Oct
19
Scent Control (not “elimination”)
First thing to understand and accept is that human scent cannot be eliminated. We breathe, have moist eyes and ear canals and other “openings” in our bodies that constantly exude scent. The best we can do, therefore, is try to control or mask our “smell” to fool this number one whitetail sense. A whitetail can differentiate scent particles as few as 2 or 3 parts per million. To illustrate: if a gallon of pure, 100% deer urine were poured into an Olympic-sized swimming pool, a deer smelling the water could determine the sex, age, general physical condition, probable date of a doe’s onset of estrous, what the deer from which the scent was extracted had to eat last, and many other individual characteristics. Over 60% of a whitetail’s brain is devoted to scent detection. They can smell over 10,000 times better than a human, and about 1000 times better than a bloodhound. Considering that a bloodhound can pick up a lingering scent as long as 72 hours after it’s deposited, it seems futile to try to beat this sense, right? Not necessarily.
The oldest-and truest-rule of deer hunting is “hunt into the wind.” If the wind is felt on the back of our neck, or quartering or crossing from the rear, the deer will smell us. Setting up two or more stands or blinds to allow for the most common prevailing winds in a given area is mandatory. In my area, wind from the south is most common, while north wind quandrant is second. Even in calm conditions, breezes and thermals will affect the selection of when and where to hunt a given area. Another tip: thermals generally rise in the morning, and fall in the afternoon and evening. If the hunter is restricted by time and area constraints, a masking or cover scent must necessarily come into play. Remember: we can’t eliminate scent, or defeat the deer’s nose. We can, tho, reduce the likelihood of being detected.
One year, I used a commercial scent killer. It had a musty, damp leaf/forest floor scent. It advertises being able to “eliminate up to 99% of REPLICATED human scent”: key word being “replicated”. What that means is that it COULD, possibly, eliminate UP TO that high percentile of scent that bacterial action in and on fabrics, textiles and exposed skin and leather or rubber may produce. It COULD NOT eliminate the original production of the scent itself. By experimentation, I found that by bruising and “barking” common red cedar limbs and leaves/needles, I did the same “elimination”, without the expense. Another old-tyme varmint-type hunter (kinda like me) used diesel fuel as a cover or masking scent. He stated: “there ain’t a deer alive that ain’t smelled diesel, and he ain’t afraid of it”. He would dampen a new sponge with a tiny amount-very tiny-of diesel, tie the sponge on a cord or string five feet long or so, and use it for a drag behind him as he walked to a stand location. Then, he’d wipe the sponge-using readily available, inexpensive rubber or plastic gloves on his hands-on the exposed surfaces of his blind or stand. If a reader chooses to try this, use extreme caution, as diesel fuel is highly inflammable. I’ve used this diesel-sponge and it works. I carried it to and from hunting areas in a well sealed, locking plastic bag. Given, tho, the danger of the diesel sponge use, I use the bruised red cedar leaves and branches almost exclusively. I’ve used other non-intrusive aromatics, too, like real, or “pure”-not artificial-vanilla flavoring, and fresh herbs like sage and rosemary.
Remember: hunting into the wind is the only pretty near fool-proof way to insure a target deer won’t smell us. If we can’t pick and choose when and where to hunt, try masking scents. Just don’t depend on them to do more than mask or reduce our scent.