Does having 30 ft of rope dangling down a tree create enough scent to even care about? I mean I can smell rope, so I know deer can, but do they care? Just an early morning question I had.
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Rope scent
- Thread starter Torque_tune
- Start date
When I do hunt DRT I use 75 feet of Samson Predator and it smells very strongly of "tree" to me. I'm sure my human scent is all over it. I don't leave any rope dangling down during the hunt. I have been stuffing the majority of it in a scent loc backpack during the hunt but usually about 8 to 10 feet are out. I'll be interested to see what others have to say on this.
There is no reason to have the rope dangling down the trunk.....I have my 40 tether stored in EWO fleece pouch and I just take out what is needed....5-6 foot (never measured..just a guess) is all I need to hang and hunt and the rest of the rope staying the the pouch....the rope will play out of the pouch as u descend with ur rappel
After 3 seasons now the fleece finally got a small hole...I got some cowboy suede pouches on the way to replace and I get to see which material will last longer
After 3 seasons now the fleece finally got a small hole...I got some cowboy suede pouches on the way to replace and I get to see which material will last longer
I talked to my deer friend. He said he doesn’t really pay attention to rope smell this time of year. More focused on recovering from rut and winter.
If anything I'd be more concerned about the wind blowing the rope. Prior to season you could soak your rope in a scent free detergent. Hang dry it outside and never put it away wet.
Just pull it up with you and hang it in your pack while hunting. Pull it out you descend. No scent trial to worry about that way
I stuff it all, it’s a 20,30,40’ scent wick essentially. But it’s just one step, no matter what you do you’re only mitigating you will never fold a deers nose, it’s just some are bothered by it and know what it means and some seem to not care. I’ve always been told not to smoke in the stand yet I’ve drawn a bow multiple times with a cig in my mouth.
rope makers say rope-specific soap or a mild soap....be careful about soaking in concentrated solutions of proprietary hunter soaps that have enzymes, etc
Made this mistake last year. I forget to pull up my bow pull rope and left it dangling about 3 ft off the ground. Sure enough when the sun came up here come the does...straight to the base of my tree sniffing out the rope. Lasted about two seconds of sniffing then busted and didn't see anything else all day.
P.s...we cant shoot does on the majority of our wma's in Florida....dummest rule ever. I swear the doe know that that and walk around like they own the place!
P.s...we cant shoot does on the majority of our wma's in Florida....dummest rule ever. I swear the doe know that that and walk around like they own the place!
That is a dumb rule and goes against balancing out the deer herd...unless Florida is blessed with an overabundance of bucks and they are trying to get the doe numbers up. A big mature doe is probably the smartest deer in the woods.
I watched an old doe locate, smell, and alarm from one single thumb print from a freshly washed hand.
I'd been walking down a log while sneaking in to my stand and as I started to lose my balance, I reached out and steadied myself with my thumb against a sapling.
Fingerprints equal odor. If you touch or handle anything with bare hands you will leave odor so why let your rope dangle?
9 out of 10 deer may not panic but the 1 deer could wreck a deer of a lifetime. Why chance it? Address as many details as you reasonably can. It all adds up.
I'd been walking down a log while sneaking in to my stand and as I started to lose my balance, I reached out and steadied myself with my thumb against a sapling.
Fingerprints equal odor. If you touch or handle anything with bare hands you will leave odor so why let your rope dangle?
9 out of 10 deer may not panic but the 1 deer could wreck a deer of a lifetime. Why chance it? Address as many details as you reasonably can. It all adds up.
I don’t think your supposed to hang rope to dry. I believe it stretches it. Lay it out and flip over now and then till dry.
No balance here! I've hunted Florida the last five years, of coarse all public. In total I think I have seen 3 nice mature bucks. They are there but mostly nocturnal year round. I will say i see does, and spikes pretty much every time I hunt. I wish I knew why they let the does run rampad. Maybe at least allow us 1, then just maybe my wife can stop making fun of me just watching all these deer walk around and not be able to shoot. Yep 5 years hunting here and still no deer in my freezer..
That why archery season is my favorite....hate the heat,bugs,rain but if it's brown it's down....we are fortunate here in NE FL and have a couple wma that allow does up till end of Jan....7 years for me and not a single buck....next year is the 1
What about spikes? Can you shoot a spike? Five years with no deer and some spikes would be dying.
Each wma (wildlife management area) has its own individual rules....here is a random exampl below..... A spike with antlers less than 5" can be killed and considered a doe or the antler has to be over 10"....most of them have 3point on 1 side or 10" main beam antler requirements....in a nutshell...if u want a doe/spike on public u gotta hunt archery season
I hunt about 6 different WMA’s in Florida and you can hunt doe during archery season in every one of them (2 total doe per year) and some still allow you to hunt doe during muzzleloader
Hanging rope to dry is the preferred method. 20 years in FD Special Ops and all of our life safety rope gets hung up after washing. Two biggest killers of rope are UV light and moisture so hang it somewhere out of direct sunlight where the breeze can dry it out.