Hiding Human scent

[Pahoo]

Keep it natural and familiar

I met this old guy who swear that tobacco odor helped him mask his scent back when he was very much younger and was an acute smoker.

After a lot of research, I decided to try smoke. I got a bee smoker and some wood chips. I put my gear in a blind, set the smoker in there and left it for a while.

There is evidence that "smoke" works well and smoke is a natural part of a dears environment. I feel that as far as "masking" use natural scents. I use apples and rub my hunting close with ground moss and it's root area. I know it works. Ground tent blinds work amazing well when stored properly …..

Be Safe !!!

 

[ms6852]

After hunting for near 50 years I do what my grandfather taught be I keep my hunting clothes in a plastic bag and cut a small branch of juniper or whatever vegetation is in the regional area that we hunt. Once a month or every two months take out the old branch and put a fresh one. Everything is in the bag from socks to sweater and jackets. For new people that join us we will make a campfire prior to going hunting and burn sage the night before.

 

[craddleshooter]

In Other words, Playing the wind is best thing to do. ?

 

[doofus47]

hunt into the wind. All else is details.

 

[Brian Pfleuger]

hunt into the wind. All else is details

If only it were that easy.

One of these years, some of you guys who live where the wind blows from one direction for hours at a time have really got to take me hunting. I've never seen such a place.

Besides that, for a great many hunters there is no wandering around 20,000 acres, going where ever they, or the wind, pleases them to go. Lots of us to get to hunt on 50... 20... 5 acres.... and often not alone.

One of my all time favorite hunting spots (which mind you was about 10 acres of woods we could use) was really great because you always had ONE thing going for you.... the deer ALWAYS, and I mean ALWAYS, came from the East. So, we only hunted there when we had an "East" wind. We always got there about 2:30-3:00 because the deer NEVER came out until it was almost too dark to shoot. During the season, that's 2 1/2, maybe 3 hours from arrival until dark. I don't recall a single time sitting there that the wind didn't come from at least 270dg around me, at some point in those 2-3 hours.

 

[dahermit]

They also invoked magic and spiritual ritual for hunting. So if we are going to say that this has merit based on h&g societies, then we cannot rule out the necessity of invoking magic and involving spiritual rituals.

The Pygmys of equatorial Africa cover themselves in elephant dung to hide their scent before they sneak underneath the indigenous forest elephants to strike them in the soft abdomen with a spear. The wounded elephant is then trailed until it dies from the wound. I don't think their method involves invoking magic or spiritual rituals as much as it involves invoking dung.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

The Pygmys of equatorial Africa cover themselves in elephant dung to hide their scent before they sneak underneath the indigenous forest elephants to strike them in the soft abdomen with a spear. The wounded elephant is then trailed until it dies from the wound. I don't think their method involves invoking magic or spiritual rituals as much as it involves invoking dung.

Yes, they may due that as do other hunter and gatherer groups in Africa such as the Bantu, but they also are involved in the use of hunting charms/talismans, dances to appease animal spirits, etc. to ensure good hunting. My point, in case you missed it, was that if you were going to suggest that because hunters and gatherers have done something which would justify its use by us (if h&g peoples have done something, then there must be something to it, right?), then you can't exclude the need to do the other things they do as well.

 

[dahermit]

"...then you can't exclude the need to do the other things they do as well." Oh come now...do you really think that any magic they perform has any effect whatsoever on the game's ability to detect a human scent? They (the primitive people) may think so, but I am sure science could prove otherwise.
In short, I believe using scents can be effective if applied as rigorously and generously as is the dung in the instance of the pygmy's whereas, a few squirts of acorn or apple scent may not be nearly as effective. I may be a matter of how bad you want to have a successful hunt.

 

[BumbleBug]

I had an uncle that always took an onion with him to his blind. He'd cut it in half & rub it all along the blind.

Having had many intense conversations around a campfire, I've heard from some who never pee near a stand. Conversely, others say go ahead & pee wherever, as urine is urine, no matter the source & it's a cover-up scent.

I also had a bowhunting friend that was a fanatic on rubber boots, storing his hunting clothes outside in a bag along with cedar branches & being super clean using special soap before going out.

BTW, all of these guys seemed to get their share of deer. As for me, I just always watch the wind direction & only pee when I can't hold it anymore.

PS: I also remember something that seems pertinent to this discussion. I had a great aunt way back that use to go to the local barber shop & get a bag of hair clippings swept off the floor to sprinkle in her garden. It was suppose to keep deer & other critters away. As a best I could tell, it didn't work because she was always cussing up a storm about her garden destruction.

 

[Brian Pfleuger]

Having had many intense conversations around a campfire, I've heard from some who never pee near a stand. Conversely, others say go ahead & pee wherever, as urine is urine, no matter the source & it's a cover-up scent

One of the huntings mags had an article some years back about a guy who peed in buck scrapes and even in some he made himself. He left some scrapes “natural” so he could tell if the deer seemed to react. He said they treated them all the same.

get a bag of hair clippings swept off the floor to sprinkle in her garden. It was suppose to keep deer & other critters away

That’s a popular theory, which sounds at least plausible in the woods but not so much around a garden. There’s already human scent there and deer expect it.

The “bags of hair” theory seems to get floated every time somebody has a bad year. “I bet somebody went around our property and spread human hair!” I’ve asked my barbers about it. They all say nobody has ever asked them for a bag of hair. Maybe they’re in in the conspiracy.

 

[Mobuck]

"...rutting billy goat scent..." Please tell us you filmed the collecting of that. snicker.

I didn't but I can if it's really important. My Grandkids have a herd of goats so this essence is readily available in the fall. Since most often, I spend more time with the management end of the goats than the kids do, I end up handling the billy goats more and that "stuff" rubs off easily. The "ingredients" aren't something that can be shared over public channels, BTW.
It does work but must be used with caution. When does smell it they come looking to breed and the bucks are looking for a fight. Humans will be looking for fresh air. The smell is something one gets used to after a few days but others don't feel that way.

 

[buck460XVR]

In Other words, Playing the wind is best thing to do. ?

Yes, but it is not always easy. I haunt a lot of very large tracts of flat open swampland. Generally, looking at the weather will tell you which direction the wind is blowing and if it's going to change direction significantly within a few hours. Playing the wind there is easy. No thermals, no swirling winds, only scent you really need to worry about is what is behind your back and the trail you walked in on. I also hunt bluff and coulee areas. The wind there is always swirling and the thermals at morning and night have nuttin' to do with wind direction unless there's a gale blowin'. This is where you use the ol' sayin' "you get up in the morning and lay low at night"., or you hunt the edges where the real breeze actually gets to.

Still, you have to be careful of your hygiene and your exposure to smells that may alert or offend your prey. Hunt in heavily populated farm country or the edge of town and the faint smell of humans does not alarm deer like it does in the middle of large forested tracts. Deer accustomed to coming to feeders come in minutes after the feeder has been filled. So anything but a strong smell of human will not alarm them. Strange smells alert, those they are accustomed to don't. Gun oil may alert a deer, but the smell of gas and oil from a chain saw will attract. Smoke is something deer do not always associate with humans, thus they don't always fear it, altho it does gain their attention. Sometimes it will act as an attractant because they are curious as to how close and how big the fire is. One place I hunt has horses. I try to walk thru their dung piles on my way to stand. I works when I hunt by the pasture....not so much when I hunt far away from it in the woods. I found that coyote and fox urine do not cover your scent, but relax deer, because they think if th'yotes and fox are there, there must not be a real threat from humans. Same goes for Turkey scent....and sounds. Walk thru the woods making turkey calls and you can get pretty close to deer even when making noise.

Cover scents are not a cure. Like cough syrup they can diminish the symptoms, but do not eradicate the actual problem. To rely on it alone is asking to fail. Much more to it than that.

 

[craddleshooter]

@buck460XVR, i completely agree with you, playing the wind is a lot harder than people say it is. how can you play the wind when the direction of the wind changes.

 

[Sure Shot Mc Gee]

Conversely, others say go ahead & pee wherever, as urine is urine, no matter the source & it's a cover-up scent

That's not at all true. Deer can determine one urine over anothers. Enzymes & amino acids. {Humans eat meat deer don't.}
Tip: Never pee close to where you intend to shoot from. I you want to make a false Scrape. Lightly dig up a active deer scrape located else where and move it to a new location. Usual set -up. No closer than 50ft of a already established scrap. That technique shows competition for doe between two buck roaming in the same area..

Having a cell phone can help a hunter with wind direction gusts and mph of. The only other important factor. Air drift. The only way I know of to get a reading of A/d. Watch a chimneys smoke before day light or at day break. Smoke immediately sinking/drifting down to the ground out of a chimney tells me its useless to hunt from my above ground stand.
Smoke drifting straight up from a chimney. Every way of one's hunting technique is sweet.
Smoke neither lifting upwards or sinking down wards but appears to be moving sideways for a number yards than moving downwards. It's imperative to be positioned spot on {down wind.} of a forest opening. Don't move about. Scent is being carried and noise is amplified further. Just my 2 centavos.

 

[bamaranger]

scents

I fooled with scents the first few years I bowhunted. The bottled scents were awful, I ended up with stink about everywhere, in the truck, my clothing, all my gear and tackle. I switched to scent "wafers" that had a nifty plastic clip and could be stashed in a handy plastic bottle. But eventually I quit fooling with any type of scent.

"Playing the wind" is the way. The wind does not blow the same direction constantly, but modern weather study allows the wind to be rather reliably predicted. And while wind does not always "stay" from a given direction and can swing periodically, my observation is that a predicted "south" wind for example, will stay that way consistently enough to allow stand selection and optimistic hunting.

In my area, thermal heating and cooling is not a big deal, we are pretty level. So the cardinal directions, and wind speed, is what I watch. Stands are picked with predicted wind, in my favor, ie, I am downwind, and approach from downwind. There is not a deer alive that can wind you if you are downwind. One must watch out for topography and terrain features that can "funnel" the wind. If one is limited to just a few stand sights, or heaven forbid just one, and limited number of days to be afield, you are unfortunately hunting at a tremendous disadvantage, especially if using short range weapons.

I have posted before that a noted bowhunter (one of the Wensel (?) brothers, commented that "whitetails ARE the wind" and to be really successful, especially with a short range weapon, and on pressured animals, a hunter must hunt with wind as a prime consideration. To consistently kill deer at short ranges especially, you must beat their nose.

 

[Pahoo]

A great adventure !!!

We are all part-time hunters, hunting a full-time deer, who has the advantage. I won't explain but I kind of go through a ritual, before and after a hunt. Does it work? Sometimes and makes me feel better ….

Be Safe !!!

 

[458winshooter]

Scent

This topic was discussed on this forum a few years ago and as I recall many folks were in favor of smoke on their clothes,like when they were outside burning leaves getting them saturated with the smell of smoke.I myself am curious about the ozone contraptions I know when I worked at a bus company twenty years or so ago they used them to get rid of all kinds of odors.They were much bigger units but they did work extremely well.