Scent Concerns with SRT Pre-Sets?

[ZC87]

I am brand new to saddle hunting this year. After TONS of research, I settled on a hybrid between One-Sticking and SRT Climbing. I hunt private and public. I don't really want to go poking tons of holes in trees on either, thus I opted for a combo of two public-friendly options. My thought was to One-Stick for the run-and-gunning, then anywhere I wanted to prep in the pre- or post-season, I'd leave paracord loops and climb SRT for speed and stealth.

I would never SRT without the preset in a hunting situation most likely. Just too much movement and noise. That said, I LOVE the idea of being able to preset 20+ trees for $50 of paracord... or at least that was my thought. Retrospectively I have one big concern - scent.

I am not a scent control freak. In fact I don't use a single scent control product. I try to understand the wind, thermals, predict swirls on consistent wind, etc., but I don't use a single "product" other than milkweed. However, if I set an SRT line from my paracord, I'm afraid that I'll be leaving a 25' scent wick in the tree. It seems like over the course of the next week, it's likely to blown 360º and alert every deer within a several acre area that I'd been there. Even if I only plan on hunting it once or twice/season, I'm not sure I like that idea. Anyone experienced this? Think I'm over-thinking it? Have any creative ideas to still deploy the pre-sets without the concern?

 

[LoadedLimbs]

I am brand new to saddle hunting this year. After TONS of research, I settled on a hybrid between One-Sticking and SRT Climbing. I hunt private and public. I don't really want to go poking tons of holes in trees on either, thus I opted for a combo of two public-friendly options. My thought was to One-Stick for the run-and-gunning, then anywhere I wanted to prep in the pre- or post-season, I'd leave paracord loops and climb SRT for speed and stealth.

I would never SRT without the preset in a hunting situation most likely. Just too much movement and noise. That said, I LOVE the idea of being able to preset 20+ trees for $50 of paracord... or at least that was my thought. Retrospectively I have one big concern - scent.

I am not a scent control freak. In fact I don't use any. I try to understand the wind, thermals, predict swirls on consistent wind, etc., but I don't use a single product other than milkweed. However, if I set an SRT line from my paracord, I'm afraid that I'll be leaving a 25' scent wick in the tree. It seems like over the course of the next week, it's likely to blown 360º and alert every deer within a several acre area that I'd been there. Even if I only plan on hunting it once or twice/season, I'm not sure I like that idea. Anyone experienced this? Think I'm over-thinking it? Have any creative ideas to still deploy the pre-sets without the concern?

Unless you’re making presets a few days before the hunt, you’re overthinking it. (Any scent that lingers won’t be very fresh).

As for ideas to minimize the concern of scent contamination of your preset:

If you’re going to hunt within a couple days of leaving a new preset, buy a pair of Scentlok gloves and a Scentlok adsorber pad. Don’t handle the cord with your bare hands. Wrap the adsorber pad around the hank or spool of cord, and put it in a large ziplock or garbage bag, then put that in your pack.

When you place the preset, put on your Scentlok gloves first, so you don’t handle the cord with bare hands.

Another tip: Use polyester Mason’s line for presets. You can buy it online In camo color, and it’s way cheaper (and more compact, and less obvious to other hunters) than paracord. ($23/1000 foot spool). It also has far less material than paracord to harbor any residual scent.

Since you said you’re not one who practices a scent control regimen, consider that you may leave a lot more scent on the ground around your tree making your preset than you leave on the preset cord itself. And also that you have no control over others contaminating your area with scent if you don’t have exclusive rights to it. Cell cams are good for surveillance of your planned hunt area for deer, but also to know if other *people* have been passing through it, and when.

 

[Fl Canopy Stalker]

I am brand new to saddle hunting this year. After TONS of research, I settled on a hybrid between One-Sticking and SRT Climbing. I hunt private and public. I don't really want to go poking tons of holes in trees on either, thus I opted for a combo of two public-friendly options. My thought was to One-Stick for the run-and-gunning, then anywhere I wanted to prep in the pre- or post-season, I'd leave paracord loops and climb SRT for speed and stealth.

I would never SRT without the preset in a hunting situation most likely. Just too much movement and noise. That said, I LOVE the idea of being able to preset 20+ trees for $50 of paracord... or at least that was my thought. Retrospectively I have one big concern - scent.

I am not a scent control freak. In fact I don't use a single scent control product. I try to understand the wind, thermals, predict swirls on consistent wind, etc., but I don't use a single "product" other than milkweed. However, if I set an SRT line from my paracord, I'm afraid that I'll be leaving a 25' scent wick in the tree. It seems like over the course of the next week, it's likely to blown 360º and alert every deer within a several acre area that I'd been there. Even if I only plan on hunting it once or twice/season, I'm not sure I like that idea. Anyone experienced this? Think I'm over-thinking it? Have any creative ideas to still deploy the pre-sets without the concern?

If it’s a huge concern, wear rubber or nitrile gloves when you handle the preset cord…. Honestly though, I hunt almost exclusively off rope systems and use presets each year. I haven’t noticed animals avoiding the trees or areas I hunt because of presets. Put them out a few weeks or more before you hunt and any odor on them will be well past gone by the time you hunt. Think of it like a “cold trail”. Even trained dogs usually can’t follow the scent trail of a person after a couple of days. So after a few weeks, you’d be golden. Happy hunting my friend.

 

[SNIPERBBB]

I would actually say that it helps more than hurts.

 

[kyler1945]

Before you stepped foot near the tree you preset, the deer had no idea you might want to hunt in it. After you step foot near it, they still have no idea you want to shoot them from it. Because they're deer. They're cognitively impaired, relatively speaking.

Having said that, the harm is done once you've stepped foot near the tree. You've walked there sweaty, stinky, shedding dead skin and your breath, and hair, and all that you drug in the woods with you. As you concentrate movement around the base of that tree looking at it, then deciding to throw objects into it to preset the paracord, the damage is being done. You could take all the measures you want to make the paracord scent free. If you don't take the measures to make the process of transporting you to the base of the tree, and the act of putting the cord in the tree, all scent free, the cord doesn't matter.

This isn't me saying you should do those things, either. Just that the cord is a match on fire at that point. If you're comfortable with the impact that your scouting will have on the deer behavior, hanging a cord in the tree won't change it dramatically.

A better question to ask yourself might be how big of an impact your scouting in the days or weeks prior to hunting a spot will have.

 

[ZC87]

Before you stepped foot near the tree you preset, the deer had no idea you might want to hunt in it. After you step foot near it, they still have no idea you want to shoot them from it. Because they're deer. They're cognitively impaired, relatively speaking.

Having said that, the harm is done once you've stepped foot near the tree. You've walked there sweaty, stinky, shedding dead skin and your breath, and hair, and all that you drug in the woods with you. As you concentrate movement around the base of that tree looking at it, then deciding to throw objects into it to preset the paracord, the damage is being done. You could take all the measures you want to make the paracord scent free. If you don't take the measures to make the process of transporting you to the base of the tree, and the act of putting the cord in the tree, all scent free, the cord doesn't matter.

This isn't me saying you should do those things, either. Just that the cord is a match on fire at that point. If you're comfortable with the impact that your scouting will have on the deer behavior, hanging a cord in the tree won't change it dramatically.

A better question to ask yourself might be how big of an impact your scouting in the days or weeks prior to hunting a spot will have.

Thanks Kyler and others for all your input. You all make great points and I will definitely think about some of the ideas (particularly gloves for handling the presets and mason line). To clarify, I would intend to set the pre-sets months in advance and I'd have zero concern about the residual scent by the first hunt. My main concern is later hunts and/or winding other areas.

Consider a spot that I'd consider otherwise bulletproof scent-wise. I kayak into a river bottoms transition zone with the wind blowing over the river while on stand and thermals pulling into the water after dark. The only place I step foot on land is to climb the bank, where deer generally aren't. They should basically never know I was there. I could hunt a spot like that an unlimited number of times each year... if I don't leave residual scent. But if I leave the paracord, I'm wondering if the next 3 days, when the wind shifts 90º and blows into a bedding area, then another day it ****s another 90º to their food source.

I 100% accept that you're going to leave ground scent in less bullet-proof spots. I'm 100% convinced that can't be eliminated, so there's no way you can avoid it if you're hunting a spot. But my fear was that there's a HUGE difference in those rubber boot prints in carefully-selected entry/exit routes on the ground... and a 25' long absorptive material, handled by oily hands. It would seem the ground scent would be limited to a much shorter area of contamination, even if it does wash around a bit vs. something dangling 25' up. I love the ideas you guys are coming up with and I think something as simple as nitrile gloves would make me feel a little better. Or maybe I'll just say to hell with it and see what happens!