How far does scent travel?

[WildBoose]

Everyone already knows to play the wind...but how far does scent travel? I've got a couple stands on transitions of food/bedding areas/wide open ag fields. I always try to hunt them with the wind blowing my scent out to the ag fields, but how far does it go? 100 yards, 200, 500??? What have you experienced? I know a lot of it depends on barometric pressure, wind speed, temp, ect.

 

[30338]

For my spot, I think it easily travels a quarter of mile. I'll hunt upwind of a spot if the treestand is high enough and have at least a 10 mph wind. This setup also needs the deer activity to be fairly close to the stand. Seems to go over their heads about 90% of the time.

 

[ManyBullets]

I tested this in the beer section at the grocery store the other day. A good above average fart with medium wetness and above average hotness disrupted shoppers for about 60'. The one masked shopper buying Michelobe Ultra who really got dusted with a full dose had an audible response to my scent but lucky for him he won't catch C19 from the cloud from my perfectly executed drag bunt.
Deer can smell a lot further but I can't tell exactly how far. Light breeze it seems like a long way. Strong breeze you're pretty safe b/c there's so much crap in the air.

 

[Laramie]

Everyone already knows to play the wind...but how far does scent travel? I've got a couple stands on transitions of food/bedding areas/wide open ag fields. I always try to hunt them with the wind blowing my scent out to the ag fields, but how far does it go? 100 yards, 200, 500??? What have you experienced? I know a lot of it depends on barometric pressure, wind speed, temp, ect.

I watched a herd of elk wind 3 hunters from well over a mile away. It was probably closer to 2 miles.

I believe it isn't a function of how far it will travel but rather a function of what level of scent an animal will tolerate. Whitetails in agricultural areas smell people all day every day from a distance. They typically don't spook until that scent is stronger- ie closer range. How far that is depends on the deer, the conditions, and how often they smell people.

If you are in an area where deer don't regularly smell people, I'm guessing that under most conditions they will spook at 1/4 mile or even further.

There are quite a few studies out there on how far animals can detect scents. Over 10 miles is the answer for a lot of species.

 

[Pilarczyk85]

I watched a herd of elk wind 3 hunters from well over a mile away. It was probably closer to 2 miles.

I believe it isn't a function of how far it will travel but rather a function of what level of scent an animal will tolerate. Whitetails in agricultural areas smell people all day every day from a distance. They typically don't spook until that scent is stronger- ie closer range. How far that is depends on the deer, the conditions, and how often they smell people.

If you are in an area where deer don't regularly smell people, I'm guessing that under most conditions they will spook at 1/4 mile or even further.

There are quite a few studies out there on how far animals can detect scents. Over 10 miles is the answer for a lot of species.

Do thermals have a play in this. I've never western hunted in my life and I always hear that thermals can change shit in an instant. Would midwest and eastern whitetails have to factor this?

 

[Yoder]

The farthest I know I've been winded is about 300 yards in pretty thick woods. I'm just going by the deer snorting and no possible way they could have seen me.

 

[Laramie]

Do thermals have a play in this. I've never western hunted in my life and I always hear that thermals can change shit in an instant. Would midwest and eastern whitetails have to factor this?

I think what you are hearing is the change in wind direction due to heating or cooling. I don't believe that has an impact on how far away an animal can smell you.

 

[manitou1]

I have watched deer and antelope (yup... antelope) wind me from over 600 yds away.

I read an article some years ago whereas dogs could ID their owner's scent from over a mile away.

 

[Drenalin]

Do thermals have a play in this. I've never western hunted in my life and I always hear that thermals can change shit in an instant. Would midwest and eastern whitetails have to factor this?

Thermals matter for whitetail hunting as much or more than actual wind, depending on conditions and depending on the terrain you hunt.

 

[GunsAreFun]

Hell IDK. I’m sure I’ve been winded from farther away than I could see or hear. I also killed a mature whitetail last year on public land that came in behind me on the trail bordering private land when I stopped to marks scrape on my phone. He literally jumped the fence and landed where I was sitting for five minutes prior having a snack and shedding a layer. He walked 15-20 yards into my wind before he even seemed to sense something and looked around. But he still didn’t spook. I shot him with while he browsed.

I’ve also had does bust me multiple times from 50-75 yards when I was sitting dead still in brushy timber with no explanation as to how they could have seen or smelled me other than they either smelled someone else from a previous day or someone else in the area that I couldn’t see…or some of them are just freaking ninjas.

 

[Laramie]

Thermals matter for whitetail hunting as much or more than actual wind, depending on conditions and depending on the terrain you hunt.

Define the difference between thermals and wind. Air movement is air movement to me...

 

[Drenalin]

Define the difference between thermals and wind. Air movement is air movement to me...

Disclaimer: I’m not a scientist, I may completely screw this up technically. But I believe the practical implications remain.

Wind moves generally horizontally across the earth’s surface, while thermals move generally vertically as the earth’s surface warms or cools. That’s not completely cut and dry because either will follow the lay of the land somewhat, at least in hilly or mountainous terrain. I wouldn’t know what thermals are like in flat terrain.

The practical difference, to me, is that thermals are more predictable and consistent. Wind can get pretty screwy as it follows terrain. For example, wind tends to swirl in lower lying areas, whereas it’s generally more consistent closer to the tops of surrounding ridges. On an evening hunt, I may have no idea what wind will be doing in a particular bottom, but I know that as that bottom loses daylight and the ground cools (or ceases to warm) thermals will be falling. That affects where and when I can hunt.

On days with light or no wind, which we have a lot of where I live and hunt, thermals are the primary thing to be concerned with as far as keeping my scent away from animals. Say I have a 3 mph west wind for a morning hunt, and I’m planning to hunt the upper 1/3 of the east side of a north-south running ridge, I don’t want to get there too early (before daylight) or thermals will be falling, that light wind will be coming over the top and tumbling down the ridge, and I’m expecting deer to move low to high. But once that east face starts to warm up, and those thermals shift to pulling up the ridge, they’re likely stronger than that light wind. In other words, the thermals give me an advantage whereas a cursory glance at wind direction on a forecast would have painted a different picture.

I agree with your point that air movement is air movement, and my reply was more in response to the post I quoted than to the OP’s question about distance. My point is just that regardless of what we’re hunting, a person probably can’t get by consistently ignoring thermals and only paying attention to wind. They can be doing different things on the landscape, and in some circumstances thermals are the primary concern.

 

[Honyock]

I've seen whitetails bust a hunter over a half mile away on a wheat field..

 

[Sccritterkiller]

Been busted many a time by whitetails at 400yds across a peanut field.

 

[Hunt41]

I’ve been busted at 300 yards this year. The deer was across a ravine at the same elevation as me. No way it saw me.

 

[TL616]

Jeez..who really knows?!

 

[rideold]

I think it depends on the wind speed. I read something a while back about bird dogs not being able to scent much at all when the wind goes over 30 mph or something like that.

 

[Tim Box]

I tested this in the beer section at the grocery store the other day. A good above average fart with medium wetness and above average hotness disrupted shoppers for about 60'. The one masked shopper buying Michelobe Ultra who really got dusted with a full dose had an audible response to my scent but lucky for him he won't catch C19 from the cloud from my perfectly executed drag bunt.
Deer can smell a lot further but I can't tell exactly how far. Light breeze it seems like a long way. Strong breeze you're pretty safe b/c there's so much crap in the air.

Funny but true. Light wind will bust you quickly.

 

[Fletch1205]

I’ve always heard the forklore that bears will travel miles when they smell food. So I guess who knows! Not sure how you’d even measure it.


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