Let’s talk cover scent

What’s up guys, long time no talk.

what is your go to cover scent that you’re using this year or had great success with in the past? I know you will never beat a whitetail’s nose 100%. I’m in a new spot where my thermals and wind have been tricky and keep getting blown at downwind. I may have some swirling going on. I’m roughly 25’+ up in a tree. I have a big 8 I’m after that shows quite a bit that I actually saw a couple weeks ago on the hoof at 18 yards.

I ozone my clothes and will spray myself down prior to going out in the field too.

pic of the deer I’m after.

 

Interested in other people's answers as well.
I do not put much faith in cover scents, or my ability or scent product's ability to get me very scent free. I believe having an ozone generator on stand with you is probably the best option if there is no other way to setup a stand location to avoid being upwind from your intended quarry. @LittleChief uses one often and has seen it be a help several times. Perhaps he'll chime in.

 

I use no cover scent, I try to have no scent at all.
In my eyes, producing any smell other than what is 100% naturally there is worse than moving in stand

 

If you believe the claims of "Scent Thief" you can literally shut a deer's nose off.......

I laugh at the claims cuz lord have mercy if this was possible you'd have every government, every druglord, big pharm, elon musk, bill gates all making the owner a billionaire for sole rights.

 

About the only thing I use anymore is deer dander.

Does it work? Who knows, I just like it.

 

I gave up on cover scents and such years ago to be honest. The only thing I do is give my boots a quick squirt or two of coon or fox urine. Thats an old trappers trick that works for their craft, so why not for hunting deer I feel.

For me, I take a scent free shower, throw on some scent away deoderant and pick a spot or a tree in that spot based on wind direction and thermals. Sorry, but all these miracle products on the market have zero evidence, other than anecdotal evidence, that they work. Some, like ozone and activated charcoal, the science makes sense, but yet again, there is no actual proof that it makes or breaks a hunt.

Sounds like you're hunting down in the bottom of a thermal hub. Good luck. I hunt moutains and anymore, can't really count on what the wind forecast says because once you get to a spot, its not what is happening there at all. Best you can do is adjust on the fly when you get there on which tree you go up in and hope the buck plays the game you want to play.

 

Personally I do the whole shower, transportation clothes only till site, but as for spray I only use water mixed with activated carbon powder I buy....does it darken your clothes, YUP. Does activated carbon work - yup, but to what extent is anyone's best guess.

I know my boots have never been washed, but get carbon powder dusted in them often and even on the sweatest of walkins zero smell post hunt.

 

I do my normal routine.. hand wash/rinse all hunting clothes in the shower by hand w/ Sportwash, takes several days to do such ... hang outside to dry, put in de-scented plastic tubs w/lids .. I'll spray down well with SK Gold and leave it at that ... I do use DDW foot powder in the boots and on me before dressing .. My clothes go in one HS bag and my fanny pack in another .... I'll drop an earth wafer in the bag w/my Boots and use Ever Calm once in a while, never had a bad effect using it... if the wind isnt right, I wont hunt a location

 

Never been able to fool a whitetails nose with cover scent. Play the wind hope for the best. Ozonics may work but after 45 years of hunting the wind I'll pass on spending cash and stick with what works for me.

 

I have tried quite a few techniques over the years and found that not using anything at all is the better choice for me. To the human nose the ever calm or code blue cover scents smell like deer heaven but I have witnessed deer being spooked by the smell. I just don’t think it’s worth bringing in any odor willingly to any area. Like Bone Head Hunter said, you can’t fool a whitetail nose so why try.

 

Hickory nut oil and blk walnut

 

Smoke works as good as anything.

 

I low crawl from my truck to the stand so as to pick up all natural scents of the local area that are familiar to the deer.

All kidding aside, I place my stands in locations where wind is 90% of the time in my favor and I don't have to worry as much but I do keep my clothes in a sealed cooler in the truck and spray down with Dead Down Wind before walking into the woods.

 

I haven’t used anything this year. Washed in dead down wind and my clothes are always kept outside. DDW boot powder a time or 2 each season. I’ve used scent free soap a few times this season but haven’t used scent killer on my clothes.


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"Cover Scent" means it can cover YOUR scent. I don't believe that's possible.


My goal is to have deer (any deer) walk by without stopping from smelling ANYTHING!

 

We have both walnut and hickory on the property. For sure that doe and twins would not have had gotten 20ft walking around me. Actually looking for me , had I not had the scent of hickory oil on me in switch light breeze They definately would have spooked and let the woods know..
Now I do wash with a scent control wash and no scent detergent. Big thing drying my hair. I ALAWYS no matter the temps open the bath room window and use the out side air to dry my hair. Hair holds scents well. Makes zero sense to blow bathroom scents and smells or house hold scents into your clean hair..
There is a reason ppl go to salons to collect cut hair to hang around their gardens and chicken coops...works a long time.

 

So important yet so ignored. Guilty of pushing the limits myself sometimes but im waaaayyyy better than i used to be about it. Its just not worth it. We spend way too much time and money on this stuff to muck it up.

 

While i do agree with you i also feel like eliminating some odor helps. Dr.Jim talks about this in his spiel on scent control. If you can neutralize or decrease some of your odor, it will likely have an effect that you may be further away than what you are, thus creating a less threatening presence. The reaction to flee might not be so immediate, possibly presenting a shot opportunity. The struggle i grapple with is a fine line with how much time and effort im willing to put into a practice that isn’t 100% effective. If im guessing, the best scent control freaks in the world might only reduce their scent print by maybe 30%. Thats still a lot of Stank for a deer to detect. When we are racing the clock as is with the balance of family/work/life in general putting a ton of effort into a not so effective practice may be more tax than worth. So far, I believe Ozone to be the most effective method to reduce scent as it kills bacteria which is the main source of human scent. That opinion derived from personal experience and scientific data. Now comes the difference of treatment with ozone/ vs. expelling ozone while hunting. Ozone in itself has a scent. We’ve all smelled it naturally before and after a rain storm with lightning. While it would probably take thousands of years to adapt, eventually the confusion of the “ozone shuffle” as you call it, would most likely become associated with danger just as human scent has been genetically imprinted. Then again this would take a looong time and take a lot of people doing it to happen on a large scale. Im curious how the effects would play out in a small area over time. For me bottom line is, i put some effort into scent control. But its definitely not going to keep me from hunting if i have a good wind. I try to take scent free shower and i have ozone generator in crusher bag i run with zipper open in truck with window down. I do use evercalm on my boots if i have some on me and have used deer dander as well. Those 2 things i have observed the curiosity reaction from. Which to me is better than panic.

 

Something else people need to realize is that every area you hunt is different in terms of how tolerating deer are to human scent. I know here in PA, public or private, they just are not a fan of any kind of human scent. Its interesting to me. You hear so much about how public land deer are incredibly sensitive to human scent and intrusion, etc. Yes, more often than not, they are, for obvious reasons. However, I have also noticed that private land deer are just as sensitive in most cases. Here is what I think. Our deer, public or private, can go a very long time during the year without seeing or smelling humans. Its remote, mountainous, and easy for deer to avoid humans for 10 months out of the year. So, come October, when they're going about their day and they suddenly come across a smell that should not be there, its game over. An out of place smell here is a big deal.

I hunt the midwest, Missouri in particular, almost every year. The farmers, cattle guys, the outfitter that I hunt with, etc., are in the field, woodlots, etc., routinely. Those deer, I feel like I can get away with murder on them. Mature bucks and does don't even pick their head up when they get down wind or when they come across where I walked. I can honestly say in the past 7-8 years that I have been going there, I have never had a deer smell me and blow at me or spook out of there because of scent.

I've also hunted in Ohio, in an area that we realized probably had an enormous amount of hunting pressure (the triangle area in central Ohio to be precise). Those were the jumpiest whitetails I have ever had the opportunity to hunt. Far worse than the PA deer I have hunted all my life. You could not get away with anything at all there, scent, movement, blinking... lol. They'd turn inside out and bolt at the slightest hint of human scent and would look in trees constantly.

My point is all deer are indivuals and even the herd itself is unique in terms of how they react to their environment. Its nearly impossible here in PA to not sweat like a mule getting to stands unless you leave the truck at 3 in the morning and really take your time walking in. So scent control is pretty much out the window. If you look at the studies on human scent, there are several areas on our body that produce the bulk of it, with our mouths being the biggest producer of scent. What now? I don't know of too many people that wear a scent lok head cover and ensure their mouths and nose are covered.

Just hunt the wind and thermals and save your money I say.