With all the recent controversy around the effectiveness of carbon clothing, I began to question my own practices of scent control. For the last seven or eight years I have been a scent control freak. I wash all my hunting clothes (down to my skivvies) in scent eliminating soap, store them in airtight containers and dress in the field far from my truck. I bathe in scent eliminating soap and hose down with a scent elimination spray in the woods. I wear rubber boots. I keep all my hunting gear isolated from anything that may contaminate it with odors and spray it with scent eliminator when I get to the woods. I wear carbon clothing from head to toe. Here’s where I go to the extreme…I don’t allow perfumes of any kind in my house at anytime. My wife doesn’t wear perfume, all of our detergents are perfume free, I use Ivory soap because it’s odorless, I don’t wear aftershave, in fact, I don’t even use shaving cream because its full of perfumes. This is something I practice year round. Are you beginning to see my obsession with this? I will only hunt an area if the wind is right for that set up and, outside of the rut, I don’t use any cover scents or attractants. My goal is to not introduce any foreign odors into the deer woods, to remain as invisible as possible. It’s very easy to fool a whitetail’s eyes; just stay motionless and most likely he won’t notice you. Fooling his nose however is a science. A science, hmmm. The use of that term begs for experimentation.
As I started to think back on the many encounters with deer that I’ve had, I thought about all the times that I didn’t exactly heed my regimen. Like the time I forgot my rubber boots, wore my sneakers to the stand and had a small buck track me to my tree. And what about those rubber boots? They aren’t exactly odorless. They smell like…well, rubber. Or the time I went hunting on my way home from work because I had my bow in the truck (I was practicing during lunch) and happened to be wearing my camo coveralls. I didn’t have my treestand so I just stood next to a tree and had seven deer feed around me for 25 minutes. All were within forty yards and they completely surrounded me. I know I reeked of sweat, sawdust, oil and cigarettes yet the deer could care less. And how many hunting shows have you seen where the host preaches about scent control then in the next scene you see them getting up from the breakfast table, jump into a truck then onto a four wheeler and straight to the treestand wearing the same camo. Sure, they may spray some scent killer on their boots but do you really think that’s helping?
This season I decided to see if my obsession was really worth the effort. Now I didn’t completely throw caution to the wind (no pun intended). I bathe using Ivory soap and wash my clothes in baking soda. I pay close attention to wind direction and hunt accordingly. The big difference is I get dressed at home, I don’t use any commercial ‘scent eliminators’ and I don’t wear my rubber boots (those damn things kill my feet anyway). I’ve been storing my hunting clothes right alongside my regular clothes in my closet. I’ve been keeping my treestand and all my gear out in the garage. I don’t ever put the truck in there so that’s not really a factor. I have worn my Scentlok jacket and hood a couple of times only because it’s the only lightweight jacket I have for those chilly days. I haven’t exactly abandoned scent control I’m just keeping it reasonable. So how has this affected my hunting? To be honest, this is one of the best seasons I’ve had so far. I’ve been seeing a ton of deer, I haven’t been busted yet, I have 3 deer in the freezer, one nice buck at the taxidermist and it’s only the first of November! Now let’s keep this in perspective. I hunt public land that gets a lot of pressure. Not only from hunters but fishermen, hikers, mountain bikers and horseback riders. While these people usually stick to the fire roads and main trails, the deer are used to seeing people and are familiar with the potpourri that accompanies human intrusion. If I were hunting a private farm I may be a little more careful but I still get off the beaten path enough to see the insignificance of being so fanatical about my own scent control. Is this scientific proof scent eliminators are a waste of money? I think not. This was just an experiment and I’ll be back on my old regimen next season (although maybe not as hardcore). The fact is we all give off a different odor. Maybe the deer just don’t find mine as offensive as others. Maybe I’m just lucky. Maybe mom was right and I am special. I don’t know. I do know there are no absolutes out there so don’t be afraid to experiment. You just may learn something.