Hey all! I got a question about leaving scent on the way to your stand. Alot of you guys advise that if you are going to hunt public land, to go pretty deep. So I listened and my stand is about a half hour hike uphill, (I know thats not super deep but still) and during the early season, in my camo and carrying a bow/backpack I am gonna start to smell. What do you guys do to avoid this/eliminate scent on the way to the stand?
You really cant. You can have the cleanest clothing and fresh out of the shower but once you start sweating you are going to lose the battle with body odor. To combat this much thought and planning needs put forth to have an entry and exit plan to your stand that will not affect your hunting location. This is just as, if not more important than your scent "print" that leaves your body and gear while in your stand. While on stand with a steady wind your scent "print" travels in one direction. On your walk to stand you are leaving a scent "print" from the second you step out of your vehicle. I would advise to walk in to your stand location in your base layers and dress at your stand to help cut back on over heating and sweating.
I pack as much of my clothes on my stand or pack as I can on the walk out. Leave early enough so you can make several cool down stops on walk out. Carry a small bottle of scent killer and spray down when you get to the stand. When it gets cold out and you need warm boots I put on a regular pair of socks then stick my feet into bread bags. Your feet are going to sweat on the walk out and the plastic bags keep the inside of my boots dry. Get to the stand take all that off and put on fresh socks. This has worked for me.
Buckeye's got it right, you're going to leave ground scent no matter what so planning your entry is key. My biggest concern with sweating on the way to stand is sweat equals a cold miserable sit if in cooler weather. If your goal is killing does or young bucks you may achieve fooling their nose, but you're not going to fool a mature buck or does nose.
I typically have a 1.5 mile walk in the morning to my stand. I leave early enough to strip down in the dark and change all my clothes as others have stated. I try to keep a medium pace and generally do not stop to cool down much unless I mismanaged my clothing, which does occasionally happen. Best thing I found is leave the car cold. Wear my t-shirt and a long sleeve shirt. Even in the coldest weather, I feel my body get warm within 200 yards of walking with all my gear. Unless it is raining or snowing, I do not put on a hat...that heats me up very quick. My dad thinks I am crazy as my back pack weights a ton and I have no warm clothes on me but, it works for me. It's great to hike that far in and not be dripping. Some times, there is no sweat at all on me. Now, I have not found out how to do that walk in the rain. In situations where I need to wear gore tex...it gets hot pretty quick Where possible, I open the front of my jacket and only wear one long sleeve layer under. Same for the pants, only one layer and it is never my base layer.
I sweat a lot. Like if it's over 75* I'm probably sweating. So when hunting, as long as there's no precip, if it's over 30* I'm walking into the woods in shorts or my lightest base layer pants with my clothes in my pack. For most of my spots I'm over 1.5 miles in; this is the only way I can get deep without getting soaked.
Naked with camo body paint. Usually not the warmest when I'm hunting so sweating is not the biggest problem. I just walk slowly. Walking daily all year round helps not end up sweating. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I've always wanted to try walking in in my base layer but I'm always nervous to make a lot of commotion at the base of my tree. I'm always in a rush to get in the stand and off the ground ASAP for fear of spooking deer. Spending 5 min or whatever at the base of my tree making noise getting dressed always seemed counterintuitive. We all know zippers aren't silent.
Ive got a buddy that even leaves his outer layers in a bag at the base of his tree when possible just so his load is that much lighter on the walk in. Anything to lighten your load.
same as every one else stated above. my hike is a 2 mile bike ride then a 3/4mile hike up hill. most of the time I'm good till its time to walk then I have to go in with just shorts and no shirt. hard to control all the sweating going that far. I'm not a scent lok freak so I just get dressed at my tree and spray down really good. I have a new plan for this year though. I am going in and planting a cache site to store some clothes and supplies. sucks when you go that far and forget something. I am going to take a tote and bury it about half in the ground to keep it out of sight. then mark it with gps so I don't lose it. this should help lighten the load a bit. I do like the bread bag idea though for my boots!
I do like the bread bag idea though for my boots![/QUOTE] You better start stocking up on them because they don't last long.
I dress as light as I can and put most of my layers in my compression straps on my back pack. I actually try to be a little chilled when walking to avoid sweating during the trip in. I have walked up to a couple miles while hunting in Illinois and sweating would mean big trouble when hunting all day in the cold. I also spray my feet with unscented deodorant and it really makes a big difference in keeping my feet from sweating. Although I am very careful with my scent on the trail my main priority is to avoid sweating and freezing and getting my layers sweat soaked. I also carry scent spray and unscented wipes which really help on the warmer early season hunts.
I'm not sure about everyone else, but during the early season it's hot here. I usually walk in with shorts and no shirt. Change into camo at the tree. It still hard not to sweat with very minimal clothing.
