Whitetail - I keep getting winded

[Gman12]

I have a hard time trying to understand how so many people cannot understand scent and how it relates to a deer and what the deer smells. People go out and buy all of this stuff to spray on their clothes as if it will make them disappear to a deer's nose. The least thing a deer smells is your clothes. He is smelling you and I can assure you he can smell you regardless of what you are wearing. Our nose is not nearly good enough to detect most human scents but a deer certainly can and for a couple hundred yards if the wind is wrong. A deer smells a human and it doesn't make much difference whether the hunter is naked as a jaybird or has on a scentlok suit.

The only thing you can do is hunt only with the wind in your favor.

 

[49ereric]

I have a hard time trying to understand how so many people cannot understand scent and how it relates to a deer and what the deer smells. People go out and buy all of this stuff to spray on their clothes as if it will make them disappear to a deer's nose. The least thing a deer smells is your clothes. He is smelling you and I can assure you he can smell you regardless of what you are wearing. Our nose is not nearly good enough to detect most human scents but a deer certainly can and for a couple hundred yards if the wind is wrong. A deer smells a human and it doesn't make much difference whether the hunter is naked as a jaybird or has on a scentlok suit.

The only thing you can do is hunt only with the wind in your favor.

Been using fox or coon urine on clothes and boots for years and have deer come to me regardless of wind but I am not hunting big bucks and what I see are younger dumber (perhaps) young bucks.
it is said makes human scent seem old but…
had a few nice racks come running chasing does and they were not caring what was around.
used to use doe tarsal glands (illegal now) when I could get them from someone and doe urine (supposedly) and had deer mostly bucks walk right up on many occasions and stop and smell just 10’-50’ away. Also the running bucks go right past it without notice it seemed. Go figure.
most my shots in the woods are under 40 yards.
if I have a doe permit though I hunt face into the wind or I won’t see anything.

 

[49ereric]

Many an old timer will tell you or already did long ago that they shot many deer while smoking a cigarette.
I shot several with a thermos cup of coffee in hand.
During the rut bucks can be had.

 

[*zap*]

people see the ingredients of a stew by looking in the pot....a deer can smell all the different ingredients and its brain identifies each one from a very good distance away if the wind/thermal brings the stew smell to its nose.....you ain't beating that unless you understand how to keep your stink from reaching the deer's nose.

 

[Fatlighter]

Many an old timer will tell you or already did long ago that they shot many deer while smoking a cigarette.
I shot several with a thermos cup of coffee in hand.
During the rut bucks can be had.

I personally know a heavy smoker who bags a large buck nearly every year. He smokes in the stand.

 

[Yoder]

I personally know a heavy smoker who bags a large buck nearly every year. He smokes in the stand.

You could burn tires and kill deer if the wind was right.

 

[Trackerbacker]

Spot and stalk, or sitting (not tree stand), I've stopped considering wind. Movement and noise is what I focus on....

Have yet to have tag soup WT hunting. I've had deer up wind, down wind, side wind, leading wind, trailing wind, smoking a cig, smelling like a campfire, a bar from the night before, 15-20 yards from a beer shit........

Never understood the scent thing with WT, maybe my shit just don't stink?

I do consider the wind, only when it's too brisk into my face.

 

[49ereric]

Spot and stalk, or sitting (not tree stand), I've stopped considering wind. Movement and noise is what I focus on....

Have yet to have tag soup WT hunting. I've had deer up wind, down wind, side wind, leading wind, trailing wind, smoking a cig, smelling like a campfire, a bar from the night before, 15-20 yards from a beer shit........

Never understood the scent thing with WT, maybe my shit just don't stink?

I do consider the wind, only when it's too brisk into my face.

Could be just the fact that when you move from spot to spot you become unpredictable to deer. I have shot a lot of deer just using a camping stool with boat cushion (fox urine of course) and sit in between stand sites usually in the heaviest cover. I kick up a lot of dirt if possible before I sit down.

 

[Lowg08]

I’ve looked at this several times. I hunt mountain whitetail with swirling winds. If I waited on perfect wind I would never go. With that said. I have learned to not smell alarming. Heavy cologne or any of that is alarming. Smoke is not it naturally occurs in nature. Urine occurs, poop and so on. Being still and non alarming smelling not scent free. We can not achieve scent free. We can attempt to achieve not smelling alarming. If that makes sense.

 

[Muledeer185]

In my experience if the wind isn’t right they are gonna bust you. Has anybody had luck with ozonics in a box blind?

 

[young7.3]

My neighbor recently bought an 80 acre plot of land. A good part of the property is being used for a business, but he lets me hunt the back of the property. I have four trail cameras up and two of the spots are getting tons of deer traffic. The issue i'm running into is that I keep getting winded. It seems our prevailing winds are N & NE and given the layout of the property this puts both my stand and my ground blind at a disadvantage. I am spraying down with Dead Down Wind before I go out, I have washed my clothes in their detergent, let the clothes dry outside, and keep the clothes in garage where no vehicles are parked. I'm getting them close to me, I keep hear them sniffing and a few times it ended up with me getting huffed at. The always seem to be behind me. These suckers are smart.

Any thoughts or ideas from the more advanced hunters on what I could be doing wrong?

Thanks,
Phil

Simple. You are letting your wind blow in the direction the deer are. Figure out where the deer are going and coming and hunt those stands on a wind that doesnt blow your scent in those directions.
No amount of scent killer or cover scent will dissipate our stink.
Pick up some milk weed and use it to detect the wind direction 40+ yards away


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Shorthunter]

Do you also shower in non scent spray? Along with a non scent towel, and change into your hunting clothes at the back of the truck? I do that along with was clothes in scent free, keep them in sealable totes, change into them T the back of the truck, and spray down in between every layer as it goes on. Also wear rubber boots and only use them for hunting. You’ll never ever best a whitetails nose but you can sure do things to help eliminate human odor.

Same approach I take and I use Dead Down Wind products. Being diligent in your work to minimize scent will fool the young ones and sometimes that's all you need to get a shot.

Hunting the wind & carefully planning entry and exit routes is critical to success, but you can't always predict where the whitetail wanders so I do both (planning & scent reduction).

One piece of advice I don't hear often enough. Move your stands regularly and do it without stinking the place up. Deer pattern you quickly, moving around on a piece of property will help you be successful year after year.

 

[Trackerbacker]

Marvelous how we survived until the advent of scent killer....in the 1980s...

 

[LostArra]

Any time you get the opportunity to shoot the oldest doe, take it, especially early in the season.
An old nanny will be make your life miserable.

Movement gets me busted more than scent. Every October I tell myself that this season I will not turn around in the stand when I hear a noise, but I usually fail at some point.

Deer blow for many reasons but blowing may not mean you're busted. Be still and be patient. If they ran every time they smelled something new they would spend the whole day running.

To the OP, don't check those cameras too often or at all when the rut approaches. You got the information you need.

 

[dwills]

I’m a big believer in using an ozone bag/closet on my clothes before every hunt. Not so much in an ozone generator on-stand. I think it makes a big difference

 

[Coopsdaddy]

Dont waste your money on the bs sprays.
Wash cloths regularly in scent free,bath regularly with fresh cloths and use the wind to your favor.
You can get away with a ton if the winds in your favor.

 

[Lowg08]

Dont waste your money on the bs sprays.
Wash cloths regularly in scent free,bath regularly with fresh cloths and use the wind to your favor.
You can get away with a ton if the winds in your favor.

I’ve found baking soda helps and I spray because I don’t know makes me feel good. I do agree on the wind but more important is how you access. I have a friend who will purposely walk to where he wants to shoot in the trail then too his stand. The majority of the time they will stop to smell

 

[Rich M]

OP - what did you do and what were the results? Did you get one?

 

[Zonk44]

You can spray, use ozonics or roll in the mud but if your wind is bad they will smell you no matter what. Only hunt when your wind is right.

 

[Bajr]

After hunting for 20 years I can say everyone is right. Always hunt with wind hitting you in the face never when it'sblowing your scent down range. I hunt hills and hollars in northeast MS. The winds swirl some days. Blowing scent all around according to wind checker. I also hunt a cross wind alot if it's a little flatter. Why not use some things to help in these cases. Laundry detergent. I always wash my clothes in scent free/killer. Got to buy detergent anyway to wash clothes. My hunting clothes are a load by themselves. Scent killer body wash. Got to buy body wash anyway to take a bath. Clothes. I use some kind of scent blocker as at least one layer. Why not? Seems to be just as warm as anything else and comparable prices. Scent killer spray. Doesn't hurt. Less than ten dollars. I tell everyone that it's better to have 10 scent molecules blowing than 100 (I know there are thousands but you get my point). If I can get a deer to take 2 steps out into my shooting lanes instead of 1 before stopping, I get better shot. Or hold still a few seconds longer. I get a shot. This has been my experience.