Just thought I would share this...Being a freak about scent control, I decided to try a new product that I found at Cabelas, Scent Thief. As sort of an experiment, I sat a stand with the wrong wind on purpose to see what would happen. The stand overlooks a clover plot and I had a high chance of having a close encounter with more than one deer. I had a doe and fawn come in directly downwind and the only reaction was that of the doe. She lifted her head and sniffed a couple of times and continued to eat. A buck came in a bit later and had no reaction at all. All deer were within 15 yards or closer. I do use ozone to treat my clothes and use Scent Killer Gold, and shower before each hunt and do everything I can to reduce my scent, but still have been busted. The only difference on this hunt was Scent Thief. Has anyone else used this?
Scent Thief experience
rjs
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Just thought I would share this...Being a freak about scent control, I decided to try a new product that I found at Cabelas, Scent Thief. As sort of an experiment, I sat a stand with the wrong wind on purpose to see what would happen. The stand overlooks a clover plot and I had a high chance of having a close encounter with more than one deer. I had a doe and fawn come in directly downwind and the only reaction was that of the doe. She lifted her head and sniffed a couple of times and continued to eat. A buck came in a bit later and had no reaction at all. All deer were within 15 yards or closer. I do use ozone to treat my clothes and use Scent Killer Gold, and shower before each hunt and do everything I can to reduce my scent, but still have been busted. The only difference on this hunt was Scent Thief. Has anyone else used this?
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I am a big scent control/reduction guy, and I am also a big whatever works for you guy. I was into sent reduction way before it became mainstream, and I can say for certain nothing is 100%, you will never totally get past a deers nose, we come into contact with too many things to be completely scent free. You cannot base how effective a product is on one hunt, your scent stream may have been above the deer, I have had deer walk close to my stand down wind and not react, but get a little further out and blow the woods down.
Many on here will call BS on scent reduction and just say hunt the wind, well, any good hunter will hunt the wind, and I always choose a stand based on wind every single time, but being clean adds to that. I read on here some people swear by smoke in their clothes, when I use to stand around the camp fire in my hunting clothes I was blown out way more than I am now, but if it is working for others they need to stick with it.
Thanks for the tip, and keep doing what works for you, but be open minded and realistic, it only really works if it works every time.
Many on here will call BS on scent reduction and just say hunt the wind, well, any good hunter will hunt the wind, and I always choose a stand based on wind every single time, but being clean adds to that. I read on here some people swear by smoke in their clothes, when I use to stand around the camp fire in my hunting clothes I was blown out way more than I am now, but if it is working for others they need to stick with it.
Thanks for the tip, and keep doing what works for you, but be open minded and realistic, it only really works if it works every time.
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Checked out the site and i dont buy it. If it actually works then at what level of concentration is necessary? How many ppm to be effective? If a deer is 20 yrds away and a slight breeze blows in the direction of the deer the particles of said product would disspate and dilute. If would have to be some very powerful stuff to work as described at that level.
I am going to continue experimenting with it, the first deer encounter showed good enough results to try it again
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The big question in your encounter is did the deer approach you from a distance directly downwind and end up at 20 yds or closer or come in cross-wind or upwind ?
Smoke bomb tests from decades ago show that, in the absence of back-pooling or shifting wind, if you are 15-20 feet or higher with a steady wind your scent stream will not settle down to the ground for about 60-80 yds so will stay above any deer inside this distance.
I have seen a ton of treads about deer being 10 yds downwind and not getting busted. This is the reason, not a magic scent killer.
Smoke bomb tests from decades ago show that, in the absence of back-pooling or shifting wind, if you are 15-20 feet or higher with a steady wind your scent stream will not settle down to the ground for about 60-80 yds so will stay above any deer inside this distance.
I have seen a ton of treads about deer being 10 yds downwind and not getting busted. This is the reason, not a magic scent killer.
All three of the deer came from downwind at a distance and ended at a point blank range. That is what got my attention-normally if deer spend that much time down wind I would be busted. I did have a doe an fawn cross my path where I walked to the stand and had no reaction at all, usually they would at least sniff around a bit. They were upwind. I don't think this stuff is magic but I am going to experiment some more. The strange thing is this stuff has a pretty good odor so I didn't want it on my clothes. I had it on a pad-I could easily smell it.
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Like Daddymac, I don't care that some on AT are vocal skeptics of scent control measures. They can hunt the way they choose and I will hunt the way that WORKS for me. I'm not outlandish, but opt to do what I can in order to cut down on human odors in the woods as much as possible....fully knowing it is not possible to be "scent free".
The post that I quoted is also something I have noted. Several years ago I hunted a location with pines on two sides and killed a bunch of deer there. One evening the wind was from the north....which was not optimal but also was not a deal breaker. I had a group of does come past at 25-30 yards downwind and never busted me, so I figured my setup was effective. Then a coyote came out of the woods to the west traveling about 150 yards to the south of my stand....just loping along....and suddenly stopped dead in his tracks...directly downwind of me. Without hesitation he spun 180* and bolted back into the woods where he had just come.
No matter if you just "hunt the wind" or take extreme measures, the wind is going to be wafting, gusting or blowing in a certain direction....or all over the place as it frequently does here in west MI. Some animals are more tolerant or curious.....others are not at all. Unlike the TV hunters, I don't haul an ozone machine into the woods and am reluctant to buy into fads. I hope it works for you over time.....most anything can work once.
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Alaska at heart I should have expanded my post. I am an avid scent control hunter. I use scent body scent control, carbon clothing, and cover scents.
With all of this said I still play the wind as my #1 tactic as , even when I do all the scent control, they sometimes still detect me.
Another reason for scent control is so you don’t leave hard scent in the area you were hunting.
I may check Scent Thief out as I’m always looking to improve
With all of this said I still play the wind as my #1 tactic as , even when I do all the scent control, they sometimes still detect me.
Another reason for scent control is so you don’t leave hard scent in the area you were hunting.
I may check Scent Thief out as I’m always looking to improve
Just wanted to update a couple more encounters using scent thief, next encounter had deer on two sides of me and they had no reaction. Third encounter had deer out in front of me at about 70 yards with a swirling wind, the doe snorted and cleared all of the rest from the field. Fourth encounter had deer directly down wind and had one of the walk between the ladder and the tree, again no response. Fifth encounter had a deer blow from about 75 yards away, deer was upwind as best I could tell. Sixth encounter had a doe and fawns directly down wind and came within 10 yards, no response. The only conclusion so far seems to be that Scent thief seems to work better when the deer are closer and the encounters where deer reacted was several hours into the hunt.
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L...O...L
I’m that guy, Alaska speaks of.
I’ll bet any of you $100-
Go squirt your dog in the face, toss a hotdog out in the grass, watch how fast the dog finds the dog lol.
Scent Thief’s revolutionary formula is the first and only hunting scent blocker product to completely eliminate an animal’s sense of threatening odors. Our patented No Smell Technologyrelaxes the olfactory epithelium, temporarily shutting down an animal’s sense of smell. When an animal gets Scent Thief Field Spray in their nose, they won’t be able to smell anything else. Guaranteed. The wind can now act in your favor
I’m that guy, Alaska speaks of.
I’ll bet any of you $100-
Go squirt your dog in the face, toss a hotdog out in the grass, watch how fast the dog finds the dog lol.
Scent Thief’s revolutionary formula is the first and only hunting scent blocker product to completely eliminate an animal’s sense of threatening odors. Our patented No Smell Technologyrelaxes the olfactory epithelium, temporarily shutting down an animal’s sense of smell. When an animal gets Scent Thief Field Spray in their nose, they won’t be able to smell anything else. Guaranteed. The wind can now act in your favor
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I think most reasonable hunters understand there is no magical potion that can make you completely invisible to a deers nose, I know I will never be "scent free" but I do try to be scent small. What can you smell further away, a sewer plant or a single fart, I am trying to be the fart, if being the sewer plant works for you, stick with it, stinky. 😂
Here is my latest and last post... I have not been busted once in the last 3 1/2 weeks. Have had multiple close encounters with one being a 4 1/2 year old buck. On two hunts I saw three bucks each--all bucks came from different directions and spent considerable time at close range. Last nights experience was an eye opener, I walked in, hung a camera over a scrape and climbed my tree about 20 yards away. The 3rd buck I saw fed his way along the same path that I walked in on. He went to the scrape, put on a show, then started to really sniff around. He finally worked his way to the base of my tree. I had a Scent Thief "bomb" hanging on a twig-- he stuck his nose right in it several times. He finally got bored and worked his way to my pond, drank, then hung around for about 25 minutes. I could feel the wind shift several times and he never responded at all. Conclusion, Scent Thief doesn't appear to alarm deer at all and does seem to work. I did not spray anything on my gloves or clothes, so I would have expected that deer to smell where I touched my ladder.
I use scent gold hang clothes outside, place them in a tote and dress in the field, then I'll take a fir branch and crunch it up in my hands and wipe it all over me, been effective for me but not full proof but it helps...
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Any update on this stuff guys. I know the post is older, but figured it could hurt to ask
Thanks
Thanks
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A very trusted friend swears by Scent Thief products so I've been doing a little playing around with it this off season. I took three old hunting shirts (converted into shop rags) and hung them on the edge of food plots. Each food plot is a few hundred yards away from each other (as the crow flies). Each shirt was hung on major trails entering the food plots on the north (south-facing) side of the food plots. This area has a predominantly south (SE or SW) wind so a lot of the deer enter from the north side. One shirt wasn't treated and/or sprayed with anything. One shirt was sprayed with Dead Down Wind (DDW) and the last shirt was sprayed with Scent Thief. On the food plots with the untreated shirt and the DDW, the deer actually altered their entrance point into those food plots for the first week and then went back to using the main trail after about 8 days. For the food plot with the shirt sprayed with Scent Thief, the deer did not alter their travel route at all.
Yes, I know there are many other variables that could've contributed to this "experiment." I am very familiar with this property so I am very familiar with how and where deer travel on this property. The food plots used are destination food plots that we rarely, if ever, hunt over. They are bordered by a large sanctuary area that we don't hunt in or around and stay out of at all costs, if possible, so this area is largely left alone aside from food plot maintenance.
I'm not trying to sell anyone anything and I'm certainly not a "paid spokesperson." I'm well aware that the "it's a gimmick" crowd that hates everything will try to pick apart everything I said here but in the end, I've seen enough to make me plan to give it a go during the season this year... which starts in 9 days for me.
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Keep us posted on your experiment and with your hunting. I haven’t heard of this before but I’m going to check it out
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