Scent control by diet

B

BrianBM

New member
There have been mentions, once or twice, of changing one's diet before hunting season to avoid offending a whitetail's sensitive nose. What kind of diet changes do hunters practice? Go vegetarian for a few weeks? Besides meat and tobacco, what else do guys do to affect their scent?
 
I often wonder about that too. I take supplements of garlic, ginseng, ginger root, and a few other things, and the combination (not sure which) keeps the horseflies and mosquitoes off of me very very well (while they're eating my buds alive), but I can't help from wonder if I'm gonna stick out like a sore thumb, smell-wise, to the deer. I'm not knowledgeable in this area, but my guess would be yes, eat grains, cereals, fruits, vegetables - minimize the meat & fish and dairy products. I know that high salt items can make you give off a smell, too - like soy sauce.

If you eat a big bowl of chili before hunting, might want to throw on a pair of these:

http://www.flat-d.com/charcoal-underwear.html
 
I've often wondered about "carnivore" breath. I imagine that cup of 7-11 coffee on the way can kind of smell strong, too. I do usually brush with baking soda and water before hunting but I do that frequently when it's not hunting season too.

There is absolutely no chance of me going veg for hunting season, or giving up my morning coffee, so I quit worrying about it. I usually take some trail mix or cashews or peanuts when hunting but I've been known to have some deer or beef jerky in my pack, sealed up, of course. I've never been one to take a thermos in the woods, but I will take a Mountain Dew in a plastic bottle.

Face it, you are human, to animals you stink. Most Americans are meat eaters. I understand that to people from more vegetarian cultures, we really stink. I hunt to have fun. If I had to give up meat and coffee to get a deer, that would really lower the fun factor. I try to take reasonable precautions, but I decided long ago to worry more about how I hunt than how I smell. I don't care what you eat, how you dress, what you wash your clothes in, what you bought at walmart, or what kind of high tech underwear you spent $130 on, if a deer gets directly downwind from you, up close, you're busted. None of the above hurt, though, and I've tried it all. I draw the line at going veg, though. I'd rather wear skunk scent.:D
 
I guess I got into my own hunting before such things were worried about. I've just taken it for granted that to Bambi, I have Bad B.O., and hunt into the wind.

:), Art
 
If anyone has seen the Ted Nugent wack em and stack em videos he claims that he drinks nothing but apple juice for 2 weeks before he goes hunting and when he pisses off of his tree stand it smells like apples. I never tried it. Kind of funny though. :)
 
Body scent was a survival issue for guys on patrol in Vietnam. Maybe one of them would have some notion about how long it takes for a change in diet to make a change in one's distinctive type of body odor.

Might be a good question for the General forum.

Art
 
Art, do you mean that it's a matter of survival, by the GIs smelling the enemy first (and hoping that they don't change their high-fish & soy diet as a result of this advantage)? Or, do you mean a matter of survival in that our boys changed their OWN diets to be more like that of the enemy so that we would not smell different to them? Or both? Thanks.
 
FF, I guess it was both, really. But, if our guys' BO was different from that of the VC, bivouacs and ambushes could be located by that different smell. It worked both ways, from what I've read. Purely from reading; no first-hand knowledge...

Art
 
I remember one Green Beret's memoir - the name isn't currently coming to mind - who mentioned that he stuck religiously to a Vietnamese diet, nuoc mam and all, precisely so that he'd smell like them. Fortunately, all I have to be concerned with is not spooking game.
 
I haven't got all caught up w/ all the "scent gadgets" out on the market, but I am a huge fan of scent free deoderant & soap by dead downwind. soap yourself up one day after working in the yard and you literally do not smell anything on you. I even stuck my nose under my arm and could smell nothing. :eek: No, I can't reach my a$$, but I'm assuming it has the same effect there!:p No joke!
 
I hunt with a bunch of hard drinking, hard smoking, meat eating rednecks on public land in the mountains. Nobody who makes an effort has a problem getting a deer. The consensus is movement is a bigger problem than scent or appropriate cammo, which is a problem for me since I smell nice but can't sit still. :p

Chris
 
Unless your going to be hunting in outer space, you are going to be out there at around the same time as about a zillion other hunters, so a deer trying to avoid the human scent is going to have a hard time. I think playing the wind, and staying as still as possible, will pay off far better than worrying about how your breath smells.

The mosquitos here, are to thick, to hunt with my mouth open anyway.:o
 
Stench and diet...

I have tried the following diet for years. It seems to work.

Booze at night (to hydrate), Captain Krunch with sardines and boisenberries, in the AM. (and some asprin to counteract the booze smell), Coffee with sacharine and creamer, and a half pack of "lite" cigarettes to counteract any remaining liquor smell.

Couple of cigars and diet cokes...or root beer...in the stand, until lunch time...(usually about 45 minutes), and then...

Two burritos, a pack of spicy peanuts...quick trip to the "big tree" /w wad of Denny's napkins.... mug of cold coffee, can ofwarm diet coke, 'nuther cig.

Ready for the afternoon hunt, completely scent free!
 
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