The Wired To Hunt Podcast ? Episode #7: How Lee & Tiffany Lakosky Would Hunt If They Weren?t ?Lee & Tiffany? ? Wired To Hunt Really liked this pod cast and was taken back by one of "Lees" tactics: Lee purposesly conditions deer throughout the off season with his scent. Lee has the mind set that they smell him at least once a week while checking cameras, working on food plots, feeders, etc. and they do not see him as a threat. I know most people try to cover their scent while checking cameras and try to be very stealth. What do you think of this tactic? Do you do this? Make sense to you?
It makes sense in theory, provided you could actually understand what a deer thinks. Much like a lot of things in the hunting world I think we both give the deer too much credit for their ability to rationalize and think like we do, and we make things up that we believe will work without having any real proof that it does. I won't say I think it's a bad idea, but I've got better things to do during the off season than go leave scent around my hunting spots once a week.
It's not that he is adding this to his weekly routine, it's the fact that when he is out and about checking cams, etc he feels not covering his scent helps condition the deer to people. He feels that going from 0 human scent in the woods to some during hunting season alerts the deer more.
Worked well for me in a spot close to home a couple yrs back. I would go change card in camera once or twice a week in my work clothes. Once season started, and I was going thru my scent control procedure, I didn't see much. Was running late one afternoon and just got in stand in work clothes. Had five does and two bucks hanging around for about an hour. I wasn't sure about it, so tried it again. Same thing. With work clothes (same as I checked cams in) I had deer around me. Scent control, very little action. Sure wish the neighbors wouldn't have started clearing trees and building a house and garage so close to that spot
My father always had a theory to hang clothes from our stands on the off season so the deer get use to the movement in the tree and the smell of our clothes. Only downside IMO is they may know now not to come around when they smell the odor.
I've always checked my cams without using any scent control. Not too worried about it when I get in and get out in 2 minutes.
Glad you enjoyed the podcast French - and thanks for sharing! I too was surprised by this tactic, but in the kind of circumstances that Lee has, I can see how it would work. In a situation like my own (in MI), where there's 40 guys hunting the 400 acres around me ... this might not work as well, because Michigan deer are so averse to any human pressure and get so much of it. But I can totally see how in his spots, he can control most the pressure to just his consistent, small intrusions and get deer conditioned to that. It's an interesting idea for sure!
Im no Lee but I have been checking cams in stinky work clothes weekly for years now and have had pretty good luck hunting :D
About July I start walking our two tracks in my work clothes each day I can....leisure stroll, never stopping just strolls along the trails :D Trust me he and I aren't the only ones who do this
In theory it could work, but Lee is hunting very low pressure property in Iowa. Those deer are not pressured when they are young so they do not have the same fear of humans that a high pressure private or public land buck will have. Also, I think (and I could be wrong) Lee went many, many years without killing a buck when he was hunting pressured land in Minnesota, so I would take his tactics with a grain of salt.
I listened to the pod cast while I was at the gym today and I was surprised by this when Lee was talking. I think it makes sense especially if you can run feeders like Lee. Every time you hit your food plot you put out food, so even if the deer smell you they also smell food so one would think eventually the deer will associate your smell with food. My mother in law loves to run a feeder by her house just like the way Linda does and the deer act just like Lee says in the pod cast. We may come out the back door or drive up the lane and they may walk away but they stay just inside the woods and then come back out as soon as you’re inside. When we run our feeders in our pasture that’s in the middle of the timber I have pics on my cam of deer showing up within 10 minutes of me filling the feeder. I am not saying that this is full proof and deer will just disregard your sent come hunting season but it could be just enough not to spook a deer for a few minutes long enough for you to maybe get a shot during hunting season.
We kinda go with this theory at my place. Our family land a just that...family land. We ride atvs, cut firewood, walk the dogs, check cameras, fish and hunt every open season. The deer just get used to us being around. Most of our stand sites are on the edges of our property where the deer feel safer due due to less human interaction on the neighbors. Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
I can imagine it probably does work some what. Not so much now but four years ago when I started hunting the property I do now I'd spook every deer off the farm walking out to my stand. But if I was out on a atv or a truck I could drive almost right up to them and they paid no attention. Mostly because that's what they were conditioned to see seeing as its a grain and cattle farm a truck or atv driving around was normal, somebody all of a sudden walking around wasn't. Since then I sometimes walk around to check cams and they've stopped paying much attention to seeing anyone on foot.
This is how it is on my family's land. We use the land for other activities besides hunting deer. Sometimes the deer will not even move when they see a fourwheeler driving on the other side of a field.
I know three guys that bowhunting Canada every year. The deer stand there and wait for the outfitter to put bait out, and as soon as he's gone they come back out to eat. They are up there around Halloween so the weather could be getting bad but not like its dead of winter and nothing to eat. I believe on private tracts they will get used to tolerating certain amounts of intrusion Sent from my SCH-R530U using Tapatalk
Ur no Tiffany either. I dont mess with scent control while checking camera. There are peole in the woods constantly where i hunt. With so many members and not being able to control where and what they do it doesnt make much sense to worry abut scent. We do try and get in areas that are not heavily used and we dont try and kick up everything, but we dont worry about going in and out.
"Your grasp of the obvious is remarkable." - I think this might be a new approach or mindset for some.
