Do deer spook easier to scent in air vs scent on ground? I've been in my hunting areas a lot more this summer working on stuff than last summer, but still deer movement doesn't seem to be affected. Last season I had deer quite a few times walk down the exact path to my stand and they didn't seem bothered one bit. I even had a deer walk down a trail I cut an hour earlier and walk up to my stand and smell my ladder and then casually keep walking......well until I put an arrow behind the little guys shoulder . It just seems like deer don't mind and become curious when they smell my scent on the ground, if they even pay attention to it at all. BUT whenever a deer gets down wind of me and they pick up my scent in the air they head the opposite direction in a hurry. Do you think scent in the air is stronger than on the ground? Kinda weird to me. What do you think?
Well yeah I get what you guys are saying. I just noticed that I never had a deer spook from walking over trails I walked on but they have spooked for being down wind. Just weird to me.
I think your up to something....Wonder if its because with the scent being on the ground its not as threatening to the deer compared to the scent comming from the air. Maybe they have associated the Scent comming from the air with the hunter in a tree stand....
I've had a deer spook after smelling my trail cam, same IMO as a trail. I'm sure it's more noticeable when they smell us, but I think that's because we put off a much higher concentration of scent than our tracks do.
It's ironic you make this thread. Just yesterday, I was in my stand and 4 deer, three yearlings and a mommy were feeding right at the base of my tree. I purposely watched to see how they would react to whatever scent I might have left down there. The acted totally at ease, and just nibbled their way out of sight. I do believe wearing rubber boots helps with odor. JMHO
i know i'm crossing over into hunting different species with this reply, but i'm a pretty avid bird dog gunner when i'm not in the tree stand and i just noticed a connection between the ground and air scent . a good bird dog doesn't put its nose to the ground, they sniff the air. the reasoning behind this (or what i've heard) is that following a scent trail can actually lead the dog off the path to the actual bird (if said pheasant made a few loopdy loops or whatnot before sitting down), but sniffing the air they actually smell the bird itself and lead you to it. deer might be the same way. if they smell something on the ground they might just think an animal passed through and isn't necessarily in the area. but when they catch a whiff of you in the stand, they know you're their and wanna get out. just thinkin out loud.
Agree with you on this. I work in law Enforcment and work K9's and we teach the dogs two methods for tracking a subject. One is to pick up on ground scent and the other is to work the field using the wind to the dogs advantage. When the dog hits the scent cone you can see his nose go in the direction of the subject as compared to the dog who was trained to track nose to the ground on every step. Not sure if a deers nose is better than a dogs but I have watch deer walk the trail that I used to come in on with no hesitation and watched deer put nose to the air and become alert...
