I agree with you 100%...

Great Minds think alike.

 

...If so, what preparations, or precautions to you use, and make?

I change clothes religiously every third day. Other than that I don't pay much attention to it. I've cooked in the same clothes, built fires to dry out with or warm up, and sometimes use scented baby wipes because it makes myself more tolerable to myself.

Yep, I get winded by those evil winds on occasion. I'm okay with it.

 

I change clothes religiously every third day. Other than that I don't pay much attention to it. I've cooked in the same clothes, built fires to dry out with or warm up, and sometimes use scented baby wipes because it makes myself more tolerable to myself.

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Similar here.

Complete control isn't possible. I personally don't think scent control clothing works, and is a waste of money. All things considered, if a little more preparation, and precaution is taken, it just might give you that little edge for just those few necessary seconds.
Cover scents can help too. As mentioned earlier, we never pass up fresh elk pee, and have been known to rub sage and other plants on our clothes.
I just think, the less you give a big old bull to work with the better. He does have a little bit of an advantage.

:thumbs_up:thumbs_up

I used to have my rituals as well as most did in our hunting camps. A good dozen or so years ago I decided to slowly drop a thing here & another there. Slowly I quit doing all the prep & keeping my hunting clothes put away in these odorless compartments & such. These days we do nothing & I mean nothing at all. We hunt the wind religiously, no if & or buts! We kill as many elk today as ever.

Actually I feel it's even better for us on the larger scale. We know we are not odorless so we don't even dream of pushing the envelope & allow the wind to go the wrong direction. We simply will re-maneuver or get out of the area completely, we will not force our scent down their throats.

I'm not saying this is for everyone, but it has made us better hunters knowing full well we have to abide by wind direction at all costs. This is the way it should be for everyone. I feel it's the guys who feel they are scent free that push the envelope because they think they can get away with just a little bit! (grin) No way!
Use what works for you but as for us scent control by man made stuff is not needed by us. We do just fine, don't fix it if it ain't broke! (grin)

ElkNut1

:wink:




Yep they wind ya...they wind ya.....and it won't matter if you smell like roses or sh*t !
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I do much the same. I add fresh earth and pine wafers on my clothes. I carry a bottle of scent elimination spray in my pack because I do sweat. I come back to camp mid day to wash and change clothes between morning and evening hunts if I am not on animals. I take four sets of camo so I always have clean clothes. Two pairs of boots so I have dry, aired out boots to wear.
But even with all that you CAN'T eliminate human scent.
Look at it in this way. You are walking back to camp and you smell bacon cooking and you are 100yds from camp. An elks nose is ten times better than yours. The trick is to make the elk believe you are farther away than you are if he gets a whiff because they can tell.
For a big dump, burry that stuff!

 

I am careful to change clothes when in main camp and never cook while in my hunting clothes. I keep a pair of sweats or something I can change into easily for this purpose. When I change out of my camos, I hang them outside when practical.

I never "drop the kids off" where I hunt, and use unscented wipes after the toilet paper.

I wash regularly (with unscented soap) and change my hunting clothes regularly.

That said, I don't go overboard on scent control, and I have had very good success. A little care goes a long way.

 

Personally I kind of believe scent eliminators are a marketing scam. I do however believe scent cover works great.

I read about a blood hound tracking down a guy that was using scent eliminator. Ie. No scent or dead down wind or scent killer. Just think it is better to cover yourself with natural smells.

When I say scent cover I mean using a smell like elk urine for example. Here is what I do. I put all my hunting clothes and gear into plastic bins and put hunter specialty scent wafers in with them. They sit like this all through the offseason. A tree branch also works great. When I am hunting the scent wafers go in every big pocket in my pack. Also I put one on myself. I usually use their cow in heat scent. Their earth scent is great as well as their pine. If you store everything in bins during the offseason it will last all season on your gear. I cannot say enough good about the scent wafers.

I still use scent eliminating products for when i get sweaty. Just a precaution. Dead down wind wipes are great. Also use the deoderant as well.

All of these things should only be backup to your primary scent control which is the wind. Always hunt with the wind in your face and know when the thermals are going to switch. Scent control is just for those times when the wind is swirling.

 

I am scent consience when hunting whitetails out of a stand but I am more wind concience when elk huntig. It is impossible to control your scent when you are walking and sweating as much as I do while elk hunting. You can take a bath everyday and it really won't help. As for cover scents I don't believe that you can cover your scent from big games nose. If the winds in your face they can't smell you if it's blowing from you to them your toast

 

Control, not possible.

Complete control isn't possible. I personally don't think scent control clothing works, and is a waste of money. All things considered, if a little more preparation, and precaution is taken, it just might give you that little edge for just those few necessary seconds.
Cover scents can help too. As mentioned earlier, we never pass up fresh elk pee, and have been known to rub sage and other plants on our clothes.
I just think, the less you give a big old bull to work with the better. He does have a little bit of an advantage.

 

Personally, I think a guy trying to control his scent COMPLETELY on an elk hunt is kidding himself.




...

 

Yep. We pack back in and take as little as possible. Cook over a fire, clean fish make camp, all in our hunting clothes. Thing is keeping the wind in you favor is much easier while on the move hnting elk than it is while sitting in a blind or tree hunting deer. Understanding morning and evening thermals and paying close attention to the approaching wheather which controls wind direction is the best way to control your scent while elk hunting

 

I used to have my rituals as well as most did in our hunting camps. A good dozen or so years ago I decided to slowly drop a thing here & another there. Slowly I quit doing all the prep & keeping my hunting clothes put away in these odorless compartments & such. These days we do nothing & I mean nothing at all. We hunt the wind religiously, no if & or buts! We kill as many elk today as ever.

Actually I feel it's even better for us on the larger scale. We know we are not odorless so we don't even dream of pushing the envelope & allow the wind to go the wrong direction. We simply will re-maneuver or get out of the area completely, we will not force our scent down their throats.

I'm not saying this is for everyone, but it has made us better hunters knowing full well we have to abide by wind direction at all costs. This is the way it should be for everyone. I feel it's the guys who feel they are scent free that push the envelope because they think they can get away with just a little bit! (grin) No way!
Use what works for you but as for us scent control by man made stuff is not needed by us. We do just fine, don't fix it if it ain't broke! (grin)

ElkNut1

 

Paul, I defiantly know where you are coming from. But there are other scent control considerations to consider when you are planning on sleeping in one place, 7-8 miles back for 10+ days. The main reason is that elk literally walk through camp at least a few times each year. Not to mention most days we can start chasing bugles 100 yards from camp, no joke! This is why it's so important to control the scent of our camp as well as we can.

Two years ago in our basin, a beautiful 330"+ bull walked right through the meadow 50 yards from the tent at 1pm (tent was 10 yards into the little timber patch we camp in). We locked eyes at the exact same time as I picked my head up from boiling some water on my Jet Boil. My dad and buddy were napping as I ran out of camp in my long underwear and untied boots (cow calling like crazy). I was a split second from pulling the trigger on the release as that bull paused on the edge of the meadow. That sucker had our wind going his way too.

(Back on topic...) The biggest things for us are:

1.) No fires unless you are dying :tongue:
2.) Bury all your craps (especially at camp)
3.) Alternate (daily) the two sets of clothes I pack in (hanging them up throughout the day to air out) - 3 sets of silk tech long underwear and socks. (I also carry 2 extra sets of the same clothing in the truck for when we kill one)
4.) Wipe down well with large scent free wipes every night & wipe your a** with scent free baby wipes.
5.) Unless we are celebrating a kill with some backstrap, we only eat dehydrated food or stuff like bagels, cheese, dry salami, etc. No cooking.
6.) Pack all my clothes with earth scented dryer sheets (probably not real important)
7.) Cover my clothes and boots daily in elk piss (fresh if possible)

I am sure there are more things but I am just throwing out a few.

 

Well said Paul. I agree.
The only reason I use any kind of scent control, which most of the time it is elk urine, is because the wind always seems to swirl at the worst times.

 

Only scent control I use is the wind.

 

i agree. Have you ever spent 3 hours climbing strait up the rocky mountains. Everyone stinks to an elk after that. If you dont understand the wind and thermals on the mountains , and use it to your advantage. Then you can forget about killing and elk.

 

Up until last year I never used any scent control other than the wind....The problem was the area I hunted last year had severe swirling winds I thought I was in a toilet bowl! I kept getting scented as soon as they would come withing 50 yards of me. The next day I went into town and got a bottle of scent control Earth fragrence and those stinky nasty Hunters specialties Elk urine wafers and used both on my next hunt. I had a cow walk up to me and sniff my jacket then the wafer and just snorted at me as I was paralyzed not moving she walked away and her boyfriend walked up 10 yards away staring at me as I drew down and shot right through both lungs.......I am now all about scent control ....

 

You have to have been close to understand.



It is a real kick, when you are close to them. I have had many real close encounters. They will be forever etched in my memory. I had a bull standing over me, one time, close enough for me to smell his breath. I crawled to within six feet of a bedded cow one time, that was on the other side of a downed tree. I had four cows, walk right up to me one time. I had a calf sniff my boot. One time, a bull was raking a tree that was only about ten feet away. Talk about a rush.

 

I take the same precautions that I do for hunting deer (scent free soap, detergent, etc), however, after hiking up a mountain you are going to smell. Just have to watch the wind.

 

Paul came closest to my way of thinking on this subject.
Like Paul, I've been through various levels of effort to control my scent. I started bow hunting with skunk scent and believe me, you have to be hardcore for that.
Through the years I've come to the conclusion that wild life in general and especially deer and elk, smell on a molecular level for all practical applications in regards to hunting them. Even if they only detect 2 or 3 human scent molecules out of a thousand, they have scented you and will do what nature calls for them to do.
You can expend great deals of time and effort trying to control human scent just to get busted from being upwind of your prey.
Time is precious to me during hunting season so any more, I don't spend much on this endeavor.
The only thing I do any more is, wash my hunting clothes in baking soda when I get a chance to wash them, I'll roll around in elk piss and or beds be it bull or cow piss and beds but I always work the wind. I sweat a good deal of the time and there is no way I could refresh myself every 5 minutes.
It just has to be practical for me.
I do believe it's not a total waste of time to reduce your scent a bit, and cover scents may in some fluke situation, cause an elk to hesitate just 1 or 2 seconds longer. And if it makes you feel more confident then you should do what boosts your confidence.
"That's all I got to say about that".

 

Yep, I hear ya! I used to do lots of the things you mention & more! (grin) Not anymore! (grin) As I mentioned, I'm not trying to sway anyones thoughts I just answered the question & gave the reasons why!

I've answered this question countless times over the years & it never ceases to amaze me how many times guys will come back with statements like---but ya we get really close to the elk or we have elk come through our camp & the elk are always close by because of our scent control. We have elk smelling our packs & so on. I'm not kidding I get this a lot! Guess what guys, we too get close to elk, they run through our camps too. (grin) We have fires every night or nearly so, my clothes smell like campfire half the time & I'm sure a bit of food smell as well, but it hasn't been an issue at all.

Like mentioned above, I used to subscribe to all that stuff too. But since saying to myself it isn't needed we have not seen any difference in anything. I'm not saying don't use any precautions but being anal is not necessary! At least for us it isn't & I'm sure it wouldn't be for you either. Anyway, yes we experience the same close encounters & I've been so close to elk I could count their eyelashes!

I killed a bull one year in a small 3-4 acre mdw where my son & I were just making our way across it, we had only gotten 20yds into it just after light when we spotted movement on the opposite side entering from the timber, there wasn't anything there but 12" of half dead grass there, not a thing to hide behind. We crouched down on one knee & sat motionless. The elk slowly entered the meadow, 7 cows & 2 calves, there was zero wind, pretty much dead calm & the surroundings were flat as a pancake there in the mdw. Several of the cows milled around until they were within 10 yards of both of us, the calves were hopping around & darting like nobodys business having a blast!
5 full minutes went by before we caught movement across the mdw & here came the bull just moseying along & in no hurry. He walked over to the cows & smelled a couple of them & stayed on the other side of them. Every once in a while a cow or two would give us a quick stare, we didn't move & they'd go back to feeding. We were really hoping the wind would hold up & not give us away. Finally the bull moved off to the left of the cows 26yds away & was staring at them. I had an arrow nocked on my longbow & was ready for a split second opportunity.
All of a sudden a bull bugled a good distance away & this bull turned away from us to look in his direction. That gave me the chance I was looking for. I had already told myself if the time came I would draw no matter what the cows were doing & yes they were real close now. He turned, I drew anchored & let the arrow fly taking out both lungs, he was dead in 150yds. Not one cow flinched in my drawing & release motion, but blew out of there when he did.

Now, I guess if I'd been wearing the latest high tech stuff & went through all the rituals I could give credit to that, but I didn't do anything special nor did my son. The credit goes to the wind not hitting us in the back, if it would have it would have given us up no matter what we did to eliminate the human scent. I've killed elk everyear since I stopped making a big deal out of stuff. So I'd hate to be dishonest & lie about what precautions we take, since we do not take any. We simply hunt the wind.

I will also mention that we've killed many bulls the very next day from a 100yds to 300yds away from the day befores carcasses & kill site. I can only go on & relate personal experiences & this has been ours. We hunt the wind exclusively & success is hard to argue with! Keep doing what works for you!

We are not fools either, we don't camp where our scent will drift right into our hunting area where ever that might be. Hunt smart & camp smart & there's no need to be too primitive, camp fires are ones best companion!

ElkNut1

 

Okay. The guy with 572 bull kills must be right! :wink:

I think I may be a little less anal next year. I guess it will be nice to have a few less things to worry about.

I can tell you right now, I am still not telling my pops what you said. We do have to sleep in the same tent and after a few days in the backcountry he smells brutal! lol

 

alot of good stuff here. at this point i've just wiped down in the evening and morning with scent free wipes and deoderant and i'll take and break small pine branches and rub on my clothes and i'm off. guess i better remember the wind in my face thing.

 

When you backpack for a week or more at a time there is not too much you can do about scent control. Basically, I clean up a bit with unscented wipes, rotate clothing every other day if possible, take a river bath every other day or so, and play the wind.

 

I agree with beendare. If it one molecule they smell or a thousand then you are busted. I killed my first bull a 6x6 at 3 yds with the wind at my back and no scent control. He just didnt smell me.

 

do you think that if the elk is on high alert it makes a difference in comparison to an elk thats not on high alert?

 

I change clothes either every other day or whenever I can, but other than that, I try to constantly hunt into the wind. That is the singular best method of "scent control" that I have found over the years

I have a solar shower that we use at base camp every couple days

I used to go crazy with scent control, cover scents, etc., but it just seems like it doesn't matter what you do when the wind swirls, you're just busted!

Best of Luck,
Jeff (AT Sponsor)
www.elkmtngear.com

 

I get into it some but not to the extent of some of you, silver xp, some scent a way clothes wash thats about it. Biggest think as far as scent control for me my wind tester. The guy i hunt with, most of the time, will stop have a smoke let out a cow call and go, we've had elk come to ten feet a couple minutes after he was done with a smoke. I have had way more bust from sound and sight than smell. I should do more for scent control i guess but things have worked out so far.

 

We've tried everything over the years. Never did matter to the elk. So we don't worry about it anymore. If I kill an elk, I've kept the wind in my face. If I don't kill him, he runs off wondering what the hell that sweaty, smokey horse with bacon grease all over him was doing at 9500 feet!

 

I think you should look into Trophy Blend Scents, we are coming out with a line of Scent free stuff this year.

We finalized the last test on the NEW Trophy Blend Deo Stick "Deoderant" NO Scent at all works great and its NOT white and pasty like some of the others!!! "Totaly Awesome" is what I have been told by the team of testers!!

Also we are currantly working on a Scent Killer spray, bar soap, body wash, and Laundry Soap. ALL scent free. So feel free to check us out at our web site. www.trophyblenddeerscents.com

 

I think you should look into Trophy Blend Scents, we are coming out with a line of Scent free stuff this year.

We finalized the last test on the NEW Trophy Blend Deo Stick "Deoderant" NO Scent at all works great and its NOT white and pasty like some of the others!!! "Totaly Awesome" is what I have been told by the team of testers!!

www.trophyblenddeerscents.com

I really hate it when the wind swirls, and you think "OMG, what is that smell"?

Then, you realize it is YOU ukey:

I'm gonna give the Trophy Blend Deo stick a try, gotta use something out there!

Best of Luck,
Jeff

 

I don't worry about ti in the backcountry. All the hiking, sweating, living w/o showers, etc...forget it. I just try to keep clean enough from offending myself. Use the wind.

 

Honestly your wasting your time with all the scent elimination products. You are not going to fool an elk's nose. You may cover up "some" of your human scent but you are just putting some other "foreign" scent on that an elk is going to pick up on in a heart beat. I have hunted elk for years and years and the best advice is to stay up wind.

 

I do use some scent control tactics, but do not go overboard. Shower and wash clothes with scent free soap, change of clothes every day if I'm on a week long hunt (I do not pack in). Hunt from my camper. Playing the wind is the best scent control. I will never spray elk urine on my clothing, because then you are smellling elk all day, even when your not close to elk. I do however carry a bottle with me that I mist into the air if I am in close and the wind starts swirling.