scent control

[Tim Anderson]

Deer canbe so easey to fool when it comes to the human scent.. You can condition a deer to youre scent by leaveing more of it around. I have a place i deer hunt and this farm grove will have anywhere from 30 deer or more every year. Once the season starts the deer head for this safe haven which consists of a 40 acre grove. The property line that i can hunt on is 100 yds from this grove and i just have to wait for the deer to come out to feed...The farmer is always running tractors and his 4-wheeler around and he also smokes so there is no alarm if a deer smells me smokeing from my ground blind. They do approach with some caution but curriosity gets the best of them.. They will also check out my ground blind at nite after i have left.. Another way to screw with the deers nose is to scatter barber-shop hair in certain locations, some deer will avoid the area where others just walk right through it..Last year i got a few deer on the CAM at about 15-20 yds and i had a cigg. in my hand at the time..LOL
I've had coyotes react two different ways when comeing in to a call, some would get my scent and run back the way they came and some would just charge right in. A caller can't tell which coyote is going to do what so its best to set up and keep the wind in youre face or a cross-wind..
This year i made my stands a little different i just set up at a high advantage point and called and found that i had alot of coyotes that wanted to get to my down-wind side. The years before i would set up more into a drainage so the coyotes had to come right down the middle along a cow path and by doing this they came in straight on and would not try to go down wind till they where a couple 100 yds out which was to late for them... There are places down south where a cover scent may help some but up north its pretty much a waste of time, just set up with the wind in youre face or cross wind and try to use the lay of the land to youre advantage..

[barebackjack]

Lot of good stuff here haha.

First off, you cant compare a deer to a coyote when it comes to their noses. The coyote wins hands down. Im an avid bowhunter, and a deers nose can be fooled very easily. I strive to be as "scent free" as possible. Clean, bagged clothes, shower with unscented shampoo and soap, use homemade scent neutralizer spray. It helps. I also use cover scents with great results on deer, they can be fooled. A fresh earth wafer early or a doe in estrus tampon pinned to your hat later on in the season works wonders.

Pigs cant be fooled. A pig may not wind you at a quarter mile like a deer will under ideal conditions, but at close range there is no fooling his nose like a deers.

Coyotes, sorry, the only way to play the game is to play the wind. I for one have NEVER had a coyote come in after hitting my wind. Ive had coyotes "downwind" before that didnt run, but am convinced they were not in my scent stream, thermals or temperature inversions carried it over their head.

As far as the scent clothing, I again think it helps. Is it worth the money? NOPE. Ive had plenty of deer dead downwind in my scent stream that havent blown using my present system that I just cant warrant the big $$$'s these suits cost. I think the biggest advantage the carbon/scent suits give is a mental boost to the hunter. They think it works, so it makes them hunt with more confidence.

If your breathing your stinking.

Our bird dogs will nail a live rooster at 200 yards in ideal conditions easy. Put a freshly killed rooster out in the same conditions, and they just about have to be on top of it.

[Coyotehunter]

I got to tell you, I have a carbon suit and use it for deer and bear stand hunting. I do everything that is possible to reduce my scent on stand, Bear hunting I use misting on everystand throughout my hunt. My clothes are hung outside in the trees, which I bag and carry to the stand and change on location. Cover spray on myself and equipment, the gum, rubber boats, trim the trail I come in on to minimize my contact with foliage on the way in....just try my best to reduce my stink. Oh yeah, I play the wind and pick stands accordingly. so Dcoy what is the skinny on the Carbon suits? I bought it based on the advertisement hype but I do not know much about the product. Is there good science behind the product?

[Dcoy]

Coyotehunter,
Hi.I really don't want to get involved in this,been there,done that too many times.There is a ton of info out there on it and lawsuits about it are flying all over and hopefully,some day,will get to the real facts.(both sides of course have 'hired guns'aka 'experts' testifying for them so the real truth may never come out.)I've read about it a lot,have done my own research online and in a library,have used two complete suits given to me by one of the biggest makers,and have the added benefit of a hunting buddy from Illinois who owns a business that uses carbon and deals with guys throughout the carbon industry all the time.They-and I simply do NOT believe it works as advertised.In fact,I think its worse than that cause way too many guys believe it makes them invisible scent wise and then don't take ordinary,common sense,time tested steps to lessen their scent imprint-or worse yet-'ignore the wind and just hunt'.
I've actually hunted with guys that wear it,right after the hunt quickly remove it,pop it in a plastic container,and then reuse it time and again.If asked,they've told me they can't 'air it out'cause the carbon will 'fill up' and be worthless.In the beer world,guess it would be called fermenting.Whatever-scentwise thats just plain Fing stupid.Hell,eventually I can smell it when its pulled out and put on.
Bottom line is I don't buy it-literally or scientifically.(lots of reasons-air gets through untouched,takes EXTREME heat to regenerate them,work a little once or twice at most,and on and on)
Here's a couple starting points although both of these guys are obviously not believers.


http://www.trmichels.com/ActivatedCarbonScience.htm
http://www.fastestbows.com/articles/cor ... _suits.htm

Do a google on 'ALS carbon lawsuits' or on 'carbon scent clothing' and you'll be overwhelmed.There also are military carbon studies out there but I don't have them anymore.
I'll bet you'll get 'action' on this topic though.Worse than talking about dogs or pick ups or...the testosterone will flow man!

[Dcoy]

H'mmm,just went to the second site I referred to above cause this guy was impressive and it wasn't there.Now THAT is interesting.Hopefully he'll be back.Lots of huge $$ involved here.

[barebackjack]

I just picked up a new scent-lok baselayers and the scent-lok green "liner suit" off ebay for pennies on the retail dollar.

Im gonna conduct a little "research" of my own this fall.

I still do not believe the carbon suit (or any scent reducing clothing technology) reduces human scent in a significant manner. (especially not enough to warrant its cost). Does it reduce it some? Quite possibly. Does it reduce it to the amount that being extremely anal about your hunting clothes and body (scent free soap, aseptic storage of clothing and gear, etc)? I dont think so.

I think it boosts a hunters positive mental attitude. But like was stated, this can be a bad thing, making guys believe they can hunt any wind, in any condition, and disregard common sense approaches to scent management. (I dont believe theres a such thing as scent control, we dont control it, we merely manage it to the best of out abilities).
I too have seen guys show up to hunt in their greasy oily clothes theyve been wearing at the diesel shop the last three days, slap on their scent-lok or scent blocker suit, and hit the stand with the wind blowing right to the bedding area, than they complain they didnt see anything.

I have buddies that own $400+ dollars worth of scent clothing, but than they walk into the house with the same boots they wear walking to stand. Go figure.