Controlling your stink?

[Ercas]

As others have said, merino helps a lot. but after 3-4 days we usually rinse off in a creek and wash our base layers and underwear.

 

[Swede]

I am wondering if the folks that don't minimize scent hunt are moving around a lot, and those who practice scent control are stand/ground blind hunters? Nearly all of the tree stand hunters I deal with are very careful about scent control.
I hunted near a fellow that smoked and did not bathe or use a scent eliminator during a hunt. He never shot anything for all the years (5-6) I hunted around him. I even let him hunt my best stands. He said I was just very lucky. His statement to another guy about me was, "he could set up in the Safeway parking lot and kill elk." I think the big difference between us was the level of odor emitted.

 

[BigAntlerGetter]

The Indians did pretty well back in the day without regular baths, scent killer, modern camo, modern bows. Pretty sure the ones that couldn’t harvest anything by playing the wind, ambushing or being a hunter were moved to be gatherers or what’s that old Indian word for bad hunter???? Vegetarian.


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[rustneversleeps]

Wind, merino, extra socks

 

[Poser]

I am wondering if the folks that don't minimize scent hunt are moving around a lot, and those who practice scent control are stand/ground blind hunters? Nearly all of the tree stand hunters I deal with are very careful about scent control.
I hunted near a fellow that smoked and did not bathe or use a scent eliminator during a hunt. He never shot anything for all the years (5-6) I hunted around him. I even let him hunt my best stands. He said I was just very lucky. His statement to another guy about me was, "he could set up in the Safeway parking lot and kill elk." I think the big difference between us was the level of odor emitted.

I went through an extreme scent elimination phase back when I was a Eastern Whitetail Hunter. The process totally burned me out and I eventually moved on from carbon lines clothes, changing clothes in the field, airtight storage etc with no discernible negative effects. In fact, I killed my biggest and most mature bucks after the scent control phase.

For Backcountry hunting, such efforts are entirely futile and logistically infeasible. You sweat too much, have too much supplemental gear on you (all of which smells) and an elk’s nose is too powerful to overcome. In short, extreme scent control efforts may give you a fractional edge, but partial efforts are entirely futile. The odor of Your feet and boots alone might as well be the Goodyear blimp of human odor as far as an elk is concerned.

 

[juan trueno]

I assume that you folks that keep pumping on a squeeze bottle and do not try to minimize your scent, do not set up and wait to ambush your query. You are not sitting in a ground blind, or in a tree stand in a basin. When the wind starts shifting you are done for an hour or so until it is more settled.
I assume that you tie yourself in knots trying to keep the wind in your face on some days and that you still get busted. You can get busted even minimizing your scent, but you will win many times also. Since washing and minimizing scent costs so little, I would feel "silly" going around with excessive stink or trying to cover mine with some other odor.

It’s all perspective. It obviously gives you a mental edge which ups your potential effectiveness. You’ll never hear me tell a man to quit doing what works for him. From my side we’ve hunted every contenent to the brink of extinction and back using only the wind, every predator in the woods of every species and every variety uses the wind (exclusively) to its advantage and lives or dies by it- and in that light I feel kind of silly spending tag gas or grocery money on stuff proven not to effectively defeat there noses when I could simply follow the lead of countless generations of
Canine feline and hominid hunters. My feezer stays full so it proves out for me just like using the elk body spray works for you

 

[Swede]

I feel kind of silly spending tag gas or grocery money on stuff proven not to effectively defeat there noses.

What in the world are you talking about? How much money are we talking about? I use Ivory unscented soap to wash with. Unscented shampoo. I use Arm and Hammer unscented laundry detergent with no ultra violet brighteners. As for scent blocker, I bought a gallon on clearance sale over 10 years ago and still have enough for several seasons. I am sure it cost under $5. Washing does cost a little, but very little. I doubt it costs $0.50 per year to use all of the scent control I use. Pine needles, sage and Juniper are all still free.
You are right keeping clean and using scent eliminators does not eliminate all scent, but it does reduce it significantly. I can tell there is a difference.
Yes hunting has advanced since the stone age. I also agree Hiawatha did not use modern scent elimination techniques, but he did not operate under the same game rules we do today either. His hunting season was a little longer than ours. What he had to shoot at was a little more liberal that what we have. He could also get the whole tribe to push the animals up a draw to him and his associates waiting in ambush.

 

[Gumbo]

There is probably no difference in outcome if you were to eliminate 95% or 0% of your odor. Their noses are too good. I never even consider playing the scent game with elk, whitetails with a bow ABSOLUTELY. If I were hunting elk the same way I stand hunt whitetails I certainly would do the same things because it definitely can save a hunt, but it just isn't possible with the amount of gear and activity levels of normal elk hunting. As for the smoker, if they can smell his smoke they would have smelled him too anyway. Smoke scent is no different than any other scent.

 

[Crawfish]

Absolutely nothing. It’s pointless, IMO. Especially if you’re hiking/sweating.


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[juan trueno]

I feel kind of silly spending tag gas or grocery money on stuff proven not to effectively defeat there noses.

What in the world are you talking about? How much money are we talking about? I use Ivory unscented soap to wash with. Unscented shampoo. I use Arm and Hammer unscented laundry detergent with no ultra violet brighteners. As for scent blocker, I bought a gallon on clearance sale over 10 years ago and still have enough for several seasons. I am sure it cost under $5. Washing does cost a little, but very little. I doubt it costs $0.50 per year to use all of the scent control I use. Pine needles, sage and Juniper are all still free.
You are right keeping clean and using scent eliminators does not eliminate all scent, but it does reduce it significantly. I can tell there is a difference.
Yes hunting has advanced since the stone age. I also agree Hiawatha did not use modern scent elimination techniques, but he did not operate under the same game rules we do today either. His hunting season was a little longer than ours. What he had to shoot at was a little more liberal that what we have. He could also get the whole tribe to push the animals up a draw to him and his associates waiting in ambush.

What’s the issue here? How many ways or times do I have to say it’s 100% totally cool for you to what you want in this respect? You mention it’s a key component in your success vs your aquaintence’s failure. It’s part of your A Game and I think you should stick with it. Good luck this coming season

 

[Swede]

The issue is your claim that scent control "stuff" is "proven not effective". I have had elk walk down the same trail I just walked in on and have had them come in many time to the same water hole I am waiting in ambush at.
One of the fellows posted above, if I understand him right, uses scent control for Whitetails but not elk. Why would it be different for Whitetails than elk if you are basically using the same hunting technique?
Also the issue is that I consider it heresy to say scent control has no benefit as though carrying a strong odor is universally ok. Just watch the wind as it changes hundreds of times a day is wrong.
With over a 90% success rate, public land otc units since 1993 when I started using scent control, you are going to have a tough sell to convince me it has no benefit. What is the downside of being clean and minimizing human odor?

 

[juan trueno]

I appreciate your fervor! Good luck this coming season

 

[Swede]

Thanks Juan. Best wishes.

 

[Gumbo]

One of the fellows posted above, if I understand him right, uses scent control for Whitetails but not elk. Why would it be different for Whitetails than elk if you are basically using the same hunting technique?

If you are referring to me then my intent was to compare active hunting with lots of gear (elk) vs. stand hunting for whitetails. I don't think you can be actively producing scent and contain it while moving around, and you can't kill the scent on all of your gear. And most cover scents don't work at all, MAYBE nose jammer but only maybe because I haven't read research on it and have no experience, it might be different because they claim to overwhelm a nose. Only scent eliminating products are somewhat effective in the research I've read, basic olfactory physiology, and my experience. For me this means several layers of obsessively reactivated scentloc, rubber boots, and scentkiller on all of my clothing and gear. Even then it doesn't work as well as advertised, and whitetails will still smell you most often, but it seems the amount of scent is far less, which might make you seem farther away or it is old scent. But it can save your hunt from an errant breeze or deer that winds up downwind. The technology would work for elk to, but elk aren't typically hunted out of stands or blinds, especially in locations where you can do what is needed to eliminate the amount of scent necessary to be even somewhat effective.

There is no way to beat ungulate noses 100% of the time, and the more you move and active you are, and the more stuff that has a smell that you bring with you (bow, backpack and its contents) the more difficult it is to "beat" their noses. Hence the reason I don't even bother with elk. Playing the wind/thermals (and having it cooperate) is only way to win 100% of the time, everything else is just wasted effort.

Most of scent control is placebo voodoo magic. If it makes you feel more confident that is all that matters, but truly feel it makes no difference. Get upwind from an animal and you are done almost every time (although they do make bad decisions sometimes). Stay downwind and you win no matter how much you stink or what you smell like.

 

[Dave_]

If my wife can smell me on any given day I know elk can...

Merino is awesome stuff and a cold creek wipe down does help me sleep better. My sleeping bag thanks me also.

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[Swede]

Gumbo: That makes sense. I hunt from a tree stand for elk 90% of the time so scent control is important and much more productive. My elk hunting is very similar to your Whitetail hunting.
Even though I was giving Juan a hard time, I knew where he was coming from. Running around allday sweating is going to make extreme measusre for scent control impractical. Scent control is more effective when you are not working up a sweat, or should I say when you are nearly shivering in a tree or in a blind.

 

[Gumbo]

Gumbo: That makes sense. I hunt from a tree stand for elk 90% of the time so scent control is important and much more productive. My elk hunting is very similar to your Whitetail hunting.
Even though I was giving Juan a hard time, I knew where he was coming from. Running around allday sweating is going to make extreme measusre for scent control impractical. Scent control is more effective when you are not working up a sweat, or should I say when you are nearly shivering in a tree or in a blind.

I totally agree. Now I understand your elk strategy and scent control system, thanks for clarifying. There are so many newbie hunters on this site looking for reliable info, I just hate to think of them focusing on strategies and gimmicks that either don't help, or in some cases will actually hinder their success.

 

[JPD350]

I've been hunting the NM heat all my life and it isn't that hard to keep the bad funk off of yourself which in my opinion is important. I do work the wind but it is always swirling, changing and basically super undependable so why not increase your odds and control what stink you can.
There are different levels of stench and different levels of how it spreads in wind currents, #1 is under arm stink, this can be unbelievably pungent and will saturate the surrounding areas. One time there was a guy on one of my jobs that had some bad B.O. I tried to ignore it but when I walked into the house the next day I could still smell it, the stench spread all over the house and stayed, I had to tell his boss to either fix the issue or get him off of my job site. # 2 stink is some peoples feet, I can recall sitting next to a friend while we were taking a break and I mentioned to him that I think I keep getting a whiff of something dead..... I get up and walk around trying to get a direction of the smell and couldn't smell it while I walked around, so I sat back down and instantly started smelling it again, I told him, dude its you! he then came clean and said that he had a stinky foot problem, he thought it was funny....nasty stuff!
Most other smells IMO are minor in comparison and are easily taken care of with a warm wet paper towel.

I have always felt that it was important to control heavy scents but once I started hunting with a bird dog I found it really interesting when you look in depth at how bird scent is spread and how the dog can pick the scent up or not. There are different levels to scent and they play a huge role in how the scents are detected or not detected.

IMO If a person wants to hunt an area for a week or two and not blow out the animals they should control spreading their scent. Working the wind is definitely the way to go but why not increase your odds by not having a horrible pungent stench that stays in the wind or the ground.