scent desensitization

[P Carter]

Someone said--I think--that dogs can map and navigate a room by smell alone.

I imagine that elk are similar. It's not just "a scent": I'd guess they know exactly where the scent is; how many people are there; how long ago the person was there; and a whole bunch of other information. I don't see that some familiarity with old clothes would fool them into ignoring your actual presence.

Think on the flipside: if there were a green, orange, and red sign that sends a clear signal to us--I dunno, an off-color "watch for rock" road sign or something--elk would see it as an indistinct gray blob with no meaning.

Sight is our key sense, smell is theirs, we don't really know how elk experience smell but it's certainly different than how we experience it!

 

[Packer9037]

I don't believe in trying to trick an elk's smell...if I get the wrong wind, I assume I'm screwed. Let us know how it goes if you try it out.

 

[hibernation]

If you hang laundry in there, I’d bet they avoid it initially and then start to ignore it as it loses scent. Meaning it won’t have much impact on your hunt compared to your fresh human stank blowing through the air.

If you go in often enough to keep it fresh, I’d bet they stop frequenting the area.