Plant based scent control

[badgerboy]

I am in the camp that you can't beat a whitetails nose and the best scent control is playing the wind. That said, I still wash my clothes in scent free detergent and will air them out on a branch the days prior to hunting. Does anyone have any experience with putting clothes in a bin with some aromatic local plants? For example, a cedar branch or something? I will be traveling out of state this fall and curious how to handle the clothes.

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[Binz17]

I've used lots of different things, pine, cedar, dirt, etc. Thing I like best is running a small ozone machine in my bin, I'll run it once every couple days. Be careful with the elastics, it rots anything rubber. Shower with all the scent stuff. Still get winded when they come from the wrong way. Just gotta play the wind the best you can.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Really depends where you hunt and what they bucks are used to. I know guys who kill nice whitetail bucks every year with a propane heater next to them and while smoking cigarettes.

 

[GunsAreFun]

I started doing the cedar branch thing last year. Keep the cedars in laundry bags so I don’t get prickly stuff on my clothes.

Don’t know if it works but it smells fresh.

 

[Btaylor]

Wouldnt corn make more sense?

 

[Yoder]

You know when you take a dump then spray after. It smells like crap and perfume. I guarantee that's what it's like for the deer. They smell you and also whatever you soaked your clothes in.

 

[camping1601]

I can't understand this. The Deer literally live with these scents? How can mixing them with human scent hide the human scent? It's like saying the scent from the pine tree I'm hunting in will hide my scent.

 

[ljalberta]

I can't understand this. The Deer literally live with these scents? How can mixing them with human scent hide the human scent? It's like saying the scent from the pine tree I'm hunting in will hide my scent.

The magic of marketing.

 

[FLATHEAD]

I used to be fanatical about scent control.
I remember keeping my clothes and rubber boots
in a plastic bin with crushed acorns, leaves, pine needles.
Showers with scent free soap before hunting, all that.
One time in particular, I had even changed into my hunting
clothes and rubber boots after I got to the woods, from the bin in the bed of
my truck. I was very confident in my scent control that day,
having made it to my stand in the early afternoon around 1;00pm.
3 or 4 hrs later it was starting to get to that magical hour when I heard the
crunch, crunch, crunch of leaves coming in the same way I had
to my stand. It kept getting closer, and I was thinking good thing
I had done all that scent control stuff, otherwise this deer would
have smelled me by now. I was standing ready in my stand, arrow nocked,
thinking ""pick a spot", dont get too nervous, just let it happen.
Thats about when I saw a Hound Dog trailing me to my tree.
I mean straight to the tree and got to the base and looked up at me
and started wagging his tail.
After that I didnt get too wound up about scent control. Makes hunting
much more enjoyable too. Just watch the wind and mind where you walk.
Thats about all you can do.

 

[49ereric]

I gave up on keeping clothes in bags with cedar or balsam etc.
Kick up dirt if not frozen and copious amounts of fox or coon urine.
I use the wind properly if I have a doe permit or I don’t ever see them unless being chased.
i just shoot whatever buck comes by,if…

 

[badgerboy]

I can't understand this. The Deer literally live with these scents? How can mixing them with human scent hide the human scent? It's like saying the scent from the pine tree I'm hunting in will hide my scent.

Like I mentioned off the bat, I agree you can't beat a deer's nose and best to play the wind. However, your clothes will smell like something, why not attempt to make it a natural smell?

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[Campcreek12]

Can't beat the nose. I think more than anything, you can't get rid of your breath. It is a constant moisture and scent producer. You hardly ever smell somebody's clothes, but you can smell anybody's breath if you get close. Those animals can smell anything. My brother used to have a dog that would find me on a line no matter what extremes I went to for odor control. Hell, they use animals to find stuff that is buried.

 

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

I've given up on that.

Hikers see plenty of animals in their UV-enhanced clothing, smelling like patchouli, eating granola, all while making a ruckus.

Hell, I've busted enough animals while scouting while not being concerned about movement, sound, smell, etc.

Folks would be better served recording hunting sounds (and playing them on a continuous loop) and leaving worn clothes in their hunting spots over a period of time. /kind of joking but somewhat not

 

[Xbow hunter]

Sit around a campfire before hunting. The smoke is something they are used to smelling during controlled burns.

 

[OXN939]

Like I mentioned off the bat, I agree you can't beat a deer's nose and best to play the wind. However, your clothes will smell like something, why not attempt to make it a natural smell?

About the time of year this thread pops up, lol. Just like any of your other senses, your scent profile exists on a spectrum. I think everyone agrees that you're not going to beat a whitetail's nose if he's 30 yards straight downwind from you with a steady, moderate breeze... but you can definitely reduce your scent profile so he might not spook if he walks by at 150 or 100.

Think about it like the amount of noise you make. Just because you can't be perfectly silent doesn't mean you should snap every stick in your path while walking in and talk at normal conversational volume when you're in the woods.

 

[Mumbles0105]

I’m in the camp that I do the best I can to control my scent and wash my clothes in scent free wash but after that I just live with the fact that it’s really just up to the wind.

 

[49ereric]

I've given up on that.

Hikers see plenty of animals in their UV-enhanced clothing, smelling like patchouli, eating granola, all while making a ruckus.

Hell, I've busted enough animals while scouting while not being concerned about movement, sound, smell, etc.

Folks would be better served recording hunting sounds (and playing them on a continuous loop) and leaving worn clothes in their hunting spots over a period of time. /kind of joking but somewhat not

Leaving a dirty shirt once a week in your stand is an old old method,just keep it up for years.
using doe tarsal glands and doe pee will bring young bucks in asap at times despite human scent. Although I use fox urine liberally when I used to use tarsal glands. Illegal to do so now.
otherwise face into the wind.

 

[Unckebob]

It you want to store your clothes in plastic bins, use activated carbo packets inside. It absorbs smells rather than tries to mask it.

 

[rclouse79]

I saw a test years back where they put a bunch of refrigerator boxes on a football field and a guy hid in them in his normal clothes and then in his fancy scent blocker clothes after showering in fancy scent blocking soap. A German shepherd was able to find him in nothing flat in either case. That was the day I stopped worrying about scent control.

 

[dr.mooseknuckles]

I think wind and use of thermals are the big ticket items. I still spray Scent Killer on me when I get out of the truck. I will also take young pine branches with the needles and scrub that over me and wipe the bottom of my boots with them. Not sure that this process helps all that much but it's part of my superstitious "pre-game" protocol.

I heard something interesting on a Southern Outdoorsman podcast recently where a guy uses medical grade turpentine on his clothes and boots. Guy swore by it, didn't state a brand, etc. I think it makes sense in pine timber country as they smell it all the time. Probably more like combining the smell of human scent with turpentine as alluded to above, but may work well since turpentine is very strong in smell.