Scent Control

[hartman886]

The men have all sorts of threads on scent control -

Do you do anything else since you're a woman?

do you shower with scent free stuff EVERY TIME you go out? I work all day, and can't take a bath/wash my hair every evening before I go out. Besides, if I did, I'd catch pneumonia from wet hair.

What about undergarmets? Do they need to be washed in the scent free stuff too? I'd ask the guys, but don't think they wear bras. I know mine gets sweaty a lot of times walking to a stand if I'm in full gear. Wouldn't want a sweaty bra to kill my chances with Mr. Buck!

Also - I'm used to peeing in the woods since I was a boy scout for years. But we all know it isn't as easy for us (when we're in a stand) as the men. What do you do? Hold it? Use one of those weird looking contraptions in the catalogs?

Looking forward to Friday - found 40+ rubs near my spot - hoping for a big buck!

Thanks-
Robin

[mich buckmaster]

I know that I am not a woman, but I am sure we will smell the same to a deer. If I can give you any advice at all is to make sure you get some kind of scent lok, or scent blocker if the wallet allows. If not get the scent killer bottles, doesnt matter what brands, spray down your boots, pants, tops, bras if you want, and your hair. Maybe if you have long hair is to put into a scent lok hat, or tuck under your coat. I would just watch how much smelly stuff you put on for work and how much might be in your vehicle.

The less scent you have the better chance of Mr. Buck you will have.

The Pee thing is out of my hands ;)

[hartman886]

Well, I do use the scent free stuff to wash my clothes, hat, goves, etc. And I do bathe with it.

Just want to make sure I cover "everything"....

Thanks!

[mich buckmaster]

Hawgs Limited and one of our sponsors has a product called Vanishing Hunter that you can spray directly on your skin, and is safe, and also can spray it right into your mouth, but just spit it out. That might help to spray yourself down under your clothing, before you put on the scent free clothing, with spraying down again after your dressed.

Good Luck!!

[L80rider]

I was taught to place my hunting clothes (all of them, even down to the undies) in a plastic bag and put a fresh cut Pine branch in the bag with them. Keep them there pre & during season. Then the only thing you smell like it the outdoors.

Some say that the deer can smell what you eat, through your pores. So they go on a vegitarian diet a few weeks before hunting season.

As far as peeing in the woods. I haven't bow hunted yet. But I can assure you, I would be climbing down and walking WAY FAR AWAY to pee (or anything else) I But then everyone teases me about hunting so close to the car/cabin that I can just go back to a real restroom.

I figure, why should I walk to the deer. Let them walk to ME. Then it's less far I have to DRAG them home.


On another note: I've heard of hunters that smoke, eat, watch TV while hunting and they still come home with deer. SO maybe it's the place NOT the rest.

I still prefer to add to my chances and be sent free and in a blind (OK I know I don't sit still, so I use a blind, even if it's portable)

We want to hear the hunting stories.

Hawkers was GREAT. Keep them coming.

Cheers,
Gail

[Little Bow Huntin Gal]

Gail is right we put all of our hunting clothing in a scent free bag. Hs specilaties makes one for fairly cheep i think. we get the scent wafers that have thefresh earth scent on them and put them in the bag all year round. You don't always have to wahs your clothes in a scent free detergent baking powder(?) works just as well. :) THe hawgs limited wipe work well and so does the vanishing hunter,

Also we put a cover scent on our boots as we walk into the woods. Almost every woods has coons so we use coon urine but you can use fox ueine as well. I wish they would make a porcupine urine cuse they are all over our woods. :chillin:

I have never peeed in the woods. I always go right before i put my clothing on, and hold it in the woods. I hunt pretty close to the road so if i got into a pinch i can run close to there.

They do make a product that you can pee into and it turns you pee into a gel so you can stay scent free in the woods. Don't know what it is called but cabeals has it. It is made for the guys, would be very had for us gals to use if you know what I mean. :16suspect

Hopefully this is helpfull,
APril

[L80rider]

April uses animal urine on her boots, I step on apples before walking out to my blind. Hopefully the deer will follow their nose.

[Mule Skinner]

The Pee issue sounds like a tuff one for you ladie's :confused: .Especially if your up in the tree stand layered up in hunting clothes.I use to drink a lot of coffee when I first woke up in the mornings and on the drive to my hunting site ,but find it a hassle cuz it runs right thru you and you have to turn around and pee every half hour.Now I pass on the coffee and wait till I come back in from the hunt. I do carry a water bottle in my pack and just sip on it as needed to quench my thirst.I do not use a pee bottle and always just go in the woods and have yet to see a deer act alarmed when they came thru and sniffed the area(other human scent or foreign odors are a different story).
My advice to you is try to make sure you go before you head out.Just sip water while out there and avoid beverages with caffine in them before you go.If you have to go, you have to go.I would not hold it(thats hard on the bladder and to uncomfortable,and just makes you want to leave and head in sooner)I would climb down from the stand relieve myself and climb right back up(doing so as quietly and undisturbing as possible).
I read an article in a Bow Hunting Magazine last year that refered to studies done on a deer's reaction from the smell of human urine.The end result was that they(Deer)associated it with that of a preditor (coyote,wolf,human ect.)but could not tell which. :confused: I do not know how accurate this study was but it only put me more at ease with what I've done all along.
Good Luck

[Little Bow Huntin Gal]

ya it try not to get to the point that I have to go soooo bad. I do not drink coffee before I go out either. Sometimes I may drink coco, or a hot tea. I knew a guy who was hunting last weekend and he was in a blind. He had to relive himeself. Just as he was, or a little after I forget excatly, a doe headed his way. He said the doe sniffed and turned around. I don't know what that means to the rest of us but thought I would share it.

Sometimes we step on apples after we set our stand up to put the smell in the air.

Happy Hunting,
APril

[Hawker]

When I'm deer hunting, I drink very little and so don't have to go.

Scentlok really works. I found that out Saturday when neither the buck that came through nor the doe I shot made us even though they were directly downwind. Steve had an even more telling demonstration when several deer walked within 3 yards of his tree Wednesday and sniffed him like crazy as he sat frozen in his 10ft. high treestand. None of them spooked and he ended up getting one of them when it finally walked far enough away that he could safely draw his bow.

I wear Scentlok coveralls, but don't do anything special to the stuff that I'm wearing underneath them. We also sprayed ourselves down with scentkiller on gloves, hats, boots, bow, etc., and kept that stuff in scentfree bags when it was in the truck. I got the coveralls for only $60 at Dick's in Westland sometime over the summer. They're the lightweight "Savanna" series. When it's colder, I layer up underneath them. You can often find the men's smaller sizes really cheap on clearance at sporting goods stores. I'll probably spring for a set of the cold weather Scentlok when the end-of-season sales start.

[timberdoodle528]

I believe that scent control is one of the most important - if not the most important thing when bowhunting.
I've read that human scent rolls off of us like dust off the back of a pickup truck down a dirt road. They said unless you have an airtight suit on - you can forget being totally scent free. But I like the plastic bag idea with the pine bow - I think that would help out a lot. And of course staying away from smelly soaps/perfumes and spraying your boots and clothes down with some sort of scent blocker helps.
If you have the luxuary of having multiple stands that you have access to hunt - I guess the best thing is to watch the wind and have a good idea of which direction the deer will be coming from so you can stay downwind from them. One of the hardest things to do, I believe, is to fool a deer's nose. :help: