Scent Control

S

schumy

CGN Regular
Rating - 100%
89   0   0
Location
Canada
My fellow hunters... I've been deer hunting for only 3 years now, and in these three years I've learned a huge amount about pre-season preparation, scouting, tracking, baiting, stand placement, and many other things. The internet is awash with articles, opinions and personal anecdotes that vary immensely. So I try to weed through all the info and figure out the prevailing ideas and apply them to my hunting environment and situation.

One of these is scent control, or said other wise the use of "familiar" scents for baiting and elimination of "unfamiliar" human scents. While there are many aspects to this, I want to focus on scent removal. The general consensus is that we as hunters should be as odor free as possible so as to not alert deer of an unfamiliar presence. I've sifted through articles and watched a few youtube videos where guys go to extremes to remove scents from themselves and their hunting garments, some even had dedicated rooms where they would wash hunting gear/take showers/use only "unscented hunting towels" etc... These measure, while they make sense, seem a bit extreme and over the top to me.

So I want to ask a simple question... if we have have access to the hunting land, why not habituate the deer with our scent in the months coming up to the hunting season? Such as walking the trails from time to time, that would leave our odors around the hunt stand and the trails where we and the deer circulate. Another idea would be to leave an old stick of your usual deodorant hanging somewhere around the hunt stand or blind. All these would act to habituate the deer in the area to our scent, and when hunting season comes along we're no longer a NEW possibly dangerous predator, just something that's been there and never caused harm.

This obviously might only work in areas that we can frequent somewhat often, not talking about a hunting spot 12h away, that's unreasonable.

I'm curious to hear what you guys think.
 
I've tried a similar thing on a 10 acre plot that held numerous deer. Sighted every day morning and evening in the fields with trail cams proving they were using the wood lot at all hours of the day. Not much in the night. This was during early summer with beans surrounding. I'd walk every other day mid day down the fence line to the wood lot and walk along the ditch and into the more open areas of the wood lot. The result was that the deer stayed to the thicker areas and became more active at night. When I walked every day they left the area almost completely with only the odd night time pic taken. I stopped going back there for 3 weeks or so and then starting seeing deer just before dark and then soon after they were back to feeding in the mornings and evenings again with less night time activity.
Now this is a small wood lot with 6-10 deer using it

As for scent control I can't fool my mastiff and I tried everything to fool my beagles and basset hound. I learned their noses can't be fooled and either can a deers. I've watched countless times when deer have crossed my tracks across an open field. They slow down sniff look around and continue most of the time. Otherwise they put up their tails and pace then continue on yet other times they turn back and run as if being chased back to where they came from. It just depends on how they're going to act that day

I shot the largest buck of my life at 30 yards downwind after a long night of drinking wearing poco raban cologne that the waitress complementted on at the restaurant after I loaded the buck into the truck

Best case is to play the wind and hope for the best
 
I hunt behind my house, the deer do become accustom to you and your scent if you're around. In my case during the year I'll walk my dog through, I shoot back there all year, and we ride our dirt bikes through as well. To my knowledge, from watching trail cams and such, there seems to be no effect for hunting season.

What I mean is this, last year with a bow or shotgun, I can stalk to about 50 yards before the deer snort and run away. The deer are still there and wont run until i'm what I'd consider very close for stalking. Same thing with moose.

I do think they grow accustom to the smell you have, especially in areas where the city is close by. That being said in this case I think the deer actually use hearing and sight more extensively when they are used to smelling people.

Edit: I do agree with the above post though, the more you are around the less deer you see(that doesnt mean they arent there though). If I dont go back for a couple weeks they become less cautious. The moose on the other hand couldn't care one bit.
 
Interesting experiences, and it does make some sense. They would rather adapt and change their habits instead of becoming "used to the smells". I'm about a month away from rifle season, is it better that I stay as much away from the plot, and just go do the minimum preparations? For example, I was going to drop some more corn and apples, and maybe some pre-season scenting like doe urine.
 
Deer get used to scent around a bait pile, but they've got a very good reason to tolerate it. In general my thoughts are if you disturb them too often they will just leave and go some place where they are left alone. Skirting the edges once in a while may not matter much but invade the sanctuary and they're gone.
 
I certainly use the wind to my advantage, and avoid unnatural scents as much as possible. Stay clean, use unscented soaps, avoid aftershave/cologne, don'r smoke on your stand or light hand-warming fires, etc. Not over the top, but eliminate whatever you can reasonably.

Having said that, I have shot deer while smoking, while a small fire has been going, and I'm sure, my clothing's scent reeking to the deer of the hunt camp. I've also shot them while sitting on the seat of a parked ATV. Conversely, I've seen them skirt around a buddy's ATV from around 200 yards away, avoid fires and a pipe smoker. I've watched a good many does bolt when they winded me from as much as 50 yards out, and have had a few pass as close as 5 yards away, totally unaware of me.

There are no hard and fast rules, but try to gain every "scent" advantage you can. PS: Movement is almost sure to betray you, as is any unnatural noise.
 
deer are not so much scared of sents left behind , they will come right after i placed apples bare handed on branches. but if the wind carries my sent toward them they will blow and go. same goes for scents from bear and coyote. ive had bears come in for my apples , scat and throw up all over , and deer come in and not care in the least. tree stands in the right place help alot to heep your scent up and away from you. trying to keep yourself scent free is impossible i think.
 
At our camp, a chain-saw in January/February (firewood for the following fall) and even into March works better than any deer call ! They're looking for the tops and usually show up withing 5-10 minutes of the saws being shut-off. The skidder and scents remaining (diesel/gas/oil/ 2& 4 cycle exhaust) don't seem to mean much. At my old camp, a couple of fellows insisted on a little baiting pre-season ... with both apples and carrots. Deer could be observed not long after putting the carrots out and 1/2 apples on waist high tree branches, using the ATV trails.

Coyotes on the farm where I live are up & down the fence rows all winter, and are not in the least concerned about farm yard scent.
I couldn't believe how many apples they eat when the snow cover is tough ! Human scent away from the barn however is a different matter.

On still days, during hunting season, I've had a moose (a really nice bull - no tag) lie down within 30 yards of me and stay there for over an hour, and twice have had foxes do the same, maybe 25 yards out, for shorter naps. I was not in a tree-stand, but rather a little higher up, on a rock outcrop, maybe 10 feet above the surrounding ground.

I agree, scent-free is impossible ... but you don't need to stink the place up either.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom