Who's a scent freak?


HunterLuke

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How do ya'll go about your way with managing your scent or do you even bother. And if you do how extreme or important is it to you?

Me, I don't go to big extremes with my scent control. When I get out of the truck to go to my stand I usually will spray my boots with deer pee or some Tinx 69 and myself with some scent-blocker. I usually take a good shower with low-scent soap and put on light-scented deoderant. I just keep my hunting clothes hung up somewhere not stored in scent proof boxes. I also try and keep the wind in my favor but if it goes the other way I don't get all worried about it. I sometimes stick some cedar branches in my pack to get that stuff smelling natural, and thats about it.

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Im nutty about scent control. I spray down everything with scentaway advanced and let it dry before heading out. I wear rubber boots and leave my clothes out in the timber behind the house on the line during hunting season. I will wash all clothes pre-season in a mix of bakin soda and scent-free laundry detergent. I even brush my teeth with bakin soda before each hunt.

I dont use carbon suits of any kind, but I do use a base layer of Visa endurance.

I very rarely get busted, but more importantly I dont burn out standsites by overhunting them. Im prolly even more nutty about that then scent control!

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i dont know if i would go as far to say im a scent freak, i do what i think is best i take a shower before going to the stand,my hunting clothes come out of a air tight bags, one bag one day, thats draws sockes ect, and spray myself down before going to the stand, i sit anywhere from 20 to 30 ft in a tree so i try to get there as scent free as i can knowing once i get there they cant smell me anyway.

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Total scent freak here...wash all hunting clothes in scent free detergent, store all clothes in big zip lock bags, store the bags in an air tight tub, dont dress at home, dress in the field (even when its freezing which sucks at times), spray under clothing, spray down outer clothing, wear scent blocker, sit high when possible, play the wind...all that crap. its impossible to cover up all human scent, but i do what i can to cover up as much as i can.

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I guess I'm a scent freak. Unscented soap, shampoo, deodoarant, spray down with spray before leaving for the woods, spray down again when I get on stand. Keep my boots in a plastic bag when transporting them. Clothes washed in unnscented laundry soap, earth scent laundry/dryer strip. Clothes kept away from everything downstairs in special camo bag. Works for me and builds my confidence. All HS Specialites products!

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I noticed most of us "scent freaks" also have the biggest bucks in our avatars.:)

I was not bashing by saying "scent freaks" I think it's a good thing to be one. But I don't have alot of money to buy all these high-tech sprays and soaps and scent killing stuff. Virginia's deer don't compare to Illiones, Kansas, Iowa, Missourie, ect.. either but I understand what your getting at. And yes, I have a very small buck in my avatar.

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that's right....

I noticed most of us "scent freaks" also have the biggest bucks in our avatars.:)

Siince we've started a scent-control routine, we've seen 10X as many deer in the past 3 years than in all years previous. There are many people out there who loose deer that they never see. A deer can stare right at you and if you're perfectly still, never become alarmed, but if he smells you, it's off to the hills for him. There are occaisions where a friend will say "all that scent control crap is just a gimmick to get you to spend more money" and take a nice deer smelling like Tide, Aquafresh, cigarette smoke and Drakkar-Noir cologne. I try to remind them, that a deer can't smell what's up-wind from them and that in those cases, all the scent control in the world wouldn't matter. Scent control is for when that nice deer IS downwind from you, because when he is, he'll believe his nose over his eyes every time. It's hard for people to believe because we depend much more heavily on eyesight than our sense of smell. Deer, however, are different creatures, they depend much more on their sense of smell for survival than their sight.

You can get a deer to second guess his eyes, he will never second guess his nose. Take that to the bank (or should I say to the taxidermist)!

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I am probobly the farthest thing from a scent freak I guess but I do try to cover the basics. I spray down my boots and clothing with scent killer or dead down wind before heading to the stand and I try to smoke as little as possible while in the stand which can be difficult when nothing is happening.. Also I prefer to wear rubber knee boots, dont know if that matters or not but have heard that it does and figure it cant hurt anything (also they get sprayed down in scent killer or dead down wind)..

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I do my best to stay scent free. I keep my clothes in platic bins with some pine branches in them, take scent eliminating showers, spray down good with scent away spray etc. Problem is the others that hunt the property with me arent so carefull.

If you play the wind right, I guess it really doesnt matter. A guy who used to hunt this property put out his cigarette a mere minutes before arrowing a 180'' buck a few years back. If the critters are upwind, they cant smell you, even if you smell like a gym locker.

And if the wind is out of the west, the manure smell from the farm across the river is enough to choke a pig sometimes!!:taped::wacko:

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While I try to play the scent-control game, and am obsessive in tree stand placement (in order for a deer to get downwind of my favorite tree stand it would have to grow wings and fly), I really think it depends on whether the deer associates the oder with danger.

I don't think you can ever fool a deer's nose, but if a deer smells something "normal" it is not likely to spook.

My uncle limits out every year with big bucks, frequently on well hunted public land. He uses a 3-foot high step ladder to sit on and seldom shoots farther than 50 yards. He swears by taking a shower every morning, shaving, putting on deoderant and splashing on Brute aftershave.

Brute is a musky scent and I am wondering if a buck may "confuse" it with a dominant buck oder and come in to investigate?

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