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Save your money on “Scent Control”

Just reading about what some guys do for scent control is raising my anxiety and giving me flashbacks to when I tried to care about that stuff.

Triggered?


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It's because the humidity allows the scent molecules to more easily diffuse into your sinus membranes and to your olfactory receptors. It's actually been discussed by scientists.
Sounds good to me lol
 
Just reading about what some guys do for scent control is raising my anxiety and giving me flashbacks to when I tried to care about that stuff.
Nothing to get worked up about. I have developed a routine that has become second nature to me just like how you climb the tree or shoot your bow etc. I've got it down to about 25 to 30 minutes of extra time from start to finish and that includes a shower before every hunt.
 
It's because the humidity allows the scent molecules to more easily diffuse into your sinus membranes and to your olfactory receptors. It's actually been discussed by scientists.
If people understand this point, they should also understand why it’s impossible to have scent elimination or even much scent control while hunting in Florida :sweatsmile:
 
Just reading about what some guys do for scent control is raising my anxiety and giving me flashbacks to when I tried to care about that stuff.

Yep, I used to get the same way about it to the point where it became more of a chore and source of worry every time I’d get ready to go out. The more reading and research I did, along with weaning myself off of all of the YouTube videos and Outdoor channel shows that push all of these scent elimination products, the less I worried about a magic product to eliminate my scent, and instead hunted smarter and planned better by focusing on wind direction, thermals, entering, exiting, etc.. More fun, better success. Not to say that scent elimination products don’t have their place (spray, carbon clothing, ozone, etc.), because they do. But my experience has taught me that hunting smart is more important than dousing myself with spray or encasing myself in an O3 bubble with a machine that costs the manufacturer $25 to make, and hunters $300+ to buy.


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If people understand this point, they should also understand why it’s impossible to have scent elimination or even much scent control while hunting in Florida :sweatsmile:
90°, 100% humidity, and stagnant swamp air means your best bet in archery season is gym shorts and shooting deer 30 yards out with a crossbow before they hit the 20 yard radius fart cloud that you're emitting.

Or hunt them in such thick security cover that they smell you but go, "Well crap...where do you run to when you're already ran to your safe place? Maybe he doesn't see me..."

I'm only halfway joking when I say I hunt dumb deer until the leaves fall and the temperature drops.
 
Here’s another story and hopefully it will help hunters that are afraid of hunting one spot more than once because some say “first sit best sit” when it comes to leaving scent behind. Oct. 24th 2018 I was hunting a farm open to the public. This buck had been seen by a lot of hunters and was getting pressured almost everyday. People were spotting him at night and setting up on him the next morning. I never saw him on the hoof until the day I shot him. I went to a bedding area spot I prepped the previous spring. I knew no one had been back there so I decided to hunt it after a cold front came in. I used the same entrance and exit for three days in a row and on the third day I had a very wide six point come down wind of me 30 minutes after I was set up. He came in very cautiously and stood 30 yards away staring in my direction. He stood there motionless for 30 minutes checking the wind and moving his ears around like small radars. I wondered why he was doing this until I figured he was bedded near by and heard me come in. After he felt comfortable not seeing or smelling anything he slowly moved on crossing over my entry and exit that I had used the two previous days. At 530 I heard a deer get up out of his bed 40 yards behind me. I know some of you right now are probably thinking how can you hear a deer get out of his bed. First off the area I was hunting was very thick with ground cover that when he stood up his antlers go caught in the brush above him. At first I though he was rubbing a tree but then could see he was trying to stand up. This buck had a hard time walking due to his left front leg being broke from a previous injury. The joint was the size of a soft ball and he could not bend his leg to walk. He slowly came in directly behind me right to the base of my tree. I was not a saddle hunter at this time so I was trying to prepare myself for a shot but not sure what side on the tree he was going to walk by. He eventually went past my weak side so I had to do a 180 and move facing the tree. While doing this my tree harness rubbed against my jacket which he heard and froze standing on my entry path. Because he didn’t look up I was able to draw my bow and make the shot. He fell in sight and I had such a sense of accomplishment because I was able to get the buck everyone was after. This is my second P&Y buck in PA on public land. If my scent control was not good enough the first buck would have smelled me and ruined the hunt. Also I would not have been able to hunt this spot three days in a row waiting for him to come by.
 

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90°, 100% humidity, and stagnant swamp air means your best bet in archery season is gym shorts and shooting deer 30 yards out with a crossbow before they hit the 20 yard radius fart cloud that you're emitting.

Or hunt them in such thick security cover that they smell you but go, "Well crap...where do you run to when you're already ran to your safe place? Maybe he doesn't see me..."

I'm only halfway joking when I say I hunt dumb deer until the leaves fall and the temperature drops.
At least you have leaves that fall and temperature drops lol it’s was 84 degrees on New Year’s Day here needless to say every leaf that fell was replaced with a green leaf that same day :sweatsmile:
I often hope my fart cloud confuses them into thinking it’s just a dead opossum around
 
Here’s another story and hopefully it will help hunters that are afraid of hunting one spot more than once because some say “first sit best sit” when it comes to leaving scent behind. Oct. 24th 2018 I was hunting a farm open to the public. This buck had been seen by a lot of hunters and was getting pressured almost everyday. People were spotting him at night and setting up on him the next morning. I never saw him on the hoof until the day I shot him. I went to a bedding area spot I prepped the previous spring. I knew no one had been back there so I decided to hunt it after a cold front came in. I used the same entrance and exit for three days in a row and on the third day I had a very wide six point come down wind of me 30 minutes after I was set up. He came in very cautiously and stood 30 yards away staring in my direction. He stood there motionless for 30 minutes checking the wind and moving his ears around like small radars. I wondered why he was doing this until I figured he was bedded near by and heard me come in. After he felt comfortable not seeing or smelling anything he slowly moved on crossing over my entry and exit that I had used the two previous days. At 530 I heard a deer get up out of his bed 40 yards behind me. I know some of you right now are probably thinking how can you hear a deer get out of his bed. First off the area I was hunting was very thick with ground cover that when he stood up his antlers go caught in the brush above him. At first I though he was rubbing a tree but then could see he was trying to stand up. This buck had a hard time walking due to his left front leg being broke from a previous injury. The joint was the size of a soft ball and he could not bend his leg to walk. He slowly came in directly behind me right to the base of my tree. I was not a saddle hunter at this time so I was trying to prepare myself for a shot but not sure what side on the tree he was going to walk by. He eventually went past my weak side so I had to do a 180 and move facing the tree. While doing this my tree harness rubbed against my jacket which he heard and froze standing on my entry path. Because he didn’t look up I was able to draw my bow and make the shot. He fell in sight and I had such a sense of accomplishment because I was able to get the buck everyone was after. This is my second P&Y buck in PA on public land. If my scent control was not good enough the first buck would have smelled me and ruined the hunt. Also I would not have been able to hunt this spot three days in a row waiting for him to come by.

Nice story and congrats.

By my nature, I'm a very skeptical person and extremely cognizant of the causation / correlation fallacy and look for it in just about every situation, not only hunting. With scent control, I would argue it's nearly impossible to establish causation when it comes to deer encounters.
 
Here’s another story how scentlok and scent control helped me harvest another mature PA buck. It was late Oct. 2012 and a cold front was blowing in. There was 15 mph gusts and I decided to hunt at the bottom of a valley (where people say to stay away from because of switching wind currents) where I found a primary scrape area the spring before. When I arrived I could see the scrapes were not opened up so I kicked them clean with my rubber boots and got in my stand. I was situated at the bottom of a crab apple hillside which I figured was a bedding area. There was a creek at the bottom and on the other side it went up into a oak flat. Around 5:00 a doe and her two fawns came out of the bedding area and started eating acorns. My wind Swirled in their direction many times. never did they spook or alert to my presence. Right before dark I looked back into the crabapple thicket and saw this buck heading right towards the scrapes I just kicked out with my rubber boots. He walked right to the scrape and I shot him at 12 yards. Double long and he fell down in sight. If I didn’t have a good scent control that buck would’ve smelled me at the scrapes or the doe and her two fawns would’ve smelled me in the swirling winds at the bottom of the valley.
 

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Talking to our K-9 LEO at office, approx 3 hours after a person has laid tracks is what he was taught is best time for his Malimois to track scent. Not sure how that correlates to a deers nose but ya, stop wasting money on water in a spray bottle haha.


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I've worked alongside k9s for years at work, I fully believe scent control will not win based on all my observations. I've seen the tactics used in the dope world to mask/cover up the goods and it doesn't matter, they find it. However, I do believe I can make them think I'm further away by being strict with my pre hunt protocal. I have to travel 2000 miles for my one week a year hunt so I do the basics but refuse to spend $ on in the tree noise machines. Last night was opening night for coues deer archery, there is no way anyone out there could beat a deers nose in the nasty heat and humidity here in Az, gotta play the wind out here, I did have my scentlok suit on tho, it helped guard the millions of mosquitoes trying to get to me.
 
So my dog has developed a skin problem and we had to put her on both an antibiotic and an antifungal last week. She's just a plain ole' mutt rescue dog we got from a shelter a couple of years ago. I've had the most horrible time trying to give her the antibiotic pill. I'll take a couple of pieces of pepperoni and wrap it in that and she'll just sniff it and walk away. I take the pill out of the same pepperoni and she eats the pepperoni as long as the pill hasn't started to break down onto the pepperoni. We've tried hot dogs, cheese, cheeto's (that's what the vet said to use) and that darn ole' mutt can smell that pill in that junk. The only way I can give it to her is by either mashing it all up and sprinkling it in her food to completely get it diluted down or just get mean and throw it in her mouth and clamp her jaws shut until she swallows.

Also with trapping coyotes. My first night success usually is dismal especially on the older ones as they just know that there is something contrived going on because they smell it. Once the sets soak for a few days or if I catch a skunk or a possum or something then that set becomes super productive because the set location is drowned with the scents of the other animals. I just make sure to clean the blood and what not off the existing trap as best as possible and remake the set that had the other critters in it. That becomes a much better set than the "Clean" sets I try to make. And I truly know its because on my "fresh" clean new sets with boiled and waxed traps and everything, rubber boots, walking through water and spraying down, those darned coyotes still know I was there. They can smell me. I actually hope for another critter at first as it makes the set that much more attractive afterwards and the human smell is so overwhelmed from the smells of the other critters they let their gaurd down a bit more and work the set.

So I'm not trying to be a naysayer of scent control or anything I'm just trying to concentrate my time and activity on things that will be most productive for me because I agree, if you start getting anxious about all of this stuff it makes hunting a chore instead of fun. Its supposed to be fun guys and gals. I don't own a stitch of scent lock clothing or any kind of dedicated, purposeful scent control or masking machine like an O3 generator but If it gives you confidence in the hunt, I say go for it. I just personally have found that I'd use the time on other things like getting in earlier or via a better access route etc. But again, I temper this by saying I still try to keep my hunting clothes as clean as possible and I certainly try to shower before a hunt but I will never sacrifice the time to hunt for a scent control regiment. In other words, if I think I can get out of work early and hunt an evening or something, but then the thought of , well I' have to go home, get a shower first etc... so I won't have any real time to hunt so I decide I can't do it. That's a bunch of fooey in my book. You're a mobile hunter now with a saddle system so by gosh go play the wind and hunt instead of worrying about cleaning up first.
 
So my dog has developed a skin problem and we had to put her on both an antibiotic and an antifungal last week. She's just a plain ole' mutt rescue dog we got from a shelter a couple of years ago. I've had the most horrible time trying to give her the antibiotic pill. I'll take a couple of pieces of pepperoni and wrap it in that and she'll just sniff it and walk away. I take the pill out of the same pepperoni and she eats the pepperoni as long as the pill hasn't started to break down onto the pepperoni. We've tried hot dogs, cheese, cheeto's (that's what the vet said to use) and that darn ole' mutt can smell that pill in that junk. The only way I can give it to her is by either mashing it all up and sprinkling it in her food to completely get it diluted down or just get mean and throw it in her mouth and clamp her jaws shut until she swallows.

Also with trapping coyotes. My first night success usually is dismal especially on the older ones as they just know that there is something contrived going on because they smell it. Once the sets soak for a few days or if I catch a skunk or a possum or something then that set becomes super productive because the set location is drowned with the scents of the other animals. I just make sure to clean the blood and what not off the existing trap as best as possible and remake the set that had the other critters in it. That becomes a much better set than the "Clean" sets I try to make. And I truly know its because on my "fresh" clean new sets with boiled and waxed traps and everything, rubber boots, walking through water and spraying down, those darned coyotes still know I was there. They can smell me. I actually hope for another critter at first as it makes the set that much more attractive afterwards and the human smell is so overwhelmed from the smells of the other critters they let their gaurd down a bit more and work the set.

So I'm not trying to be a naysayer of scent control or anything I'm just trying to concentrate my time and activity on things that will be most productive for me because I agree, if you start getting anxious about all of this stuff it makes hunting a chore instead of fun. Its supposed to be fun guys and gals. I don't own a stitch of scent lock clothing or any kind of dedicated, purposeful scent control or masking machine like an O3 generator but If it gives you confidence in the hunt, I say go for it. I just personally have found that I'd use the time on other things like getting in earlier or via a better access route etc. But again, I temper this by saying I still try to keep my hunting clothes as clean as possible and I certainly try to shower before a hunt but I will never sacrifice the time to hunt for a scent control regiment. In other words, if I think I can get out of work early and hunt an evening or something, but then the thought of , well I' have to go home, get a shower first etc... so I won't have any real time to hunt so I decide I can't do it. That's a bunch of fooey in my book. You're a mobile hunter now with a saddle system so by gosh go play the wind and hunt instead of worrying about cleaning up first.
I know most trappers would agree that those sets that have been worked and have caught a skunk or possum are better than a clean set but supposedly a deer can pick up human scent regardless of what other cover or masking scent is present so I don't see the reasoning behind this theory.
 
I've worked alongside k9s for years at work, I fully believe scent control will not win based on all my observations. I've seen the tactics used in the dope world to mask/cover up the goods and it doesn't matter, they find it. However, I do believe I can make them think I'm further away by being strict with my pre hunt protocal. I have to travel 2000 miles for my one week a year hunt so I do the basics but refuse to spend $ on in the tree noise machines. Last night was opening night for coues deer archery, there is no way anyone out there could beat a deers nose in the nasty heat and humidity here in Az, gotta play the wind out here, I did have my scentlok suit on tho, it helped guard the millions of mosquitoes trying to get to me.
Actually most of it is i believe. Baking soda and water mixed together.
It explains the white residue it used to leave on my boits when i used all the scent stuff back when i was brainwashed by all the carbon activated nonsense.
My buddy was a k9 and a deer hunter at the jail for over 20 years and they would test fully activated scent lok suits with thier dogs.
They tested some military grade carbon suits also.
The friend was on escape/ search detail so the dog specialized in finding humans.
long story short. Dude would cover himself in scent lok or the military scent lok then also wear rubber boots.
then he would give them a 30 minute head start.
the escapee would go at least a mile through the woods.
the dog would find him or catch up every time.
He also tested certain times of the year
Basically the more humid it was the faster the dog caught or catch up with them.
Use what works for you if it works and brings you confidence so be it use it.
Scent lok i believe early on put on such a marketing push with certain tv/ or hunting program celebs that it really convinced people it was 100% dependable.
Does it work? Probably but im 100% convinced its not a sure thing.
I will say I am 100% convinced that you will never beat a deers nose totally.
unless you are upwind of it.
Even then you need to cosider thermals, swirling , or even puddling.
 
Nov. 2nd 2019 Ohio I hunted a thick draw. To my east and west was thick bedding areas, north and south two corn fields. When I arrived I saw the farmer had cut down some of the corn behind me. At 4:30 a doe came by with one fawn walked over my entry path (high weeds) and started to feed in the picked corn. They were now level with me because I was in the draw and they were half way up in the corn field where the farmer stopped cutting. While feeding at about 75 yards away for an hour the wind blew in their direction many times but never did they alert or get nervous. Around 5:30 I heard a faint grunt in the draw to my west. At first I thought I was hearing things, then it happened again but this time louder and closer. I grabbed my bow and got ready in my saddle for a drop shot directly behind me. While waiting the grunts kept getting louder until I saw a huge body 10 point. Probably the biggest bodied deer I have ever seen. He walked the dry creek bed into and opening at 20 yards. I made a great shot double lung but he took off like nothing happened and disappeared into the thick bedding area. The doe and fawn were still down wind of me at the time and heard the buck run after my shot. Not able to see anything they stood there wind checking to figure out what happened. Never smelled me but continued to stare in my direction. After 30 minutes I lowered my bow to get down and the doe and fawn saw me and took off. I had a hard time tracking this buck through the thick bedding but found him about 100 yards from where I shot him. I couldn’t believe the size of this bucks body. After I field dressed him I had to call to locals to help me drag him out and put him into the bed of my truck. We weighted the buck and his estimated live weight was 280lbs! He was my third Pope and Young buck. When talking to the locals several of them had trial cam photos of him on their farms and were hunting for him as well. If those doe had smelled me there is no way this pressured buck would have got out of his bed before night fall. I’ve always had problems spooking deer in the heavily pressured areas I hunt when using treestands because the non targeted deer that would come in first constantly looked up and would eventually see me ruining my hunt. I never had problems having deer smell me ever since using scentlok and practicing good scent control, it was just getting picked in the tree. Now that I use a saddle and can hide behind the tree letting those non targeted deer pass by it has increased my harvest percentage drastically. So glad companies came back to this awesome style of hunting.
 

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I know most trappers would agree that those sets that have been worked and have caught a skunk or possum are better than a clean set but supposedly a deer can pick up human scent regardless of what other cover or masking scent is present so I don't see the reasoning behind this theory.
My point was simply that no matter how clean you try to be., the coyotes, the deer etc. are going to know you were there. I believe the only reason coyotes eventually commit to the sets that have caught other animals first are that they get overwhelmed with all the different scents at the catch circle and either the human scent is so diluted at that point that they don't care or they just can't help themselves. I'm sure the smarter, older coyotes will tend to shy away more from those sets so I like to put a flat set nearby with just a hole or a splash a urine.
 
My point was simply that no matter how clean you try to be., the coyotes, the deer etc. are going to know you were there. I believe the only reason coyotes eventually commit to the sets that have caught other animals first are that they get overwhelmed with all the different scents at the catch circle and either the human scent is so diluted at that point that they don't care or they just can't help themselves. I'm sure the smarter, older coyotes will tend to shy away more from those sets so I like to put a flat set nearby with just a hole or a splash a urine.

Lot of times, the coyotes just aren't there yet. That's why most trappers aren't connecting on the first few nights. Can't catch what isn't there. Guys that catch on first night or two are mostly lucky, have a high food availability, say bait stations of livestock that are being actively being killed, or have traps on as many seperate populations of coyotes that the odds of the coming across sets that night are greatly increased.

Same thing to a point with deer. Though with the advent of game cameras you can pattern deer fairly well if they have routine routes. If a deer you're after only comes to an area every other day, then you aren't going to have good odds of success vs that deer on the off days .
 
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