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Scent Elimination ? Scent Smoker vs Bloodhound w/ video

10K views 23 replies 15 participants last post by  ncboman 
#1 ·
Upon request, and my own curiosity, I put Bonnie the Police Bloodhound and another Scent Elimination product to the test. The Scent Smoker was the product. I tried to keep the test pretty simple.

Test subject's clothing (no Scent Lok, only reg camo and socks and boxers) were washed in scent free detergent - (Scent Smoker says this wasn't necessary, but did it anyway.)

Subject (my 12 year old son) showered and washed body and hair with "human scent control" soap and shampoo (Scent Smoker says this wasn't necessary, but did it anyway.)

Liberal amounts of smoke applied to laundered clothes, the test subject (prior to dressing) and then again to the test subject and the clothes right before start of the trail.

Smoke applied to vegetation in a wide circle around starting point, for those who would say the dog decided to follow the smoke trail (she trails human scent, not smoke).

I carried Bonnie's treat with me (for those who would claim she was trailing the jerky, and to keep test subject from eating it all!)

Test was a blind test, I had no idea where the subject walked or was hiding (got in big trouble with the wife over that , but he had a cell phone with him.)

Trail was approx. 1/2 mi long, aged one hour before dog began trailing.

Humidity was 72%, temp 53, barometer falling, overcast sky, had rained a little earlier in the day.

Bonnie does know test subject, but this doesn't matter, she still had to smell him to find him, she's not telepathic. I used my son so I could ensure all procedures were properly followed with the laundering, showering, smoke application etc.

Bonnie is trained to follow a specific human scent I give her. She can do it downtown on concrete in a high traffic area as well. She does not trail crushed plants, squished bugs or any other such nonsense. For more info about how the dog trails, see my posts on the Bloodhound vs Scentlok thread http://www.archerytalk.com/vb/showthread.php?t=734684

Video's are below, first one is the prep, second one is the actual dog trail.
Here are the links in case my embed doesn't work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XujDYZcqxk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2JMFH89Mpg


 
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Discussion starter · #3 ·
I can see the point in dog vs scent lok but wouldn't the smoke make the trail easy for the dog to follow
1. The dog is trained specifically and only to follow the human scent I give her. She trails human scent, not smoke.

2. The scent Smoker (www.scentsmoker.com) is supposed to eliminate your scent.
 
Discussion starter · #5 ·
You better hit the Gym.

Thanks again for taking the time to test this stuff.
Yeah, I hear ya about the Gym!

In fairness to the Scent Smoker, I wanted to throw this in -
Last year I bought it and smoked up real good the first day out in the stand. No Scentlok or spray anywhere on me. Ten minutes after getting into my stand (still sweating like a pig - no cop pun intended) a buck and doe came in (no deer tag), the doe was sticking her nose up in the air, and seemed real curious but didn't spook. The buck didn't seem to care about anything. They walked right under my stand several times in the next 45 minutes and eventually wandered off, never blew out. Over 12 hours later, (sitting in the stand the whole time), another deer came in, fed right under me, didn't spook at all. Then two elk came up the trail, walked right under me (I still smelled like a dang chimney) and neither noticed a thing...that is until I put an arrow through the heart of one of them at 9 yards.

So, even with the Bloodhound results, I still plan on using my Scent Smoker. (Brock is a super nice guy and great cust. service) I was actually rooting for the Scent Smoker but Bonnie wanted her jerky reward!
 
Discussion starter · #19 ·
Thanks! How did you do that? I tried doing it the same way I had in the past with the [...yt]xxxxx[/yt] (periods removed) and it didn't work? I just got that empty white box.:confused3:
 
Discussion starter · #20 ·
Here are some excerpts from the msgs between Brock (the Scent Smoker guy) and I .

Originally Posted by brock ratcliff

I really thought the SS would actually confuse your dog to the point she would over-look the trail as game animals do. I appreciate you putting it to the test even though it did not show the results I fully expected it to.


Originally posted by Smaxwell

Brock,
I was hoping to have some good discussion on the board about what the test actually meant, like we got with the Scent lok test. Because of my own, somewhat limited, but I think pertinent experience with the scent smoker (see my post) I believe that it is and or can be beneficial in a hunting situation. I think that we have to take some things into consideration, ask some questions and come to some conclusions.
- The test was done with a trained bloodhound. - An animal that has been bred for centuries to be a focused and driven man tracking machine. It is basically a predator, and thinks like a predator an has the senses of a predator (one that is specialized in trailing it's prey and very good at it.) It is used to tracking down it's prey by using weak, sometimes old scent, that has been blown around, rained on, driven over and walked over by maybe hundreds of other people and animals.
-The animals we are hunting (except for bears and lions) are prey animals, perhaps with a different scenting abilities and different reactions. They don't have the trailing drive and the ability or instinct to follow a scent trail and hunt down the source.
-I do not doubt that the smoke may confuse prey animals or even effectively cover or dilute our scent to them. The bloodhound on the otherhand, is more driven and focused and is "on a mission."
-I do not think that any product other than a fully encapsulated multi-ply rubber suit with an SCBA and some type of advanced filter for expelled breath, will ever be able to truly "eliminate" all our scent.
- Effectively covering, reducing or causing our scent to somehow not spook prey animals may be possible. I suspect it could be a very different scenerio when we change the animal to a predator such as a lion, bear, wolf (or bloodhound) who is trying to trail a scent. Predators, I suspect, read and react very differently to scent than prey, just becasue of the nature of what they are using the scent for, and what the consequences for them could be (eat if you are a predator, be eaten if you are prey.)

I suspect that most prey animals (at least in the lower 48 - maybe not in the interior of Alaska) are always smelling humans and if they ran every time they caught the faintest whiff, they would exahust themselves to death. IMO they have to make a judgement call based on how much scent they smell, where it's coming from, how far away it is ect, and then decided whether to blow out or simply disregard it and keep browsing. (What some others had discussed on the Scent Lok vs Bloodhound thread).

I think the Scent Smoker could very well be a viable tool for the hunter, although I think that Bloodhound test shows that you couldn't say it "eliminates" scent.

I think the prob. with the carbon suits lies with the amount of carbon in the suit and the inability to "recharge" the carbon. If you can't renew the carbon, then the suit would be useless. You don't have those issues with the Scent Smoker.

PS - Would you mind if I copied this onto the thread, give AT'ers some food for thought ? I'm sure there are other points that I have not thought of as well.


Originally Posted by brock ratcliff

Feel free to copy anything you like. I have learned to "private" discussions regarding the Scent Smoker are bad news. People are skeptical from the beginning and I cannot afford to have anyone thinking their are any "backdoor" dealings.

Those are interesting thoughts Scott. I know we have had people claim great results on black bears. I haven't had any reports on lions as of yet. I have seen it work extremely well on coyotes as well. Most every other animal that is typically hunted on the lower 48 seemed to be duped by the Scent Smoker, according to our customers. I only hunt whitetails, and elk. So far, I haven't seen it fail, and hope I never do!
 
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