will the smell of cosmoline scare deer away?

The scariest smell to a deer is human odor or the odor of another kind of predator.

Successful deer hunters pay close attention to the wind and use it to their advantage so that their scent isn't carried to the deer. If you are moving when hunting keep the wind in your face. If you move with the wind at your back your scent will be carried to the deer and you will be eating track soup. If you are sitting stationary then have the wind in your face so that it is coming from the deer to you and not visa versa. In this scenario the smell of my equipment or my farts is a non-issue as far as spooking deer is concerned.:redface:

I plan my hunts around the wind and will avoid stands on days when the wind would be blowing from me to the cover where I expect the deer to come from. If you hunt the wind, remain stationary, and wear a face mask you can have deer approach within feet of you and this has been my experience many times.:rockOn:

As far as petroleum smells are concerned, I recall coming back to the truck from my stand after dark. My friend had gotten there first and was warming up the truck. As I approached the truck I saw a forkhorn whitetail bathed in the cloud of exhaust behind the truck-quite beautiful in the full moon on a frosty eve. Mind you this was the Wainwright, AB area where the deer get used to trucks and the smell of oil pumps.;)
 
Just pay attention to the wind, as the previous poster mentioned. I'd be more concerned with movement and noise, or shuffling around if you're stationary. I highly doubt they'd react at all if they smelled cosmo on your rifle.
 
Although I believe deer have excellent smelling abilities, I would say motion, then noise come first, and when we get to smell the smell of a person or other animal will be of more worry than, oil, gas, smoke, cigarettes, cosmoline etc.
 
I have to go with Pig4000 on this one. Why not clean the cosmo out of the gun? It's not that hard to do. It should take way less then an hour. Plus it won't stink up your safe.
 
Clean the cosmoline off with Crown Royal ... the deer actually LIKE that smell.
I know, cuz theres deer tracks all around my hide when I finally leave in the evening.
 
I think deer are more cautious about sound than odor/smell and sight.

Maybe your cosmo soaked rifle will attract deer? Who knows?
 
Deer rely on their sight, smell, and hearing, but I think that smell is their master sense. A lightly disturbed deer that detects a sound or movement will often try to confirm the source with their nose before the real alarm bells go off. I've often been "hunted" by whitetail does who are a bit disturbed by what they see. In this case they will circle downwind of you to try to get your scent and will often resort to foot stamping and head bobbing to try to provoke some additional identification. Once they start blowing after getting a snoot full of you, you are thoroughly busted and might as well leave the area.
 
Deer rely on all three senses.

In open country, more on sight and sound and closed country more on sound and smell. Hunters could argue around the campfire for hours about which sense deer rely on more. Mule Deer generally live in open country and will rely more on sight/sound. WT's generally live in swampy ground and depend on smell and hearing.

Sight goes two ways, if you can see a deer, generally it can see you. So if you scare a deer, you know it got away. You never do really know how many deer you have scared away with smell and sound?

I have had deer see me and not know what I was, because I was motionless and quiet. I have been within 20 yards or deer and if they don't smell you, they just keep going, but if they do smell you, you generally hear a snort and see a deer running away.

I like the smell of cosmo in the morning. I also like the smell of gun oil in my safe.

If it bothers you or you are scared or worried about scaring deer, clean your rifle.

Hunting is an odds game and generally you want the odds in your favour. So be conscious of all three senses. Nevertheless I have shot deer that could see me, smell me and here me, but I have also had them get away for the same reasons.

Sometimes if you have experience it is fun to put the odds back into their favour: Iron sights vs Scope, Bow vs Rifle, Flintlock vs Inline.

If you a trophy hunter or have limited days/tags, put all the odds in your favour, but if you have the time or tags, I am sure you can get a deer with a rifle that smells like cosmo, it just might not be as easy.
 
Definitely agree with Mr. agentcq!

I took My Ross M10, Nagant Sniper, Israeli K98, and Chu Wood Stocked M305 hunting in November of 2011...

All but the M305 had an oiled finish put on them years ago which has worn off by now, and they barely emit any smell at all!

But...
Took 2 Whitetail Does with the M305 which still smells of those funky Chinese Chemicals they put in the wood.. and to boot, my #### DIDN'T fall off!!! :rockOn: It's win - win.... WIN!!

Perhaps the Chinese are using WT Buck Urine to preserve the wood stocks... :confused:

Cheers!
 
Whitetails and mulies use different escape strategies and inhabit the type of terrain which best suits their instincts. Whitetails are hiders and will choose the most dense cover. Mulies rely on their eyesight to detect danger at a distance and then move away from it, often using their stotting gait to gain an uphill advantage on the predator. Unfortunately this is what makes the mulie more vulnerable to hunting because separation space from an animal predator will still leave them vulnerable to a rifle shot.

I'm fortunate to be able to "hunt" deer in one form or another on a daily basis. In the growing season I do wildlife damage claims on forage crops and spend a lot of time in the field observing the activities of bear, elk, sheep, mulies and whitetail (and getting paid for it;)). When I visit a ranch I can pretty much predict whether it will be used by mulies or whitetails based on the terrain and type of cover available. River valley bottoms tend to be whitetail country, while hilly terrain is for the mulies. In some cases you will see both on the same ground. This used to be the case in the Battle River country around Wainwright/Hardisty, AB where we would often take both species on the same ground on the same day. I see this to some extent along the Similkameen River and Bridesville areas in southern interior BC, but the whitetails still go for the low ground while the mulies will be on the hilly, broken slopes. Where I live is strictly mulie country where the deer hang out around the orchards and vinyards on mostly hilly terrain. Most days I do a 3 mile hike and see an average of 15-30 deer per day. You can generally predict where they will be based on the wind direction and intensity as well as their current feeding opportunities, incl my wife's flower garden:eek:. Mulies also seem to tame down more than whitetails, if not heavily hunted. Mr. Whitetail will always be a lot more jumpy and ready to charge for the nearest cover when he sees you.

It's interesting to see mulies making a comeback in east central SK where I grew up and started hunting. They were our native deer and are all that you see in the old homesteader's hunting pictures. They were pretty much shot out by subsistence hunting in the 1920s/30s. At the same time the whitetails moved in to exploit the agriculture and cleared land and were a lot more successful at making a go of it, in spite of the continued hunting pressure. My father shot a big whitetail buck in the mid '30s which was quite a novelty for all of the old timers to see. Nowadays the hunting pressure is a lot less and there are a lot fewer people living in the country, so the mulies are back and are co-existing nicely with the whitetails.

Like I said in my original post, deer are a lot more alarmed by human odor than by the smell of gun oil, so it is important to use the wind to your advantage.:cheers:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom