11 replies to this topic

[vh64]

I was checking out an article in a magazine about testing scent type killers.  In Minnesota they had a sheriff's deputy with his K-9 partner CHANCE, trained at finding drugs, lost people and tracking down bad guys.  They had a setup called the Hot Box game.  6 plywood boxes (4x4x4 feet) spaced evenly in two rows across a field. People enter the boxes for 2-3 minutes to heat up the box with scent then all but one leaves then the dog goes down wind a little sorts through the different scents and then locates the bad Guy. Well in their test they had the guy test 1 stinky, test 2 normal scent cover up-no scent shower clothes washed in no scent detergent stored in a plastic tube also high rubber boots.  Test 3 extreme scent control,  2 layers of activated carbon clothing soaked with scent killing spray and gum to kill breath. Results : the dog located the person in test 1- 20 sec. 2- 18 sec. 3- 13 sec.     What do you think about this test?  What about scent cover up instead of or with scent Eliminators. Like using coffee to cover up drugs being brought into our country ....that principal. I think scent killers help myself along with a lot of other products. What's your take on this?

[wayko]

Interesting, got me thinking alittle, *was the guy hiding in all 3 test the same one & was it done in the same day? I'am not so sure if anyone can become totally sent free & once the dog got the same persons scent it seens it would be easy for the dog to lock in on it, no matter what he was doing to control it, doing back to back to back testing.
     I might be wrong, but I always figured the no-scent stuff would only get me a few extra yards before geting busted, I think it helps, but don't know fer-sure.
     Cover scent, I belive help also. I'am one of the bad people, I'am a smoker, I know it's bad for me, but it does help cover my scent.  But now I used to hunt with a guy who was into trapping & would use the cover scents that he used in his trapping, on his hunting coat, (don't know fer-sure if it worked, he never got any more deer then the rest of us, BUT, we sure would not let his coat any where near the wood burner, the stink would kill the taste of the chille, LOL).

[vh64]

Hi wayko, I don't know anymore than that. The article was in a very well known hunting/fishing magazine. I think scent killers help and I will use them but I'm sure there is scent still around. I just wondered what others thought.

[Old Longhair]

Voodoo!

Why not just pay attention to the wind?

[vh64]

Hi old longhair,  I do pay attention to the wind.  I believe that's rule #1 in most peoples book. But especially in heavily hunted areas like public land I hunt unfortunately the deer are highly educated in the association game, meaning they have been exposed to more scents, sounds, and sights that they relate directly to human presence and do not need any extra info to immediately go into full alert and leave the area for the rest of the season. In a heart beat they will go nocturnal. Now as far as scent concealment,  take for example knee high rubber boots they work on the same principal as scent killer type spray and many times I've seen the benefit of rubber boots when a deer crosses the spot I walked into my stand. Also a couple times I've seen a deer go into full alert by smelling a bush I brushed up against coming in to my stand with my arm. And as far as cover up type scent don't use the same cover scent at the same area,  deer will associate any and all smells to you if given the opportunity and time.  So yes I believe concealing and covering scents do swing the odds in my favor enough that I've seen it with my own eyes.  Remember deer are always on alert but one little bity sniff of me they are at DEFCON FOUR. I've hunted other spots especially farm land areas where it seemed hard believe what it took to really scare the .....out of them even multiple shots with a bow. I have my own property and frankly I don't have to be as "careful " I love the challenge of a 3 or more year old on public land, 75% of the time they win.

[vh64]

I just thought there may be others out there that are stuck hunting this heavily hunted areas like I have been most of my life. Here is a few more pointers.  When it comes to buying deer scents, cover up,  doe in heat, grunt calls etc. Go to your local stores see what they offer and don't buy these .buy hard to get products,  make your own.  Chances are there have  been a million others out there using exactly what you are.

[Buck CLS]

vh64, on 24 July 2011 - 03:33 AM, said:

Hi old longhair,  I do pay attention to the wind.  I believe that's rule #1 in most peoples book. But especially in heavily hunted areas like public land I hunt unfortunately the deer are highly educated in the association game, meaning they have been exposed to more scents, sounds, and sights that they relate directly to human presence and do not need any extra info to immediately go into full alert and leave the area for the rest of the season. In a heart beat they will go nocturnal. Now as far as scent concealment,  take for example knee high rubber boots they work on the same principal as scent killer type spray and many times I've seen the benefit of rubber boots when a deer crosses the spot I walked into my stand. Also a couple times I've seen a deer go into full alert by smelling a bush I brushed up against coming in to my stand with my arm. And as far as cover up type scent don't use the same cover scent at the same area,  deer will associate any and all smells to you if given the opportunity and time.  So yes I believe concealing and covering scents do swing the odds in my favor enough that I've seen it with my own eyes.  Remember deer are always on alert but one little bity sniff of me they are at DEFCON FOUR. I've hunted other spots especially farm land areas where it seemed hard believe what it took to really scare the .....out of them even multiple shots with a bow. I have my own property and frankly I don't have to be as "careful " I love the challenge of a 3 or more year old on public land, 75% of the time they win.

[thirdhandman]

Three things tell me cover scents work.  My dog as well as most hunting dogs when hunting find the first pile of cow manure and roll into it to cover her smell.

While hunting in S. Africa The first thing our PH did was to light buffalo dung.  While the dung was burning you could see the smoke going to the animals and they remained calm,  As soon as the smoke went out the animals split.  The blacks over there smell worse than goats as they rarely bathe.  But the smoke covered their bad smell also.

The best true hunters were Indians.  They had sticks and strings.  They had no scent loc suits or realtree camo. They got close to their game. They simply sat by the fire and hunted in the same clothing.  The smoke was their cover scent and yes they played the wind.

[Old Longhair]

All that I know, is that a dog can differenciate between 32,000 smells. He can go into a warehouse of airline luggage and sniff out the only bag that has an explosive out of thousands of other scents. I also know that cover scents do not work on coyotes or other dogs,

If you think that a deer's nose is sensitive enough to pick up on your scent on a branch that you brushed once a while ago, don't for a minute believe that he will be fooled by a cover scent. He will just wonder why that human smells like a skunk.

[rt2bowhunter]

This has been my thinking on scent control or cover up. You are not going to cover 100% or even close. All i hope to do. Through the use of both. I use home made scent killer and HHS fresh earth scent wafers. Is the deer think I'm farther away than i am. The same way you might walk out your front door and smell a skunk. Your nose will tell you It's far away or you better watch out or you better go out the back door. Deer smell people all the time. I have had deer stand and blow and blow. Then settle down and walk right on by. They smelled me but the smell was so weak they forgot about it. I have also had them come looking for me even looking in the trees. And i have had them bust out at a dead run.
I hunt the wind 100% of the time. But it swirls and gusts and changes direction.
The best friend i have is a puff bottle filled with colored carpenter's calk. It will show you what the wind is doing. And because i ground hunt if it changes i just move down wind.

[vh64]

Rt2bowhunter that's exactly what I'm inclined to believe also. Excellent post. Certain areas I hunt deer during most of the year rarely smell a human in there immediate area,  example Cedar swamp, they may smell humans from great distances but are unalarmed. While on my property they are use to human scent in there immediate area because I'm out doing things where they live. It takes other circumstances, hunting them , for them to start not liking my scent to be real close anymore.  While my scent is always there to some degree of intensity they must know by the intensity and freshness if I'm near. So by using all the scent Eliminators and practices I've found that it does save your butt enough times to make it worth it. And I believe it's because of the intensity and somehow relates to freshness is lessened. I have no scientific proof only my experiences. I've also learned that deer can know you personally and distinguish you from other humans just by scent which can have negative or sometimes positive outcomes based on the most important factor ASSOCIATION. You might think I'm getting carried away but years of hunting over hunted areas and trying to be successful has taught me a few things.

[vh64]

I wanted to give you another example of association where your personal scent can work for you. You probably will think I'm crazy but I'm use to it because I am probably.  I learned this from my mother, I call her the deer Whisperer and that's a cool story in itself. Anyway I had been hunting a fairly large tract of public land and a core deer hideout in this tract. I could never get into it without them always knowing it so one year I decided to associate my self with the deer in a positive way, yes you heard right, I started at the beginning of spring and I would go and spend time with the deer starting out as non intrusive as possible and always bringing treats working my way deeper into their core area leaving something good for them until hunting season. They got use to my scent associated with good things. No they didn't eat out of my hand but it did allow me to hunt them and I was very successful but the kicker is when I told my buddy to hunt my stand he very seldom seen anything. This method is not practical because of the time involved but it was the challenge for me.