hunt had an unusual East wind pattern for most of the 1st week of November. The lay of the land on that place makes for very few suitable stand locations when there is an East wind. There are trees for E wind, but the fact there aren't many of them means that the same stands end up being over hunted.
Barry Wensel is famous for saying that he prefers to hunt wind that is almost right for the deer and almost wrong for him. His success speaks for itself.
But when you hunt those "almost wrong" winds, you know that during the day it will drift and be more wrong than "almost". Those are the times when odor reduction is most beneficial.
I love hunting the wind and there is noting better when you find a stable pattern, with an updraft, that's located in a great spot. I have very few of those places where I hunt. I want every odd tilted in my favor.
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This is true, but the right wind doesn't mean your perfectly down wind. What hunting the wind means to me is the wind that provides you the best opportunity for the area you want to get into. There are so many factors that go into hunting mature deer that you can screw it up by missing any one of them.

I would like to point something out. All of my posts are my opinions, it almost feels as though some maybe trying to "justify" why they do what they do. Not one of should ever feel the need to defend why they hunt the they way they do. Styles are infinitely personal, what works for one may not benefit another. I am very proud to say that I do things different, and I am also pretty proud of the community we have here. We do things different, if it works for you do it. If someone else says that they think your are wrong for that, well you can give that the attention it deserves! I for one am thankful for the wealth of knowledge and the endless different approaches to hunting SH provides!
 
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