So here's my question...how do you know you are beating the deer's nose? I say this because all I do is play the wind...no sprays, no scent-lok...nothing, and I have deer get in close all the time, and sometimes the wind is blowing directly at them. Just so you know where I'm coming from, I have captured >700 deer for research purposes. I have probably darted more deer than most hunters will shoot in a lifetime, and if you have never darted deer, the range of the dart gun is about 20 yards max. Needless to say, I've spent a lot of time in tree stands with deer at archery distances observing what they do when they catch my wind, and what they do when I think they should be catching my wind but don't. In fact, just last week I had deer come in from directly down wind of me. They didn't bust. They fed at 10 yards behind my stand and passed through the area as calm as could be. I don't know why they didn't wind me because the wind was blowing directly at them, but they certainly did not act like they caught my wind. Had I been wearing the sprays and the clothing, I probably would have given those items credit, but I wasn't, so it had to have been pure luck, or they smelled me an just didn't care...or perhaps my wind may have been blowing in their general direction, but not reaching their noses down at ground level. Regardless of the reason, this happens often, and I can't help but think that people who wear all that stuff give the sprays and clothing too much credit.
In a scientific study where researchers tested the effectiveness of a scent-lok full body suit there was no significant difference in the amount of time it took a search dog to find a subjects wearing a scent-lok suit versus the controls (
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3784224?seq ... b_contents). On myth busters, they tried to beat a blood hound's nose using a wide variety of techniques including the sprays and clothing hunters wear (including rubber boots)...they failed miserably. Drug sniffing dogs can detect drugs wrapped in layers of hunting clothing no problem. If a fellow hunter farts in camp while wearing scent-lok clothing, does it not stink? That alone should give reason to be skeptical. Unfortunately, none of the sprays or clothing have been tested against a deer's nose in a controlled setting. However, a deer's nose, has about 100 million more scent receptors than a dog.
I'm not here to discredit you, these are just the facts. I can't argue with success, and you certainly have the trophies on the wall to prove your success, but you also have a few things all successful deer hunters have regardless of their gear...you have passion, patience, a strong work ethic, above average knowledge of deer, and some pieces of ground to hunt that have big deer (can't kill 'em if they're ain't any there...right?). I think those things alone contribute to your success and will continue to do so throughout your life regardless of whatever clothing or sprays you choose to use, but that's just my opinion. As for me, I'll continue to be skeptical until these products start beating a dog's nose...or at least until my I can't smell my uncle's farts in deer camp
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