Scent elimination over cover-ups any day. The problem I see with cover-up scents is whatever scent it is, once the deer catch you walking to and from your stand, they are going to associate that scent with danger. Even the best man made scents fall short of the natural habitat. Look into an ozone scent remover. There are cheaper solutions to the Scent Crusher bag. Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk
I just got a small portable generator. Scent loc enforcer I think. Gonna put in a giant tote with hunting stuff. Says it will do 30 square feet so might build a small closet just for hunting gear. Not sure but gonna give it a try. Nothing I hate more than having deer smell me Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
My theory on cover scent. When you go to the bathroom and stink it up and spray with room fresher what does it smell like? Just like you sprayed a giant turd with air freshner, not like roses like the can says. That is what I think a person using cover scent smells like to deer.
http://www.fieldandstream.com/artic...ork-ozone-scent-control-vs-drug-sniffing-dog# Sent from my VS500 using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
Very interesting info there. Glad I went with small ozone generator. Time will tell how well it works. Got 3 more weeks. Is it possible to put too much ozone on stuff? Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
What I took from the article was that nothing worked. The dog found the hunter every time. Sure the ozone gizmos failed less spectacularly but for what they cost, is it worth the money for something that ultimately only delays the inevitable briefly? Bowhunting is sometimes a game of seconds and inches. Maybe the answer is "yes" . Sent from my VS500 using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
The dogs are trained to find people, that is what they do so even the faintest scent will be utilized by the dog. The dog has a different mindset than a deer in the wild.
I would like to see a test/writeup with some cameras up surrounding an area with alot of wild deer with the various products
My thoughts as well, a scent is a scent, and if it's not always in the area, it is a foreign scent even if it is similar. Big difference between sitting in an enclosed box and wide open air like a treestand. The generator can "control" whats in the box, no way it can control open air/breeze while in the stand. So, results show that using this in a blind/enclosed setting would bring an extra 13ish second of time, I do not see any benefit to hanging in the tree stand.
Nothing is perfect. Scent elimination is number one. Keep odor as low as possible with unscented body products, laundry soap, etc. Then store your clothes in scent free bags. Use ozone or charcoal or whatever you can, even just a garbage bag. Cover scents run the gamut. There are "hide me" cover scents. You can use what works in your area. Have an apple orchard stand? Use apple. In cedars? Use cedar. If you have nothing particular about your area, use dirt. The basic smell of dirt is pretty universal among areas. It won't spook deer. Cover scent/ attractants can work. Acorn scent. Butternuts. Even vanilla (the effect of vanilla on deer is well documented. Seems to attract and calm them). These will hide your human odor but you must be aware that if the deer end up associating them with humans, you should switch. Using vanilla, you may get a shot at a great buck. Flub that shot, it may be best to switch to dirt scent for awhile if you want to see him any time soon. Miss him twice under same scent, it is almost a given he will remember that. Deer urine/ synthetic urine. Fresh urine is needed. Stuff bottled last May is a waste of your money and too much may spook deer (don't use old urine in a fresh scrape). Synthetic urine: USE A HIGH QUALITY PRODUCT (http://nelsoncreekoutdoors.com). Go premium here. a cheap synthetic scent won't resemble deer urine at all. There are also skunk cover scents, predator urines, etc. All the testing we ever did with these showed they spooked deer or put them on edge more often than anything else. I would avoid them unless you have a lot of the same animal hanging around your stand.
My thinking is different is bad. So what ever you are going to use, do it all the time. Don't just grab a cover scent and put it out when you go hunt, have it out weeks or months ahead so the deer get used to it. I make sure I walk through either deer crap or mud on the trail as soon as I can so I am tracking that on my boots. I've been thinking about buying a few cheap shirts to wear as I walk in and out and rotating them, leaving one in my stand all the time so my scent is something normal wafting around the woods.
I put clothes in a tote after washing with scent killer soap. Once out I spray down with scent killer spray and pine cover scent. I carry a smaller bottle of the pine with me and reapply some every hour or so. I’ve had deer 5 yds downwind look right at me and not spook. One even bedded about 20 yds from the stand Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Brother: You can also hand them in the barn. A close friend hangs his in pig barn. Now that is a cover scent! PSR
I wash my stuff in baking soda then layer it in a scent control bag with leaves. So leaves in the bottom of the bag, pants, leaves, shirt, leaves etc. But no matter what you do you gotta play the wind.
