How vital is scent control?

Maybe it's because I'm not yet over the hill, but drag is easy. Take a piece of rope, tie the front legs over the head, tie a second piece around the front somewhere and tie it to your tree safety harness loop and drag that thing like a cave man on his wedding night.

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You have deer cuffs? Please tell me that they aren’t velvet lined .

Bob
 
Dude - tell me more about this winch... Is it battery operated, etc. hand crank, etc...

Hand crank. 600lb limit.
I made it out of aluminum channel.
It holds 60’ of 5mm line. You could double it with Amsteel.
The slot in the side is where the ratchet strap goes to attach it to the tree.


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This video was the inspiration:
 
That one post destroyed that hunting spot.

Bob

That's a "spot burn" on the fishing forums. Much frowned upon.


To put this thread back on track last night I got pics of a 2yo buck following my trail on a second camera 48 hours after I was there...

I've gotten pics of them within 30 minutes of swapping out cards. I do wear rubber boots whenever I'm out there, and try not to make contact with the shrubbery.
 
Unless you are way out in the rhubarb, 20 miles from the nearest dwelling, the deer absolutely do not care about human scent being around. They live amongst us their entire lives and are used to smelling us.
 
I just replaced my summit recently and along with the new stand came a deodorant looking type of applicator called Code Blue relax. Its supposed to be a bedding scent that makes deer relax .

im going to use it as deodorant and see how many deer come in and hang out and relax with me.

But seriously ill try rubbing it on a tree and my guess is deer will do anything but relax

I just get a kick out of the bullshit that comes out on the market. What a joke.
 
Unless you are way out in the rhubarb, 20 miles from the nearest dwelling, the deer absolutely do not care about human scent being around. They live amongst us their entire lives and are used to smelling us.
This morning's ride at Rockhouse, I rode up to well within 30' of two. And my gear's as stinky as it's ever been. They just stood there awhile looking at me before wandering off.
 
Unless you are way out in the rhubarb, 20 miles from the nearest dwelling, the deer absolutely do not care about human scent being around. They live amongst us their entire lives and are used to smelling us.

This is just not true my friend. They very much do care - depending on where that scent is encountered. If they encounter it on a hiking trail, a place where they have repeatedly encountered it, they will be more tolerant. But if Mr big is coming back to his bedding in the AM, does his customary down wind J-hook to scent check the bedding area before he proceeds in, and he detects human odor, I can tell you - from experience - he very much cares indeed. Additionally, if Mr. Big is coming back to his bedding, approaches from the downwind side and comes across a scent trail from where you had hunted there a day before, he very much cares. In each of those circumstances, I can guarantee with nearly 100% certainty that the bedding area that had been getting used, will go desolate.

If they pick up human scent where they've come to expect it, they'll still hang around. But as soon as they start to detect human scent where they don't, like in the areas they bed and stage, they will vacate the area. They may return if it's a source of food. But only under cover of darkness. Eventually, they will come back, if the human scent goes away. It may take a month if you only go in there once. But if you hammer the spot, it could take years! I've personally seen this in the woods enough times to know it as fact.

Here is food for thought. Consider that a deer's nose is 4 dimensional! That's right - chew on that for a second. Let me unpack what I mean now. Say I said meet me at my favorite bar. A pretty simple statement. But consider what is required information to make that happen. You need to know where the bar is (that would be your x, y, and z coordinates) but you also need a 4th dimension..... TIME.

A deer's nose gives them all that information. Just from catching a whiff from downwind they can determine the location of the scent's source, the direction of travel, and what time the source was there.

So if you hunt a feeding area, like an oak flat for example, the deer will know you were there. But they'll also know you were there only during the day. So the deer may still use the area at night. They've patterened you! I have seen this first hand as well - confirmed via years and years of trail cam photos.

These were things I learned through the hunting school of hard knocks, and from a few very knowledgable and helpful people right here on this very forum, and a couple others I frequent.
 
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This is just not true my friend. They very much do care - depending on where that scent is encountered. If they encounter it on a hiking trail, a place where they have repeatedly encountered it, they will be more tolerant. But if Mr big is coming back to his bedding in the AM, does his customary down wind J-hook to scent check the bedding area before he proceeds in, and he detects human odor, I can tell you - from experience - he very much cares indeed. Additionally, if Mr. Big is coming back to his bedding, approaches from the downwind side and comes across a scent trail from where you had hunted there a day before, he very much cares. In each of those circumstances, I can guarantee with nearly 100% certainty that the bedding area that had been getting used, will go desolate.

If they pick up human scent where they've come to expect it, they'll still hang around. But as soon as they start to detect human scent where they don't, like in the areas they bed and stage, they will vacate the area. They may return if it's a source of food. But only under cover of darkness. Eventually, they will come back, if the human scent goes away. It may take a month if you only go in there once. But if you hammer the spot, it could take years! I've personally seen this in the woods enough times to know it as fact.

Here is food for thought. Consider that a deer's nose is 4 dimensional! That's right - chew on that for a second. Let me unpack what I mean now. Say I said meet me at my favorite bar. A pretty simple statement. But consider what is required information to make that happen. You need to know where the bar is (that would be your x, y, and z coordinates) but you also need a 4th dimension..... TIME.

A deer's nose gives them all that information. Just from catching a whiff from downwind they can determine the location of the scent's source, the direction of travel, and what time the source was there.

So if you hunt a feeding area, like an oak flat for example, the deer will know you were there. But they'll also know you were there only during the day. So the deer may still use the area at night. They've patterened you! I have seen this first hand as well - confirmed via years and years of trail cam photos.

These were things I learned through the hunting school of hard knocks, and from a few very knowledgable and helpful people right here on this very forum, and a couple others I frequent.

You must be hunting different deer than I am.
 
I've had deer (fox, bear, moose) walk inside 10 yards of me while I'm up in a 16' stand, when they're just browsing. But if I get a buck coming into a call, it'll circle downwind and bust me every time. I've done the whole scent control thing (with the exception of one of those Ozonics deals), and they always bust me when they're seeking a deer but instead detect me.
 
This is just not true my friend. They very much do care - depending on where that scent is encountered. If they encounter it on a hiking trail, a place where they have repeatedly encountered it, they will be more tolerant. But if Mr big is coming back to his bedding in the AM, does his customary down wind J-hook to scent check the bedding area before he proceeds in, and he detects human odor, I can tell you - from experience - he very much cares indeed. Additionally, if Mr. Big is coming back to his bedding, approaches from the downwind side and comes across a scent trail from where you had hunted there a day before, he very much cares. In each of those circumstances, I can guarantee with nearly 100% certainty that the bedding area that had been getting used, will go desolate.

If they pick up human scent where they've come to expect it, they'll still hang around. But as soon as they start to detect human scent where they don't, like in the areas they bed and stage, they will vacate the area. They may return if it's a source of food. But only under cover of darkness. Eventually, they will come back, if the human scent goes away. It may take a month if you only go in there once. But if you hammer the spot, it could take years! I've personally seen this in the woods enough times to know it as fact.

Here is food for thought. Consider that a deer's nose is 4 dimensional! That's right - chew on that for a second. Let me unpack what I mean now. Say I said meet me at my favorite bar. A pretty simple statement. But consider what is required information to make that happen. You need to know where the bar is (that would be your x, y, and z coordinates) but you also need a 4th dimension..... TIME.

A deer's nose gives them all that information. Just from catching a whiff from downwind they can determine the location of the scent's source, the direction of travel, and what time the source was there.

So if you hunt a feeding area, like an oak flat for example, the deer will know you were there. But they'll also know you were there only during the day. So the deer may still use the area at night. They've patterened you! I have seen this first hand as well - confirmed via years and years of trail cam photos.

These were things I learned through the hunting school of hard knocks, and from a few very knowledgable and helpful people right here on this very forum, and a couple others I frequent.

As usual, spot on.

Bob
 
My intuition tells me that the bucks I’ve seen on camera just this past month will probably not appear during the hunting hours for shotgun and muzzleloader when I’m out there. Your post @ThePreBanMan confirms that and I’ll take that post as gospel. The topography, wind currents, travel time to my stand/blind, coupled with how many times I’ve entered that spot to check the camera give me caution before I go back to check the cameras again for the next 36 days.
 
This is just not true my friend. They very much do care - depending on where that scent is encountered. If they encounter it on a hiking trail, a place where they have repeatedly encountered it, they will be more tolerant. But if Mr big is coming back to his bedding in the AM, does his customary down wind J-hook to scent check the bedding area before he proceeds in, and he detects human odor, I can tell you - from experience - he very much cares indeed. Additionally, if Mr. Big is coming back to his bedding, approaches from the downwind side and comes across a scent trail from where you had hunted there a day before, he very much cares. In each of those circumstances, I can guarantee with nearly 100% certainty that the bedding area that had been getting used, will go desolate.

If they pick up human scent where they've come to expect it, they'll still hang around. But as soon as they start to detect human scent where they don't, like in the areas they bed and stage, they will vacate the area. They may return if it's a source of food. But only under cover of darkness. Eventually, they will come back, if the human scent goes away. It may take a month if you only go in there once. But if you hammer the spot, it could take years! I've personally seen this in the woods enough times to know it as fact.

Here is food for thought. Consider that a deer's nose is 4 dimensional! That's right - chew on that for a second. Let me unpack what I mean now. Say I said meet me at my favorite bar. A pretty simple statement. But consider what is required information to make that happen. You need to know where the bar is (that would be your x, y, and z coordinates) but you also need a 4th dimension..... TIME.

A deer's nose gives them all that information. Just from catching a whiff from downwind they can determine the location of the scent's source, the direction of travel, and what time the source was there.

So if you hunt a feeding area, like an oak flat for example, the deer will know you were there. But they'll also know you were there only during the day. So the deer may still use the area at night. They've patterened you! I have seen this first hand as well - confirmed via years and years of trail cam photos.

These were things I learned through the hunting school of hard knocks, and from a few very knowledgable and helpful people right here on this very forum, and a couple others I frequent.

Replaced batteries on the tail cam Monday, I did not spray down- I have not seen a deer on either camera since. Before the battery replacement I was getting morning/evening pictures of deer every day.
 
Has anyone tried smoking their hunting gear? I read a few articles on this and sounds like an interesting approach to masking your scent, but not sure it’s effectiveness.
 
Has anyone tried smoking their hunting gear? I read a few articles on this and sounds like an interesting approach to masking your scent, but not sure it’s effectiveness.
I know more than one old-timer who pays no attention to his scent situation. They claim if you want to shoot a deer, light a cigarette. The theory is that deer are curious and want to know what that odd smell is. These old guys have dozens and dozens of antlers hanging from their barns, so I'm not going to argue with them.
 
Replaced batteries on the tail cam Monday, I did not spray down- I have not seen a deer on either camera since. Before the battery replacement I was getting morning/evening pictures of deer every day.

I was getting daily doe traffic on one camera for months, and then just one 4pt over the past two weeks. After setting up a mock scrape an 8pt showed up but still no doe traffic.
 
Replaced batteries on the tail cam Monday, I did not spray down- I have not seen a deer on either camera since. Before the battery replacement I was getting morning/evening pictures of deer every day.
Maybe you just stink. [grin]

Or don't stink enough. [grin][grin]
 
When it comes to deer it is often a mystery (to us) when they disappear from our cameras. I’m never surprised to see a pattern shift. It’s a long season and many things change over that period of time:

Food sources change.
The rut comes and goes.
Hunter pressure and the scent we leave behind ebbs and flows.

Every year I hear about the “October lull”. There is no lull. The deer have shifted their patterns in response to changing food sources and hunter pressure.

When it comes to hunting deer humans are slow to react to the pattern changes.

Bob
 
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