Scent Elimination Products and Mythbusters

Was watching mythbusters tonight and they did an interesting test. Jamie bathed in scent elimination products, wore scent elim clothing and sprayed on scent elim product. With a 5 minute head start Jamie ran to a hiding place outdoors. They gave a bloodhound his original scent and had the dog track em.

Dog didn't miss a beat and found him right away.

Obviously a bloodhound has an excellent nose. I just thought it was an interesting test.

Interesting. Thanks for sharing.

A quick Google uncovered this...

"Deer smell at a level 20 times better than humans, but dogs have about 25 times more olfactory (smell) receptors than humans do."

IMO, a five level difference between deer and dogs equates to a deer being able to bust you as easily as a dog. Save your money and just use the wind to your advantage.

i think deer smell 99% of the time, the times they don't bust you for it is cause they don't see you as a threat or don't give a s***

The Scent-Lok company's own scientists that developed their products testified against them in a civil suit stating that scent elimination is pure fallacy. I can't believe people spend thousands of dollars on an item that will NEVER do what it is supposed to do. I don't use any scent eliminating products and never will. The closest thing I use to a cover scent is called tobacco! I still chain smoke while hunting and seem to be doing just fine.

I could not agree with you more!!!!!! I was out small game hunting yesterday and two young does walked perpendicular to me about 50 yards downwind and when they smelled me just looked at me for a sec and went about their business. Scent-Lok is 21st century snake oil.

Ouch!

http://www.heinsmills.com/cases/Scent_Lok.html

Now I can see the benefit of concealing odor or reducing it but there is no way to eliminate it as those companies claimed. Too bad deer aren't trained to run to the scent like a bloodhound!

Cheers, Txduckman!

One of the reasons i only fart in to brown paper bags is to ensure the deer dont smell me and then come looking to hump my leg.

All I know is I was using Scent away and had a yearling doe walk up to within 5 feet of me without alarm.

X2. I can't count the number of times I know I was scented but the deer didn't spook. I cut across a grassy clearing one morning to a tree I was going to hunt out of. When it got light, I could see my trail through the tall wet grass leading right to my tree. I thought "It's a good thing deer aren't smart enough to understand that the trail leads to me". After a while, a Coyote cut across the clearing. When he hit my trial, he stopped, smelled it, and took right up on it coming towards me. About 25 yards from my tree, he cut off my trail and continued on his way. A few minutes later, a 4 point comes across the clearing, cuts the Coyotes trail, stops, smells it, and takes up the trail. When he comes to my original trail, he turns and starts following it. He has his nose down like a bloodhound and is following a trail made by me and a Coyote. When he came to where the Coyote turned off, he turned and went right behind him into the woods.

To make a short story long, I think it's pretty rare that you can fool a deers nose. Sometimes they just don't care. And sometimes they do dumb things. More than once, I've seen deer stop, smell a spot where a person urinated, and then just go on their merry way.

Well the scent elimination 99% isn't accurate but what you are doing is reducing the amount of scent your putting off. It def does do that same as using a cover scent such as coon piss or any such scent. I compare it to us smelling a skunk. If you smell a little wiff of a skunk no big deal you know there is one around somewhere but not to concerned. Now if you smell the same skunk and it's strong as heck then you now to get the heck out of there. The same principle just allows you to get a little closer with out the overwhelming scent we put off. But with saying this if you use the wind right that's the only 100% scent cover out there.

I agree with Gators, one thing we fail to realize is, that about 80% of our scent comes from our nose and mouths.

If you want to kill odor boil a gallon of water and add a box of baking soda, its the same thing as sent away.

I think the "odor eliminating" products are just another example of how much CRAP is sold to hunters, it all comes down to...

1. How many hours you spend in the woods
2. The quality of the place you hunt
3. LUCK that the big buck walks out

The test is interesting. Bloodhounds have a better nose then any other dog 40 times the receptors of us. I use cover scents like ceader oil and I cant find the one that was my favorite liquid earth scent.

I watched the mythbusters demostration, but I have to say, they need to do things a little different.

1. He washed up, went right by the dog.
2. They gave him a 5 minute head start. So Jamie RAN, sweating, exhailing more than he would have if he walked. They should have given him a 20 minute start, and told him to walk to avoid sweating.

Not saying the dog couldn't find him if they did it a bit different, but at least you would have taken the factor of him sweating by running out of the equation.

Also when they went through the water, he should have gone DOWN STREAM, not up stream. This would have carried his sent away from the dog.

Honestly, I don't use Scentlok products. I was my clothing with no scent detergent, I pack it up in a bag after washing. I've been up close with deer without them scenting me. Last weekend I had 3 bucks within 15 yards of me and didn't spook them (Until I shot one of them with a bow).

I prefer to step in cow manure on the way to the blind.... they are used to that smell and are not worried about it...

Just another example of someone trying to separate you from your money.

Hunt with the wind in face or get up higher if you are concerned about your scent and save your money.

So lets add an interesting spin on this...

I have spent probly every day at my lease in the woods over the last week and a half or so. Does me being there leaving my "scent" in the woods effect the deer in my area???

If I let the woods "rest" would I see more deer when I do hunt??

I roll in it now. My dog has been doing it forever, so there must be something to it.

I haven't figured out what that is yet...

It's overrated.

I spent last Saturday pee'ing out of my bow blind, and when my buck walked out, I know he smelled me, but he didn't really care.

It's kind of one of those, "totally depends on the mood the deer is in" things. Sometimes they'll haul at the first tiny whiff of you, and sometimes you can pee on their forehead and they barely notice.

Deer are very aware of anything different in their area. If you fill up your truck with diesel or gas & there is fresh stench on you and/or your boots when you go to the blind, they will notice if the wind is in their favor. Especially shooter bucks.

Not saying to buy into the total elimination stuff, but minimizing strong, odd smells & perfumy crap sure can't hurt. Especially if you are hunting an area that doesn't see a lot of human activity & if you're down in a thick bottom, rather than watching a wheat field or other open area.

Do any of y'all notice a sudden change in deer patterns on your cameras & while watching in the first days when season starts? That is due to pressure, as well as the beginning of the rut.

I agree with that, oulufinn.

The deer in my area are very used to cars, trucks, people, etc., because a lot of people actually live out there. So they probably walk by areas where workers have pee'd all the time.

I bow hunt only and do the walk in the manure trick also. We haven't bought scent in years I cut up a bunch of cedar(with berries)simmer on the stove with water and strain it out through a sock a couple times and either I'm crazy our else it has made a huge difference not getting busted!

I saw another expose on scent eliminating clothing a couple of years ago. They took all of the major brands and got a Lab's favorite chew toy and rolled it up inside the garment, then placed it somewhere in a room without the dog seeing it. The dog found it every time within a few seconds. None of the brands were able to fool the dog's nose and they were being very careful not to contaminate the outside of the garment when they wrapped it up.

Basically, unless you're wearing something that says NASA on it, you're leaking scent.

i usually spray down using the earth scented spray. then use a cover scent like skunk. it has worked for the most part.

i never did buy into the carbon suits.

My son and I will be ground blind bow hunting this weekend for the first time. Our blind faces NE so I hope the wind is in our favor.

We will be trying to minimize our scent but just by virtue of how we have to get to our blind how do yo take all the scent out of you vehicle also? Where you walk? Your breath?

I'm glad I saw the episode.

hunters in the beginning didnt need all this scentless [censored] and what not, so dont buy the stuff or buy it, what ever makes you fell better.

I bow hunt and the best advantage is to be 20 to 25 feet in the air so your scent will stay high and not come down on the trail that you are hunting. I've used all the scent eliminators and then went with just my camo clothes and at that height I haven't noticed any difference. If you had to bow hunt out of a pop-up I could see the advantage of using scent blockers and covers because you are at there level. Then you still have to use the wind to your advantage or you will have poor success.

I also agree. Older bucks are especially sensitive to ANYTHING they see, smell, or hear that seems out of place. And in my opinion, that includes objects which they only see in certain spots, such as a box or ladder stand. I say this based on an experience I had many years ago while hunting in Mississippi. I decided to throw up a ladder stand one afternoon in a spot that was between two other stands that had been there for many years. There was faint sign that made it appear a buck had been moving through that area and that anyone hunting in those other two stands would never see him. I took him (the larger rack below) less than an hour later. That old saying "the best time to hunt a new stand is first time" definitely rings true in my book. It means being able to get the jump on an old buck when and where he's not expecting you.



If you're wondering why I put these two racks in the same snapshot, it was to draw attention to the purpose of the 13-inch rule. The smaller rack, which came from a skull I found, is typical of the young bucks the 13-inch was created to protect.

Unless you get into a air tight space suit you are going to emit odor!!! PERIOD thank goodness for SKUNK cover sent!!

just play the wind...and hope for the best

Dogs can smell one part per million, sounds like deer are almost as sensitive, good luck avoiding them

If most of the smell comes from your breath and deer like peanut butter, I guess just bring peanut butter sandwiches with you on the stand.

I wonder if someone makes a chewing gum that smells like doe estrus?

how bout some gum that tastes and smells like doe urine?

I'll stick to peanut butter sandwiches and scent away, thank you very much!!!

+1

If there are cattle on the place I just eat a big helping of pinto beans before I hunt. That will cover my scent with a well timed, controlled burst of "scent" just as well as long as there are some fresh cow piles in that area. J/K

Gum-o-flage: I rec'd some in a Christmas stocking a few years ago. Smells and tastes like yummy (sarcasm) pine oil.

http://huntingscience.com/

I still have a few packs if you're interested.

CF

Back when I was into night hunting and owned several hounds it was described to me by a biologist how a dog smells. He used as an example, a hamburger. We humans smell a hamburger as a whole hamburger. It has a distinctive smell to us.

A dogs scent ability does not smell a "hamburger". It smells the bread, the meat, the lettuce, the tomato, the onion, and so on. It breaks down into each individual smell.

It is for example how a hound can follow a track that is also followed and crossed by newer stronger tracks of other animals.
Or how a law enforcement dog can find a small bit of drug or explosive hidden in something having a strong smell.

Now my question would be, does a deer smell in the same way of breaking parts of a mixed scent down into individual scents like a dog? If so, using a cover scents to mask another scent would also be a myth.

Though I have used natural cover scents I have not bought a commercial one in years. If I have used scent elimination spray, it was because someone handed me a bottle and I figured I just smelled bad to them. I instead hunt according to the wind and I hunt from elevated positions to keep my scent and movement above ground level.

But I do avoid scents that would be unnatural in the woods like strong deodorants, shampoo, and detergents with my cloths, etc. and try to go with unscented products in place of those before a hunt.

check this out

http://www.imbmonsterbucks.com/info.php?id=243

Good article!!! Thanks for sharing!!!

I dont buy it, I work to hard for my money to blow it on all the new hunting products which as put above are designed to separate you from your money. I have hunted box blinds, tripods, and popups in east texas 15 yards from a feeder without scent eliminatiuon anything... Oh wait I did have some wrigleys winterfresh in my mouth, and have never noticed a difference or had much trouble.

I dont wear camo for that mater either, sat 40 yards from a feeder in a blue lawn chair and saw 14 deer, ok, so i used gras to try and hide the chair some, but point is deer arnt the all konwing and i dont think the sent elimination and cammo is worth a quarter of the hype it gets, and damn sure aint worth my money!

matt

I dont know.
All I know is I had 8-10 does and 2 spikes all around me from 6 to 40 yards. Not one of them snorted or was spooked. They had no idea I was there.