Will the smell of coffee scare deer?

thebaron

thebaron

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Getting ready for this years deer hunt got me thinking about last years. There were a few miserable days in the pouring rain shivering like mad.

I was thinking of bringing a thermos full of coffee out, does anyone think the smell of the coffee will scare the deer away?
 
Considering how deer detect threats, odd smells in the forest sure aren't going to help you any! :p
For long spells in a stand during crappy weather I would take a thermos of hot water to drink. If I was there long enough I the thermos did double duty....... ;):eek:
 
x2.....i had a young buck walk up within 10 yards of me when i had a smoke going. The smoke was going in my eyes as i was trying not to move....didn't bother the deer, though.
 
If it can smell the coffee, it can already smell you. The coffee will be irrelevant.

You cannot fool a deer's nose if he is paying attention to it. You can only hunt with the certainty that your smell will be detectable, and use the breeze accordingly. Oh, yeah, don't bother paying good money for the "scent reducing" clothing, or soap, or laundry detergent either. None of it will really work.
 
rral22 said:
If it can smell the coffee, it can already smell you. The coffee will be irrelevant.


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YUP. BUSTED !


Watch the wind. Always hunt downwind of the honey spot where you 've been seeing deer and/or sign. Change spots if the wind changes.
 
Some of the older guys who shot the most deer, smoked cigarettes, pipes and drank booze and coffee etc while deer hunting. That said these habits are also what likely killed them.
 
Well after a few days in the woods, it wont matter how much anti-stink killer you put on. Your gonna smell. drink that coffee.

Only problem I see is how to slowly put the coffee down without making noise, and then shooting the deer without getting burned by hot coffee??

Let us know how that turns out, :)
 
Like sound is to us in terms of its volume for locating objects smell concentration works the same with deer. I have found that the closer deer live to humans the more they respond to human scent(s). The old belief was that deer get used to human scent in populated areas and therefore are not as affected. The opposite seems to be true.( With populations that get hunted) They know full well what it is and respond when the scent concentration tells them you are near by as opposed to half a mile away. Coffee and other human created odours would work the same way.

As was said watching the wind is probably one of the most important things you can do. This year I tried a store bought ground blind with great results. I was as careful as I could be with the wind but I found the nylon material of the blind seemed to contain a fair bit of my scent. Deer fed to about 60 yards of the blind and showed no effects as long as I was quiet and still even in unfavourable winds. Closer than that they started getting twitchy and if the wind went sour on me they would snort and bolt indicating they caught a whif they did not like. When the does snort that is a sure sign you are busted but they haven't quite made you out. I'm sure coffee, cigarettes, and farts would have the same effect.
 
rral22 said:
If it can smell the coffee, it can already smell you. The coffee will be irrelevant.

You cannot fool a deer's nose if he is paying attention to it. You can only hunt with the certainty that your smell will be detectable, and use the breeze accordingly. Oh, yeah, don't bother paying good money for the "scent reducing" clothing, or soap, or laundry detergent either. None of it will really work.
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Perfect explanation.
 
Buddy of mine will use scent blocking bodywash, shampoo, wash his clothes and store them seperately. Wear just sweats to the "spot" change over to his hunting clothes, xscent covering blah blah super no smell stuff, i don't know the name of it. Dress according to his walk to the stand and the weather. He will spray every thing down with the scentblocker crap. Once he's in the stand he'll p!ss rate off the the stand.....sigh I don't get his mentallity. If I go through that crap I'm peein in a coke bottle.

To answer the age old question about coffee. It depends on the deer in your area. We've had deer come into the camp and almost invite themselves for lunch, but we've also had a few bruisers that you can't get near em unless your playing your wind and have buck urine to make him mad or doe in estrus to make him horny. Like most males if there mad or horny chances are they're not gonna think straight.
 
rral22 said:
If it can smell the coffee, it can already smell you. The coffee will be irrelevant.

You cannot fool a deer's nose if he is paying attention to it. You can only hunt with the certainty that your smell will be detectable, and use the breeze accordingly. Oh, yeah, don't bother paying good money for the "scent reducing" clothing, or soap, or laundry detergent either. None of it will really work.
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A big X 2
 
It depends where you are hunting. Deer in our community of small farms smell things all day that would have their deep woods cousins heading for the hills. I like to keep odds in my favour, though and save the refreshments for either camp, car, or somewhere outside of the hunting area.
 
rral22 said:
Oh, yeah, don't bother paying good money for the "scent reducing" clothing, or soap, or laundry detergent either. None of it will really work.
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I don't agree with that at all. Every additional thing you can do to reduce your scent signature will increase your odds of seeing deer. Maybe not so critical if you hunt open country and make 200 yard shots but when I have deer inside 20 yards anything I can do to reduce human scent helps.
 
Human urine will not spook a deer. They can't tell what kind of urine it is, only that it is urine. I believe this was included in a university study sometime ago. I remember reading about the molecular qualities of urine or something like that.

Also, for the scent eliminating stuff - unscented laundry soap will be better than "tide" or what have you. Also unscented soap/shampoo will be better than "Irish Spring" or what have you. It may not hide your scent but it is far better than "tide" or "irish spring" scents in the woods too. Same thing for deodorant.

Lastly, scent removing spray does work. Try this - put some gasoline on your hands and then try and wash it off using soap and water. The gas smell will still be there. Spray your hands with scent remover and you will see that the gasoline smell will be gone. Works for garlic, fish, and other smelly things too. Hard to argue with that.

The bottom line is this, play the wind. If a cup of coffee keeps you in the woods longer then do it. Your odds of shooting a deer are higher the longer you are in the woods and if they can smell the coffee, they can likely smell you to.
 
tactical870 said:
anything I can do to reduce human scent helps.
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Nope.

Lastly, scent removing spray does work. Try this - put some gasoline on your hands and then try and wash it off using soap and water. The gas smell will still be there. Spray your hands with scent remover and you will see that the gasoline smell will be gone. Works for garlic, fish, and other smelly things too. Hard to argue with that.
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What on earth makes you think that because you can't smell it, a deer can't.

Try this - next time you find a white tail scrape, go up to the branch that always hangs above a buck scrape and try to smell the scent the buck left on it with the glands by his eye and licking. You won't smell a darn thing. To a buck, it is as obvious as a signature on a cheque is to you.

Humans do not understand the scent, vision, or auditory world of animals because we have no way of perceiving it. Bats can navigate through a maze of piano wires strung across a room using only echo location with sounds you can't even hear. I can't even imagine doing that. Dogs (which most authorities suggest have similar olfactory powers to deer) have found drugs inside plastic bags inside sacks of coffee. Try to imagine being able to do that. Dogs have tracked people after they got into a car and drove away. Dogs have been used to diagnose cancer by smell. Watch a buck follow a doe who passed by hours ago, then go try to smell her trail. What you can smell is NOT what deer can detect, and just because you can't smell it means nothing.

Scent blocking is a myth. Scent attractants are another matter entirely, and can work in the proper circumstances, but there is no way you can prevent a deer from smelling you if he is paying attention to his nose. It's a waste of money to spend it on such products.
 
^^ ok i agree somewhat, but the point here is to eliminate as much scent as possible. If I can no longer smell the gas, it will be less "smellable" to the deer no?
 
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