The subject of scent control is a complicated one.
In this section we’ll share some of our thoughts and give you references for methods that work for other hunters we know.
Here are the most common questions we hear about scent control.
“What’s your scent control regimen?”
“Do you play the wind or ignore it?”
“How does ground scent impact the hunt?”
“What do we check wind with?”
“What happens if a buck smells you?”
In our opinion, scent control is far less important than most of the other topics discussed in this course. There are many successful hunters who all use different practices and so the debate rages on. The reality of scent control is there are a pile of ways to “skin the cat” and hunters have used all of them with varying degrees of success. One experienced hunter will swear by scent control clothing while the next will practice something opposite. The point is - BOTH have success. Where their opinions differ in scent control, they are similar in woodsmanship, scouting methods, and the drive to succeed. We suggest prioritizing those areas over this topic, but since it is a topic that most people want to learn about here are our thoughts on 3 methods of scent control. Many hunters use a combination of all of these so don’t be afraid to experiment until you find what works best for you. We don’t believe there is a “magic” answer here. Your confidence in the methods YOU use are most important.
METHOD #1: Scent Elimination
These are products that claim to eliminate scent. They come in many forms: sprays, scent free or carbon clothing, ozone, etc. Most of these require an elaborate process that needs to be followed very carefully to see success. If you choose this route, pay close attention to the directions on how to use it properly and avoid missing key steps.
Our Experience: Most of us have tried scent elimination products and currently don’t use any. We weren't sure if it had a positive impact on our hunts. We’ve filmed hunts for years with two people in every setup. The added person puts twice the amount of human scent into the environment, yet we’ve had deer downwind with and without scent control and had similar results. Sometimes they smelled us, sometimes they didn’t. To be fair, it's possible that we didn't follow the instructions of the scent elimination product properly. Eventually we just got sick of the time spent trying to organize and learn the stuff so we gave it up. We felt the time spent on scent elimination detracted from valuable scouting/hunting time. Eventually we cut it out of our process and have seen better results since then. Probably due to the increased focus on woodsmanship and scouting.
Now remember, these are just our opinions based on personal experience. It’s possible that we will change our methods at some point should we gain confidence in something else.
METHOD #2 - Scent Containment
Some hunters focus on containing their scent instead of eliminating it. The thought is that by keeping the scent trapped inside of something, it keeps deer from smelling them. The most common method of doing this is with an enclosed blind of some sort. Some of these blinds are designed to be air tight. They can require an elaborate set up and are difficult to move but can be very nice, especially when hunting private land. In our experience, the blinds do seem to work for containing scent when closed BUT you’ve got to open it to shoot at some point.
METHOD #3 - Hunting the Wind
Wind is the great equalizer when hunting whitetails, especially with a bow. To hunt the wind means to attempt to set up where it’s blowing your scent away from the deer. Seems simple enough, right?
Understanding wind and thermals in different environments takes many years of experience. The best way we’ve found to simplify the process is to use wind checkers often. Milkweed is our favorite because it shows what the wind is doing as it follows the currents away from your location. For example, we’ve dropped milkweed at our location and it blew away in one direction only to float back a short time later following a different wind current. On the flip side, we’ve found great spots with consistent winds where we don’t get busted as often.
We discussed wind and thermals a bit in an earlier section. If you didn’t see it, click here to go back and review.
TIP: When looking for a place to set up always be conscious of the ground scent you’re leaving. It’s hard to say if it’ll affect the deer or not when they walk up to it. Seems like mature does take issue with ground scent more often than bucks but occasionally it’ll whig a mature buck out. The last thing you want is to have a buck coming in, having it hit your ground scent and turn around before offering a shot. This has happened to us many times and the problem is magnified when walking through thick cover or tall weeds that are brushing against your pant legs and boots. In flat cover where the only contact is on your boots, it’s not as big of an issue. Either way, it’s best to identify the setup out in front of you and avoid tromping around the whole area. Try not to walk over hot sign that you intend to setup over it.
SCENARIO TIME!
One of the FAQ’s at the top of this section was “What happens if a buck smells you?”. Most folks ask these questions in a series of questions.
QUESTION #1: A mature buck smelled me, what happens now?
It's hard to know how to answer these because every situation is different, but it’s rarely a good thing 😬 . We’ve had young bucks smell us, get nervous and bound away, only to see them cruise back by from a different direction a few hours later. Mature bucks on the other hand, are a different story. Some will smell you and leave the area entirely. Remember, these things live and die by their nose. They catch a whiff of you nearby and immediately know that smell isn’t supposed to be there - especially in a pressured area.
QUESTION #2: How far will they go?
That depends. Sometimes only a few hundred yards before stopping at the next bedding area and setting up shop. Available cover and the number of secure areas on the property can dictate that. For example, say you’re hunting a small wooded draw in agriculture country with a couple small pockets of thick cover. A mature buck smells you in the draw and runs across the field onto the neighbor's property. There’s a good chance he’s not going to walk past that stand location again during daylight for some time. That’s not to say another buck won’t move in and take his place, but that specific deer just figured you out and left.
Here’s another example - say you’re hunting down South and there are many pine thickets and swamps located around the property. During a hunt near one of these thick areas, a buck winds you and bounds off out of sight. He might not return to that exact spot in daylight but only moves a few hundred yards away to the next secure area. In contrast to the example above, the higher density of secure areas keep the bucks safe and doesn’t force them to escape long distances.
QUESTION #3: How long will they avoid my stand?
The truth is, there's no way of knowing. Sometimes they’ll come straight back to it and try to investigate the disturbance, usually on high alert. In our experience they come back to the area but it might be awhile. We’ll see them there a month or a year later.
MAIN TAKEAWAY
If a buck smells you, the likelihood of killing that same deer out of the same spot in the short term goes way down. This doesn’t mean you can’t kill other deer out of that spot so don't be afraid to hunt the same spot again. It all depends on your goals. However, if you’re hunting a specific deer, we’d start bouncing around to different bedding areas nearby until we found the buck again or give the area a break for 2 weeks and start over.
