Washing clothes.

S

Swampghost

New member
Just curious as to what you use? Scentless detergents are hard to come by and I notice that they still have SOME odor or maybe it's residual detergent from the previous load.

I'm also thinking of stuffing some of Ol'#2's old pantyhose with leaves for the dryer cycle (low heat of course) to infuse the 'woodland' smell. Anybody ever try this?
 
No i have not tried that and you will always have a much worser stink to and animal than your clothes. Wash with regular detergent and dragem through the leave if you are still worried about the smell.
 
Baking soda, hang outside to dry, store in double trash bag. The leaves in hose would be a good idea to keep mess contained.
 
A friend of mine and I were discussing this very thing today. Washing clothes in what, cover scents, leaving scent as you walk. Also what I've read about scents when coyote hunting (if they get downwind... you're busted no matter what) combined with a little personal experience, we came to this... People stink, and it's not the deodorant, or what you wash your clothes in or the chemicals you work around, it's you. Some things may over power your scent, but I've had deer walk by where I was, where I've worked, but not when I'm there, not usually. I have gone right out hunting after work, smelling like grease and diesel and whatever other stuff I had been working on all day, and they still come around. Almost seems more so when I do stink like other stuff. Personally, I think playing the wind is a little better, and nice cover scent helps too, something that will be more prevalent smelling than you. As far as the UV stuff, there may be something to that, so I just wash my clothes with liquid dish soap, no UV brighteners in that. Plus it gives you a fresh lemon scent! Or apple if you buy that kind. Again, I think we all just stink to animals, and there isn't much to be done about it other than try to confuse them for a minute so they wonder why some human smells like an apple orchard. :D
 
I was told by a true native american in arizona that given their techniques and skills, they were able to sneak up on the prey. What we eat has a ton to do with our body odors. I don't give it a second thought as I don't bow hunt and I ain't planning on hand feeding critters. Given the winds ability to work in our favor the deer, while alerted by our trail, is going to have to get pretty close to be sure it is worth while to deviate from their intended path.
Brent
 
i use regular laundry detergent, and use unscented deoderant (only when i'm going out hunting). if its deer season i may use a fresh earth scent wafer or 2 pinned on my jacket. crazy thing is they really do smell like dirt. i've been mainly stalk hunting more than stand hunting lately. because the last 4 years i've been doing swimming pool work. i smell of chlorine no matter how many times i shower, until october. i haven't attempted to hunt right after work with or without a shower.
 
Interesting question that you ask.
Just yesterday I bought some detergent to wash my hunting clothes in.
I got Arm and Hammer baking soda laundry detergent. This stuff claims to have no scent at all.
I will give it a try. I smelled it and it does have a faint perfumy smell, but not nearly as bad as the other Arm and Hammer baking soda detergent. That Mountain Breeze stuff has a real strong smell.

After I wash my clothes, I am going to hang them outside on a Leland Cypress tree for a couple of days, that ought to knock out any scent.
 
I guess that I'm allowed to hijack or turn my own thread, so let's concentrate on generated odors in general.

We have all worked with someone with BO problems, I know that I have and I also know that the guy was clean. It had to have been some kind of genetic thing. I'm on the other end of the spectrum and have gone a week or more without bathing (with good friends that would have told me) without any BO. I'm part Native American (Cherokee by my mother and Lakota, Blackfeet from my father) and my mother said that this is common, I guess that I got the lucky 'smell' gene.
 
I use Sport Wash to wash my hunting clothes mainly because there are no UV brighteners in it, but it's also unscented.

I also discovered this deodorant crystal my gf uses that dosen't leave any scent behind and supposedly can kill off BO for extended periodsof time.
 
I agree with jimbo 4 above, in that we just stink to critters, and there isn't much we can do about it. Maybe decrease the volume of scent a little, but any animal down wind is gonna bust you. Don't forget, your breath carries scent molecules of everything in your stomach, mouth, and bloodstream. Your body gives off other gaseous expulsions from---oh never mind.
I have watched my bird dog smell the ground where a thrown stick has bounced, presumably leaving my scent at that spot. Critters don't just smell with their noses, they SEE with their noses. jd
 
How clean do your hunting clothes need to be? Just wash them in Arm&Hammer washing soda. (big-but-not-huge yellow box, sometimes hard to find) If you can't find that, use 20 Mule Team borax. No detergent at all.

Sudsy ammonia would probably also work and give you a little more cleaning. Any residual odor should just smell faintly of pee to an animal.

None of these have any perfumes or optical brighteners.
 
I am going to interject my opinion here about smell. I don't think its so much about we smell like humans, its we smell like predators or meat eaters. think about this, I saw a guy somewhere that could tell if a person was a vegetarian just but there smell. it sounds completely absurd till you think about meeting somebody that eats a lot of garlic, you call smell it coming out of there pours. nothing against people from India but they come to mind. I imagine if you were a prey species you would be pretty cued up to meat eater smells. maybe if we all went vegetarian for a week before we went hunting and while we were hunting we would smell like less of a threat. it would also make sense why strong smells that are typical human smells like diesel, grease, scented laundry soap don't all ways scare deer away scare deer away. it may just cover the meat eater smell because clearly deer are not scared buy odd smells. so what do you guys think do you think it is possible they are afraid of the meat eater smell and not the humans smell?
 
Since scooby brought it up... I had a few friends, some very close and trust worthy that spent time in various locales like guam and the Philippines where eating dogs is done. A couple said that dogs seem to sense for a day or 2 after that you are a threat and go nuts... I can understand the concept of this... So I need some vegan folks to hunt for me?
Brent
 
I could see that something that we don't understand like dog meat could result in pheremones or something else being expelled through the skin. Maybe we would be best to pass on that fresh venison steak on the first day at camp and just eat our broccoli and carrots, MIGHT BE BEST but not happening.
 
try the Atsko ASport wash and UV treatment. It works great, has no UV brightners and we use if for all of our clothes washing in my household.
However the best invention is the MOXY. This product actually kills odor causing bacteria and you can plug it in yoru car and it will treat the interior of your vehicle and clothes. Unbelieveable how well it works.
check it out.
 
Yeah, what is it about some strange guy sitting at dusk in the woods that sets these deer on edge?
farmers till/harvest and see deer all the time from their combines - and deer get used to to their scent. I have seen deer even get used to goose-hunters in blinds as if they know the relative lack of danger.
from the number of times I have been skunked/busted archery hunting they ought to be used to me now! I ought to have my own petting zoo!!:D:D
 
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I'm also thinking of stuffing some of Ol'#2's old pantyhose with leaves for the dryer cycle (low heat of course) to infuse the 'woodland' smell. Anybody ever try this?

Not anyone still married! Good lord man! I've read stories of tumbling shell casings in the dryer in a bag with media while the wife was away, but leaves? Wow! Unless you want to be doing all your own laundry, keep the leaves in the yard. A mere ballpoint pen through the washer/dryer caused me untold amounts of grief. (long story short, I ended up buying three loads of laundry again and removing ink from the dryer drum with Goo Be Gone™). I shudder to think of the horrible retribution when "Ol'#2" finds her dryer full of shredded leaves. I'll bet she can't wait to find her freshly laundered clothes "infused with that woodland smell".

On the other hand, if you're single (or looking to be), give it a shot and let us know what happens.

I think that scent matters to a certain extent, but for 99% of us, the other little mistakes we all make are much likely effect the wildlife.

Swampghost, I'm not taking a shot at you, I just about died laughing thinking of what my ex-wife would have done if I had stuffed her pantyhose full of leaves, let alone run them through the dryer. If you do it, take a picture of the lint filter thingy and post it. Then leave it in and make her wonder....
 
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