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Am I wasting my time on scent control?

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Brassy

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Joined
Sep 2, 2024
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3
Location
Louisville
Besides the obvious of hunting the wind, does scent control really make much, if any difference? I've heard there is no real way to fool a deer's nose, but if you can reduce your scent to where he thinks your 200 yards away when in reality your only 50 yards, you have succeeded. And by using various products from soaps, sprays, ozone, to not getting dressed until in the field. Each one works just a little bit, but when added all together can make a real difference in not getting busted.
My question is after going through all the preventative measures, but then cracking open a bag of beef jerky or even having a candy bar in your pack, have I negated all the countermeasures? What about are firearms, surely deer can smell those if they can smell my breath?
I think having the special clothing, and uncle Chester's super secret swamp spray, is a confidence booster for most of us, ( which can make a difference ) but at the end of the day is it just a con?
 
I am still very conscientious of my scent control. Too many times I have had deer come from where they weren't expected to and end up downwind of me. I think it can make a big difference, and while you may not be able to fool a deer's nose, you can definitely cut down your scent profile and make them less likely to catch your wind when they happen to come in from the wrong way or get around you.
 
I gave up on being too awful worried about scent control when I started hunting the hills and hollers in middle Tennessee. I do wash my clothes in scent free soap, like backyard said to cut down scent profile, but that's really it. I try and use the wind to my advantage as best I can, but with thermals and terrain it seems like a crapshoot most days. I can tell for sure which direction they won't wind me if there is a steady 5-10 mph wind, but that may only cover 45 degrees. I have found much better success hunting good spots and not banking on where the deer will be coming from.
 
deerhunter10 said:
Con imo all of it. We purely 100 percent play the wind. Have for a while now. Bought ozone several years back. It works kind of. Not enough to fool with imo.
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100 percent agree!

If you are a steady deer killer every year try ditching one piece of your scent free regimen every year until it's all just a thing of the past.

our fore fathers slayed a many of deer from the ground with iron sights. No camo, no deodorant, no clue about wind. They'd just burn a pack of marlboro reds while wearing dirty blue jeans, greasy work boots and red flannel shirts!
 
knightrider said:
Wasted time and money, since ive stopped all the foolishness of buying scent control crap and taking all the precautions, to washing my camo in tide hanging it in my closet with everything else ive seen zero difference
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Bingo. That's pretty much exactly what I've seen. I still wash my stuff in detergent that doesn't have brighteners but I don't worry much about scent. I hunt as carefully as reasonably possible and that seems to be fine.
 
Ski said:
Bingo. That's pretty much exactly what I've seen. I still wash my stuff in detergent that doesn't have brighteners but I don't worry much about scent. I hunt as carefully as reasonably possible and that seems to be fine.
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Since ive learned thermals and wind tunnels and what topography moves the wind my sightings and not getting busted have sky rocketed without all the scent control crap
 
The only thing I do anymore is wear rubber boots and spray them down before I walk in. I have never had a deer cut my walking sign doing so and I constantly walk through the middle of my plots for evening hunts and never had one smell where I walked. But if a deer gets down wind it's going to smell you. Most people who say they have had deer down wind and didn't smell them I believe aren't considering the thermal pulls in the morning, I would bet they are not having that happen with evening thermals.
 
It's ALL about whether the deer smell your scent or not. NOT scent control in and by itself.

I hunt 30 to 40 days out of the year, and I will get blown at by a doe only once or twice an entire season.

Sometimes it's because I'm hunting deer 400y away and they just can't smell me that far.

Sometimes it's because I'm in an enclosed shooting house that is airtight with windows down and they are 15y away downwind.

Sometimes I'm hunting in 15 to 20mph winds high in a tree with deer all over me downwind, but winds are too high for my scent to be detectable by them.

Once in a blue moon I get lucky and a deer comes in from a place he wasn't supposed to and doesn't smell me.

I'm not a scent control fanatic. It's important... I wash in scent free body wash, wash clothes in unscented detergent, use unscented deodorant. But that's it for scent control. No cover scents, no ozonics, no clothes sealed in Tupperware or plastic...

But after 40 years of hunting, I've learned which spots to hunt and more importantly which spots NOT to hunt for any given wind. Learning that came with deer blowing at me at least every 3rd hunt 20y ago. Just part of the learning process.
 
I take a different tack. I think it helps. But that's because I set all my stands up like I am bowhunting. All my encounters with deer are at VERY close range. Since I've been using a scent-control regime, deer no long blow and bolt when they smell me. They lock-up and go on high alert. Then they either slowly back out of the situation or continue on at super high attention. Both scenarios can give me a shooting opportunity. Blowing and bolting does not. That said, I only hunt a given stand when the wind is most to my advantage. But I have to admit, I'm no longer super-anal about my scent-control. I wash all my clothes in scent-reducing soaps, air dry them, and keep them in airtight containers. Inner-most layers only get worn once before being rewashed, mid-layers a couple of times, outer layers simply get sprayed down periodically with scent reducers. I don 't wear my boots indoors or in my truck. But I used to go to extraordinary lengths to reduce scent, like not touching anything without wear surgical gloves. I don't go to those extremes anymore.
 
When I first started deer hunting years ago, I'd try anything that was all the rage as far as scent control.

These days I'll wash my clothes in hunting type detergents, and use hunters soap and unscented deodorant. I don't wear my hunting boots or clothes anywhere but the woods and store them in a big cedar chest.

I've had better luck by avoiding walking in on trails the deer use if possible, and avoiding stand sites that the prevailing winds are bad for. That's no guarantee they won't shift on me though.

That's about it. You can fool their noses sometimes, but never totally defeat them.
 
swampbadger said:
and using a little milkweed really helps too!
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Why? Because its the cool tv thing to do or are you getting down and completely moving the moment it shows the wind isnt in your favor? Milkweed is cool to watch but once you realize you screwed up its already to late. I see everyone on youtube and tv use it but never see anyone get down and leave. Milkweed does nothing except show you that few seconds what its doing, learn thermals and topography wind shifts and tunnels and leave all the gimmicks alone and for goodness sake dont listen the weatherman
 

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