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New Boot Scent

bj139

bj139

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 13, 2019
Messages
5,377
Location
SE PA
I recently purchased a new pair of Muck boots and have been leaving them outside in the sun under a covered porch to get rid of the plastic scent. Is this a good idea? John Eberhart recommends burying them in dirt but if it rains but they would get full of water. He also says he does not wear new boots for a year to let the scent dissipate. What does everyone do with new boots?
 
I got some TideWe boots this spring, they’re awesome by the way and cheaper than muck, but I just wore them around a lot. Tried to break the scent out by getting muddy and so on. Did almost all my scouting with them on. Mainly bc if swampy bottoms and water moccasins honestly but the new smell is almost gone. I think the weather would do it as you said your trying too.


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SnakeEater said:
I got some TideWe boots this spring, they’re awesome by the way and cheaper than muck, but I just wore them around a lot. Tried to break the scent out by getting muddy and so on. Did almost all my scouting with them on. Mainly bc if swampy bottoms and water moccasins honestly but the new smell is almost gone. I think the weather would do it as you said your trying too.


Sent from parts unknown
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I should take them out scouting as you suggest. The tag says they're good to sub zero so my feet with be baking in this 90 degree plus heat. The smell is already down from when I first took them out of the box. I can still smell the plastic smell so deer will smell it even better.
 
bj139 said:
I should take them out scouting as you suggest. The tag says they're good to sub zero so my feet with be baking in this 90 degree plus heat. The smell is already down from when I first took them out of the box. I can still smell the plastic smell so deer will smell it even better.
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Yeah your feet will be microwaved haha mine don’t even have insulation and they get sweltering in mine. Yeah I’m sure mine still smell a little as well. Maybe get some scent killer spray and occasionally spray them? Until my scent control regiment is on par with Eberhart’s I’m going to focus on the wind and thermals.


Sent from parts unknown
 
I got a new pair of lacrosse rubber boots about 4 years ago on sale and they had a very heavy rubber odor and my plan was once my old ones wore out or I ripped them I could use the new ones and surely that smell would fade by then.
Well 4 years later it’s still there but maybe not as strong. Being forced to use them now because my old pair ripped my plan is to get them muddy and not clean them I’m hoping the mud helps kill that rubber smell.


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I hit my boots with a good dose of scent killer every time I go out and then swipe a Conquest EverCalm stick along the outside of the sole from the little toe area to the back of the heel. Since I started doing this I've watched hundreds of deer cross my trail I came in on and not one has paused at my track.
 
I think I've finally found a solution to this and believe me when I say, I've been fighting and cussing over this for years. Lacrosse must've changed something in their manufacturing process or something because I don't recall the older boots carrying that rubber smell through a season. Anyway at the end of deer season last year, I took my boots(2 pair), a rubbermaid tub, and a shovel to a mudhole at my hunting club and started digging. I filled the boots about halfway with mud, tossed em in, shoveled the tub about half full of mid (enough to cover the boots), and the rest with muddy water. I put the lid on it in early Feb and it sat on the side of the house until last wkend when I took my uninsulated ones out for bow season. Much to my suprise, no rubber smell. I rinsed em out good and put on the dryers. I'm going to give em a good charcoaling soon. Whether or not the smell stays gone, I havent a clue but initial thought was success.
 
I left mine on my front porch for a few months and the smell is down. They are in my truck now where they should get some baking in the sun. They are neoprene so they had the neoprene smell. They are warmer boots so will be my colder weather boots.
 
Its "Off gassing". The rubber continues to produce the odor for an undetermined time. Some boots are horrible.
I've gotten crazy looks in boot stores when I'm seen going from boot to boot and sniffing the bottoms. The easiest way to solve the problem is to give them them smell test before you buy them. Go to the store, don't mail order them.
 
Allegheny Tom said:
Its "Off gassing". The rubber continues to produce the odor for an undetermined time. Some boots are horrible.
I've gotten crazy looks in boot stores when I'm seen going from boot to boot and sniffing the bottoms. The easiest way to solve the problem is to give them them smell test before you buy them. Go to the store, don't mail order them.
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That's hilarious! I got the same looks just a few days ago when I was sniffing plastic totes!

I've been fighting this for YEARS! Ground scent from my boots has been the weak link in my regimen ever since these companies started putting clay in their boots. My advice is this: get radical or go to the extreme. Do whatever you have to do to decrease ground scent because our boots are the one thing we cant prevent from touching something. With that in mind, heres what ive done this season. It started back in February when I backed my truck up to a mudhole at the huntin club. I tossed 4 boots into a tupperware bin then shoveled mud and muddy water until it was full(makimg sure the insides of the boots were full). I set the bin on my carport where it remained until a few weeks ago when I pulled my uninsulated boots out. At first, I couldnt smell the rubber but after cleaning em up, it came back although very subtle it was. After drying, I sprayed the boots down and rubbed em good with activated coconut carbon powder and put them in an airtight container. I repeat the carbon application after each hunt and I also put them on the dryers at night. At this point, I think this will be my method moving forward unless something happens. I haven't observed enough deer crossing my scent trail to make a determination.

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Allegheny Tom said:
Its "Off gassing". The rubber continues to produce the odor for an undetermined time. Some boots are horrible.
I've gotten crazy looks in boot stores when I'm seen going from boot to boot and sniffing the bottoms. The easiest way to solve the problem is to give them them smell test before you buy them. Go to the store, don't mail order them.
Click to expand...
Shhhhh honey don’t look DONT LOOK AT HIM FOR GAWDS SAKE HE MIGHT COME TALK TO US. Just back away casually CASUALLY DAMNIT OH GAWD HERE HE COMES RUUUUUUUN
 
Right now is the perfect time to round up a bucket of black walnuts and boil them (outside your house) in some water. Let the water cool off and put your boots in the water. I do the same with my traps to get all the scent off of them.
 
Never did this, but it seems immersing the boots in a carbon bath would do wonders, using fire ash with wet sand or mud. Or putting them in in a tote with activated carbon pellets or the like. Full contact, inside and out...
Think I just talked myself into this. Typically I buy boots a year in advance of needing them and let time take care of it by leaving them outside, but protected to get that out gassing process done
 
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I hunt mostly in farm country. I try to walk in every cow pie or horse ball I can find. I also like to walk in deer pellets when I'm heading into stand. I will also go through creeks and rub my boots in the creek water before and after a hunt. Besides wearing my crocs in my truck, my boots are in the back or better yet in a tote but that's about it. The most important thing is trying to access your stand area where the deer will not cross it. Finally, I spray down with dead down wind, or scent killer or whatever I have the bottoms of the boots and my legs down before walking in to keep ground scent to a minimum. I really do not do much else. I used to be super neurotic about all this and it just gets old and takes the fun out of hunting.
 
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