I had a friend at work that made an order from one of the deer farms. It was shipped frozen in a cold box and you were to keep it cold to keep it fresh.
I had one stand near a bedding area that I never have been busted in. The shooter I was after seemed to be always late coming through so I thought I'd try this "new fresh" scent since it was the rut.
30 minutes before last light I had 3 does coming through with the buck in tow about 30 yards behind them. When the does got to the scent that I put out they went on high alert and ended up blowing out. The buck just watched it all unfolded and turned around and walked away. Neighbor killed him about a mile away.
I will never use ANY scent again. I go as scent free as I can and I've had great luck with a scent crusher ozone bag.

 

I had a friend at work that made an order from one of the deer farms. It was shipped frozen in a cold box and you were to keep it cold to keep it fresh.
I had one stand near a bedding area that I never have been busted in. The shooter I was after seemed to be always late coming through so I thought I'd try this "new fresh" scent since it was the rut.
30 minutes before last light I had 3 does coming through with the buck in tow about 30 yards behind them. When the does got to the scent that I put out they went on high alert and ended up blowing out. The buck just watched it all unfolded and turned around and walked away. Neighbor killed him about a mile away.
I will never use ANY scent again. I go as scent free as I can and I've had great luck with a scent crusher ozone bag.

Last season I had a similar incident when I put some scent on the ground from one of the popular brands. Every deer(approximately 10) that morning smelled it and was very bothered by it. I ended up covering the scent with some dirt and went back to no scent and a more conservative approach. I did much better without the scent!

 

I look at your story and say the scent worked. He came in close enough for a shot. You put your human thoughts into his reaction. Maybe he was reacting to your scent on the ground? I surely don't know for sure.

I use scent every time I go out throughout the whole season. Just regular doe urine. The sex urines I'll use in November. I think they're usually too strong. I get some water from a local creek and put it in a spray bottle. I'll add about a 1/4 bottle of doe scent to it. Every time I cross a deer trail and the last 100 yards to the stand I'll use it.

This year (last) I used a decoy on over half my sits. After I set the decoy up I sprayed it with my concoction. In late Oct and eary Nov I'd put a bit of James River gel on the tail.

On the SE corner of our property we have a food plot. There's a treeline on the property N and S. To the east the land drops down about 20 feet. With a westerly wind a deer can't smell you, but your skylined. Every smart doe walking in range picks you off. Unless you have a decoy out. That takes the attention away from you and puts the focus on the decoy. I had a fork horn jump the decoy and knock the legs off and continue to hump it on the ground for about 30 seconds.

My favorite spot is along a small creek. I must have had close to 20 bucks come up to my decoy during that late Oct early Nov period. Only one bad reaction and he might have been dead, by the time he reacted. Would have been a really tough shot. Probably wouldn't have got him, because I would have expected him to do what the other 19 did.

I'm scent dead and don't know for sure. I've asked my Lab a lot about scent, but he's pretty tight lipped.

Bowmania

 

I look at your story and say the scent worked. He came in close enough for a shot....Maybe he was reacting to your scent on the ground?

Wind was not in his favor. He wasn't aware of the scent until he was right upon it. As for my scent on ground, I never walk upon a hot trail. I applied the scent from a distance using a long branch as I always did when applying ground scents.

 

I had a friend at work that made an order from one of the deer farms. It was shipped frozen in a cold box and you were to keep it cold to keep it fresh.

E Johnson:

Remember the doe estrus scent that that came in an atomizer...maybe still does? You kept it refrigerated until use. You sprayed it on trails or scrapes, and also recommended occasionally spraying into air once in blind or in stand? I was using it, for not long, until one day while in my stand I would occasionally squirt a spray into the air. Suddenly, about 50-60 yards, or more, out in the timber a series of the dreaded blowing erupted. That scent also went into the trash.

 

If he smelled the scent he also smelled you. Whether or not he cared about your scent is debatable. I don't use any scents.

 

If he smelled the scent he also smelled you.

I am quite sure he did not catch my scent.

 

Some years ago I inadvertantly got the attention of a maternal doe. She would circle my position snorting on every outing to her area and I mean every outing. I shower before,use scent free deoderant, douce private parts with baking powder, launder clothes in odor free, non UV enhancing laundry detergent and store clean clothes in an air tight plastic container and use racoon urine cover scent on my boots. She would pick up my scent every time. On one occcasion I went so far as to wear scent free plastic bags over boots, thinking dander could be the cause. Conceptually 1000X human scent is hard for me to do and I am convinced my white tail cannot be fooled, They are used to smelling humans and know when the scent concentration signals danger. Cover scents may give one a stelth confidence but Whitetails are not so easily fooled. Wind direction is key. Attraction scents? Probably not worth the money.

 

I tried putting out scent wicks of estrus for a few years. So many bucks would walk down wind and not even react, I decided to stop wasting my time and money. I know other people have results with attractants, but not me. Grunt calls are my bread and butter.

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I launder my hunting clothes in scent free detergent, use scent killer on the bottom on my boots and wear scent wafers on my pants. I think it works to help mitigate human scent.

 

Took me a while to figure this out. If you're using a sex scent it Sept and early Oct, it's not going to work. At this time doe urine won't work either. Why would a buck care if a doe is near by then??? I think you have about a two week window for scent to work. Do you think you're going to hear that from a scent manufacturer? That window will change depending on how far north or south you are.

I used to do the scent free storage thing. My hunting buddy has one of those electrical scent zappers. I forget what they're called. He had all his stuff out side the cabin and I had my stuff hanging inside with a wood burning stove. One day he said to me, 'you know I get picked off more than you do'. He quit using the zapper.

I don't have a clue if anything I've posed in these two post are true. I'm totally scent dead. Ozonics??? It's just what I 'learned' in 60 years of chasing whitetails. Actually, I take that back, I think the creek water tip is money.

Bowmania

 

Some early scent cover and attractant techniques...maybe still used by some bowhunters.

-Smoking your clothes and gear with burning wood or leaves as a scent cover.

Tried techniques a few times. Gave me a serious headache and couldn't get acrid smell out of my nose for a few days. Also, the smell would imbed in my truck.

- Rinsing hunting clothing in pure apple cider.

Can't say it was an overall effective cover/attractant, but on one occasion I did have a doe come to the tree I was in, sniff the tree and the look up. As the doe walked away I got a shot on her. As I sat back down to wait to track her and started to pour a cup of coffee, I looked out to the harvested corn field to my front. About 20 yards out was a huge 10-pointer burning holes through me. He had been coming in to a trail that passed the tree I was in. He left the country in a hurry. Win some, lose some.

- Redirecting..channeling movement.

I never used this technique, but the local pro shop owner and avid and successful hunter did, and always swore by it. He would wear the same T-shirt and underwear for a few days. He then would cut the shirt and underwear into strips, then hang the strips on bushes and limbs in a pattern to redirect deer movement. My opinion was that, that might cause the deer to abandon moving through the area, altogether.

-Hanging tail from deer-kill on branch at height of deer.

The idea was that a deer, hopefully a buck, would see the tail moving in the breeze and come to inspect.

-Doe tarsal glands

This technique was commonly used. We would visit the butcher shops to obtain the gland or remove them from your kill. We put them in a container and froze them until ready to use. We would tie the thawed gland on a long cord and drag the gland on the ground and past your stand/blind at the shot distance you wanted. Some hunters pinned the gland to a pant leg when ground stalking.

I had one occasion that I was confident that the technique was about to be effective. I had drug the gland in a harvested bean field along the treeline and across an active scrape. In about 2 hours a big 8-pointer came out of the treeline about 100 yards away and immediately went nose down to the tarsal scent trail. Went he hit the scrape it must have been his because he refreshed the scrap. Then he got back on the tarsal scent and went into the treeline about 60 yards from me. I waited for sometime but never saw him again. Ever have an adrenaline rush that suddenly drops off?

 

Interesting topic ......I’ve seen good and bad results.

I have come to believe that many of the bad result incidents were due to too much scent.

I have had good results with a scent drag, and bad results spraying/dripping the scent directly on the ground ....or too much in one area. I think what happens with too much sense is it’s unnatural, too concentrated and overwhelming. Too much, doesn’t seem to bother elk as much as deer.

I am totally against cover scent.

I used to run dogs for hogs doing depredation at night sometimes. My dogs would kill a skunk- Reeking so bad that your eyes would water within 20 feet of those dogs. As soon as 15 minutes later those dogs would find a hog. It boggles my mind how they did that when they got sprayed in the face and stunk so bad.

Seems to me, a tiny bit of cover sent doesn’t even compare to what those dogs got dosed with and they still smelled hog tracks.....Trying to disguise your scent from deer is a waste of time, IMO.

...

 

Interesting topic ......I’ve seen good and bad results.

I have come to believe that many of the bad result incidents were due to too much scent.

I have had good results with a scent drag, and bad results spraying/dripping the scent directly on the ground ....or too much in one area. I think what happens with too much sense is it’s unnatural, too concentrated and overwhelming. Too much, doesn’t seem to bother elk as much as deer.

I am totally against cover scent.

I used to run dogs for hogs doing depredation at night sometimes. My dogs would kill a skunk- Reeking so bad that your eyes would water within 20 feet of those dogs. As soon as 15 minutes later those dogs would find a hog. It boggles my mind how they did that when they got sprayed in the face and stunk so bad.

Seems to me, a tiny bit of cover sent doesn’t even compare to what those dogs got dosed with and they still smelled hog tracks.....Trying to disguise your scent from deer is a waste of time, IMO.

...

I agree. I read somewhere long ago that deer can distinguish 6 or 7 different scents at once. So cover scent is a waste of time and money IMO.

I use scent free soap on my clothes and body as well as a scent free bath towel and deodorant. I use scent free soap on my hands before I handle my gear. All of my stuff is washed before I go out, and kept in a sealed tote. I have a very sensitive nose and strong odors bother me. I trained my wife to use free and clear detergent years ago. And no softener liquid or dryer sheets, and none of those plug in air fresheners or candles in the house. I change into my hunting clothes in the parking area every time. I have 2 pairs of boots that I only wear deer hunting, and I spray them down with scent killer occasionally. I have great success with my wind, but my process is a lot of work. It kind of takes some of the fun out of my deer hunting.

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When you think about it, introducing lab-made and alleged real attractant scents, and cover scents, into the deer community for 92 years, is it unreasonable to believe that deer have learned a long time ago that the man-made scents are not natural and now instinctively react to them as a threat?

 

Skunk scent is the only cover scent I'll use. Doesn't work for hogs. Deer, if I did my job with scent minimization it does okay.
For those who don't think it works let's compare how many dead animals we take selfies with each year.
Even if you win I'll enjoy seeing your pics.

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I agree. I read somewhere long ago that deer can distinguish 6 or 7 different scents at once

Here is what a doctor of animal science said about the olfactory ability of whitetail deer regarding identifying several scents at once.

"Humans can smell a casserole cooking in the kitchen, but deer can specify the age, amount and origins of each meat, vegetable and seasoning in the dish. They can probably even gauge the oven temperature, the ingredients’ depth and distribution in the bowl, and how long it’s all been stewing. Deer discern all that from down the holler, not just the hallway."

 

How do they know what a deer smells?
I mean it is obvious their olfactory abilities far out do ours but since a deer is not a talking animal, it can't point out on a chart what it is smelling or explain it. The best we can do is correlate their reactions to what we introduce.


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My experience is a bit different. About 12 years ago I was overexposed to a pesticide. It caused a condition known as Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. My sense of smell became so sensitized that we had to eliminare all scented products from our home and for the first two years I was essentially homebound as exposure to something like a person's deodorant or laundry soap would cause my throat to close. Now I am much closer to "normal" but there is still no cure and I remain absolutely disgusted by fragrances.
What does this have to do with you? Wellb for awhile I could smell a human in the woods for quite a distance. You would not believe how far. Additionally, humans have something called "olfactory fatigue." That is when your smeller can no longer detect an odor due to exposure. Like when your first bite of bacon is GREAT, but the fifth bite is just...meh. My olfactory fatigue was SHUT OFF for the first eight years of the illness. I had difficulty attending church or even shaking hands(I still avoid it). But....essentially I became as close as a human will ever come to a wild animal, olfactorily speaking. I essentially taught myself chemical engineering in an attempt to kill perfume and fragrance odors. And for the most part I have been successful. I developed a scent killer that worksvwell enough that I have had a doe smell ME(nose against the back of my head) and STILL didnt know what I was. And the wind was in her favor....she used my trail coming in as a convenience and I happened to be sitting on a log. She walked around me and left the area a bit unsure of herself...but I was not busted!
There are secrets to beating a deer's nose and I am about to give you some:
1. You cannot wash your hunting clothes in the same washer/dryer you do your regular laundry. It will pick up residual odors from regular detergent and uv brighteners. You either go full fragrance free like we do or get your own machine and keep the wife out of it.
2. Believe it or not, a mix of half and half and non chlorinated water will kill about 85 percent of perfumes, and is non threatening to deer. I use a 50-50 mix as a pre wash spray for clothes.
3. Spray your scent killer on your clothing after washing. Hang them in a wooded area away from all humans and scent including smoke. Use a tote when dry but sprinlle baking soda mixed with activated charcoal on the clothing.
4. I did, as I said, invent an amazing scent killer. I sell it locally only. You cannot buy it here online or get it in the mail. I am too old to be playing around setting up a business. One customer, a local doctor, kills his target deer every year, and has done so with the mature bucks even downwind of him. The formula is locked in my head and a copy exists locked in a strongbox for my friend the doctor.
5. Doe and doe in heat will work. But....here is how I do it: goat urine and the drippings when female goats go in heat. We used to keep goats and they go in heat about the same time as deer. Never had a buck reject it either.
6. The home brew scent killers can work, but they will never overcome the contamination from your washing machine and dryer. You will never smell it due to your olfactory fatigue.
I hope this helps you. And no, I am not selling my formula. If I pass, my wife can make it and the good doctor can go into business.

 

Dude you are a real life superhero. Or a mutant.


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Well, I do shoot a Bear WOLVERINE takedown recurve! Does that count?

Gcook. Be careful you already have some symptoms. If you have mercury silver amalgams in your teeth...get them removed.

 

Interesting.

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I don't use attractants and I probably never will. I just feel that deer can smell the difference in doe urine. It's like putting a new ground blind out the same day you're going to hunt. The smell is different than what they are used to seeing.
I do however, use a scent killer (homemade) It's the water, peroxide and baking soda one. I also use a scent free, dye free non color enhancing laundry detergent on my hunting clothes.

 

Never had much luck with them. Buck bombs sometimes work though.

 

For my experience they do work on attracting young deer who are curious, I never had a older deer show any interest.

 

Cover scents? I am not convinced they cover . I too have an unfortunate smeller...the ladies perfume in the car in front of me at a stoplight can trigger a migraine.

Kind of like the potpourri spray in the bathroom.

Great! Now I smell Pumpkin Spice AND Crap!

I am sure the deer are like this...Hmmm...
Fox urine ...and a Human!

I do believe in eliminating as much scent as possible..

 

No cover sent. I do hang all my hunting items out side during hunting season.

 

I have been successful playing conservative, and by not using scent. I will say that the Evercalm stick(looks like deodorant) did not seem to startle the deer, but I am not 100 percent sold on it. I generally wash all my clothes with scent free laundry detergent and then either hang clothes outside or put them in a air tight tote with cut up apples. I hunt apple orchards until the rut, so this is helpful. I generally steal the apples from the hunting area, and the deer don’t know I am even in the woods. If I hunt in a pine thicket I’ll have my clothes in a bin with nine branches and pine needles. Natural scent only this year for me.

 

I had luck with Evecalm herd.