It has often been said that the best scent in deer hunting is no scent. A hint of truth rings through, but there is also a time and place for cover scents, sex scents, urines, and scrape products in deer hunting.
The problem is most hunters don't understand scent hunting enough to avoid the many pitfalls associated with these unique and amazingly productive hunting aids.
For deer hunting scents to be effective they must be used in a manner that prevents the hunting scent from being contaminated with human scent. Your success or failure in the deer woods hinges on this very statement. Before any scent product can be effective, human odor must be controlled or at least managed as best possible.
Playing the Wind
There are a number of ways that hunters can control their own scent. One of the most effective methods of controlling scent is to make sure prevailing winds carry human odor away from the area deer are expected to approach from. Every deer hunter worth a nickel knows he or she should be conscious of wind direction. Unfortunately the wind has a nasty habit of changing direction unexpectedly or swirling at the worst possible moment. Even worse, deer often approach from unexpected directions, making the control of human scent an even more challenging game.
Still hunters need to be ever conscious of wind direction. Wind direction indicators like the Bohning Wind-Check (an odorless powder that is sprayed into the air) are an excellent way to keep tabs on wind currents. Hunters must also make a conscious effort not to hunt when wind currents are likely to push human scent towards approaching deer.
Scent-Blocking Products
The next step in controlling human scent is to reduce or eliminate scent at the source. Products designed to destroy human scent on clothing and our bodies have flooded the market in recent years. These products work by killing the bacteria that causes human body odor.
Most of the popular brands offer many versions of these scent control products. For example, Scent Shield is available in a clothes wash, hair and body soap, underarm deodorant, bar soap, body bath, and body shield gel. Hunter Specialties Scent-A-Way products are available in a laundry detergent, human scent neutralizer, deodorant plus Scent-Safe clothing storage bag to keep odors away from clothing between hunts. Wildlife Research Center also offers Scent Killer spray, clothing wash, bar soap, and liquid soap. Buck Fever Scent Products offers their Vanishing Hunter formula and Buck Stop sells Scent Blaster a scent eliminator spray.
Using these products in various combinations allows a hunter to reduce human odor at the source and on hunting clothing. It's best to shower just before going afield. Clothing should be laundered in these scent control products then hung outside to prevent household odors from contaminating them. Also, hunting clothes should only be worn in the field. Clothing picks up odors quickly. A short visit to a restaurant or filling station is enough to pick up tobacco, food and fuel odors. Store clothing in a plastic bag between trips to prevent unwanted odors from collecting on your clothing.
Clothing should also be washed in scent free soap frequently. Let common sense be your guide.
Cover Scents
Cover scents are designed to mask or hide human odor. Animal urines such as fox, raccoon, or coyote urine are among the most common cover scents. Natural plant oils such as pine, hemlock, cedar, and hemlock are also marketed as cover scents All these scents are natural odors that are theoretically strong enough to overcome human odor.
Unfortunately, to date no one has proven that cover scents mask human odor. Considering that deer have a sense of smell approximately 400 times more acute than our own, it's a safe bet that deer can smell more than one odor at a time. Cover scents can not make up for poor human scent management efforts. At best these products may confuse an animal or divert its attention long enough for the hunter to make his move.
Odor-Free Clothing
Locking in human scent is the objective of a scent-free clothing known as Scent Lok. A suit complete with top, bottom, hood and gloves, Scent Lok uses activated charcoal to absorb and filtrate human odor. An excellent product, the Scent Lok suit is designed to be worn under hunting clothes. For the Scent Lok system to work effectively the clothing worn must be absolutely odor free, putting the burden of scent control back in the hands of the hunter.
Buckmaster Scent Traps also use activated charcoal to absorb clothing odors. A carbon fabric is laid on the floor and hunting clothing laid on top. The carbon fabric and clothing are then rolled up and sealed in a plastic bag. The carbon fabric absorbs odors from the clothing and the plastic bag prevents additional odors from contaminating the clothing.
Rubber Boots
A simple piece of hunting equipment provides foolproof scent control. Rubber boots are a must have item for serious deer hunters. Rubber completely blocks the transfer of human odor allowing a hunter to walk into deer country without leaving behind a scent trail that can linger for days.
Knee-high rubber boots with pant legs tucked inside represents the minimum protection recommended. Knee high rubber boots are available in non-insulated and insulated versions for early and late-season hunting.
If the hunting cover is dense a hunter may opt for the additional protection that hip boots provide. Taller hip length boots prevent pant legs from brushing against limbs and leaving behind a scent trail.
In extreme cases wearing a rubberized rain suit when walking to and from a hunting area provides the hunter with a total scent blocking system. Unfortunately, rubberized rain suits are too noisy to hunt in, forcing the hunter to remove the rain suit before taking a stand.
Rubber gloves are also required equipment. Rubber gloves allow the hunter to handle scent products without contaminating them with human odor. Also, many hunters wear rubber gloves when climbing into their treestand to prevent leaving a human scent trail.
Hunting Scents
With these basics of scent control in mind hunters are ready to take full advantage of the many hunting-style scents on the market. Most of these scents fall into four categories including food scents, sex scents, urines, and products intended for making mock scrapes.
Of these scents, food-style products are the least popular and provide limited value to the hunter. Food scents such as apple or acorn are probably more value as cover scents than as a deer attractor.
Sex-style scents are those marketed as "hot" doe urine, "buck lure," or "estrus" scents, and they are intended to be used to attract bucks during the pre-rut and rutting periods. It's during the few days leading up to the rut and during the rut that bucks are most interested in the scent of a receptive doe. Dozens of products fall into this category including Wildlife Research Center's Trail's End #307, Scent Shield Still Steamin' Doe in Estrus, Robinson Labs Hot Doe Gel, H.S. Scents Premium Doe Estrus, Buck Stop's 200 Proof, James Valley Full Rut Doe-in-Heat, Tink's #69 Doe-in-Heat, and many others.
Urines, both buck and doe are used to attract deer, make them curious and less cautious. A natural odor, urine is used by deer as a marking tool, much in the same way a dog wets on tires, trees, and anything else in his territory. Urine is a whitetail deer calling card that's involved in a sophisticated form of communication we as hunters are only beginning to understand.
Deer urine can be used on hunting boots as a trail scent, placed in runways to momentarily stop deer in locations that provide excellent shooting opportunities, and added to natural or mock scrapes.
Deer lures designed to be used in combination with natural or mock scrapes are fairly new on the market. Mock scrapes are intended to confuse local bucks into thinking a rival buck is in the area. Some hunters build mock scrapes solely as a scouting tool, making a series of scrapes and monitoring them from a distance to see what shows up. Other hunters hunt over their mock scrapes, using the scrape to lure a buck within bow or firearm range.
When making a mock scrape select an area that offers a natural cover line such as where a cornfield meets a hardwood forest, a swamp borders dense brush, or tag alders and willows join tall grasses. Bucks tend to make scrapes in these areas naturally, often times making a series of scrapes along these natural lines.
Find a spot where limbs or brush hang three to five feet above the ground and using a rake or garden hoe tear up a piece of earth 24 to 48 inches in diameter. It's imperative to keep the scrape site free of human odor. Use rubber gloves, boots, and scent-blocking products to control human scent and take care not to rub against brush and other cover.
The smell of bare earth holds a natural attraction to deer, but several products can make the scrape even more attractive. Mark June's Make-A-Scrape is a granulated product that contains deer glands and musks. When mixed with the earth in a mock or natural scrape moisture releases the active ingredients. Make-A-Scrape is a weatherproof product that's effective much longer than liquid lures. Other buck lures and urines can be added to the scrape to freshen it as desired.
H.S. Scents offers a similar product known as Magic Scrape. Robinson Labs offers Rub and Scrape Gel and Wildlife Research Center offers Active Scrape that are designed to be used in a similar manner.
Hawgs, Limited, manufacturers of Buck Fever Scent Products offers a series of deer lures that fit into a category all their own. Three different synthetic lures including Rut Formula, Pre/Post Rut Formula, and Deer Stop Formula are available. The Rut and Pre/Post Rut Formulas are based on a urine smell that naturally attracts deer and stimulates them to urinate. The Deer Stop Formula is a curiosity lure that appeals to bucks, does, and fawns. Hunters can get more information and order samples of these new products by calling toll free at 1-888-BUC-HAWG.
Also unique, Deer Sense are cover and sex scents that burn like incense. The smoldering scent mixes with air currents causing the scent to carry much further than liquid or gel type scents. The manufacturer recommends that both the cover and sex scents be burned at the same time for maximum benefit.
Playing the scent game is an exciting and productive way to hunt whitetail deer. To be effective the hunter must first control or eliminate his own scent. Once human scent has been eliminated, managed, or otherwise controlled, the fun of hunting with scent can begin.
Copyright (c) 1996 Mark Romanack. All rights reserved.
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