Which camp are you in? One side is the John Eberhert suit and a guy loading handfuls of activated carbon into his once white draws! The other side is the Infalt guy who goes hunting with greasy boots and blue jeans after a full shift of work! Both have record bucks in highly pressured difficult states.

Wind, you can walk into the stand reeking of smoke, light up a cigarette, and if the wind is right it won't affect your hunt in any way. Or maybe the deer were just used to my grandfather being out at the ranch?? Haha. Jokes aside, the wind has always played the biggest factor in my hunting approach.

Wind is 100% effective if done correctly. If the wind never shifts in their direction, they will never smell you. Scent control is not 100% effective. Even when done correctly, you can not 100% eliminate your scent. I'll go with wind every time.

Hunt a stand when the wind isn't right and you stand a chance of educating a mature buck on a spot he should avoid for the rest of the season.

I prefer to take advantage of both. I don`t have the luxury of not hunting my spot if the wind isn`t right and go somewhere else. My wind travels directly into a sleeping area (150 yds) on our lease every time the wind is out of the south but I`m not staying home. I spray a cover scent and get there early for thing to settle down as much as possible. Always see lots of deer within 15 yards. I never know what I spooked though. You can spook them with a good wind to if they spot you walking in, or they get down wind of you.

Wind, 90%, control the other 10.

I don't buy any "scent" products, but avoid the obvious and do the easy things I can control to mitigate scent. I'm not a smoker, don't wear campfire smoked clothes, no scented soap, etc..........

I also prefer a stand that is elevated on a hill, high river wall or similar. Currently I'm about 60-70' above the 180° view I have of a river bottom with views that way exceed my 600-yard self-imposed max.

I have books on deer hunting that dedicate entire chapters on dealing with the wind and natural thermals that can carry your scent when there's no wind at all.

You can never fully eliminate your scent.

You have to play the wind if you want to keep the animal from smelling you.

You can't eliminate your scent, but you can mitigate as much as you can. I don't usually do the spray stuff, but I try to avoid strong scents on my clothing (e.g. campfire smoke, food, strong-smelling detergents, etc.). I don't put on deodorant before I head out in the woods.

Playing the wind/thermals is my primary focus though.

You sometimes see ads for camo clothing where every attempt has been made to hide a hunter in his/her surroundings. I suspect a deer's nose and brain works in much the same way as our mind and eyes in being able to differentiate the human form despite even the best efforts to hide it. Putting all sorts of scents in the air does nothing to keep a deer from differentiating the scent of a human from everything else. In fact, I'm sure a deer is better at using its nose than we are with our eyes. If a hound can track a single animal through the woods given all the other scents it picks up along the way, I'm sure a deer can differentiate scents just as effectively if not better.

cant beat the wind, period.

go archery elk hunt

Isn't this correct?

"Whitetail Deer have up to 297 million olfactory receptors compared to humans with just 5 million and dogs with 220 million. Whitetail deer's sense of smell is nearly 1/3 greater than that of a canine or dog."

I've heard of people putting worn clothes in the stand before and throughout the season so deer would become accustomed to the scent.

Always tried to hunt the wind, particularly on foot.

I find it surprising to hear so many avoiding campfire smoke on their hunting clothing. Fire is a natural part of a deer's habitat, and smoke has some antibacterial properties. Smoke is actually a natural scent killer. As I pointed out, you can not 100% eliminate your scent, but campfire smoke won't hurt you while hunting.

True, fire is natural but so are predators that deer smell and avoid. It's my opinion that it would get their attention and looking your way. It's a very easy edge to maintain.

Wind! I do use scent control because the wind always swirls. It helps and has kept me in the game while the wind swirls back in my favor.