Scent Blockers Good or Waste of Money?

[randallewis]

A couple years ago I purchased a pair of rubber boots from BPS that said scent free on the boot and the brochure. Cost $79 made in China. About 2 weeks before gun season I walked across a food plot to check a trail camera then decided to stay in a box stand to see where the deer entered the plot. About 15 min later a mature doe and two yearlings entered the plot. The yearlings grazed past my path. The doe stuck her nose in my tracks raised her head and snorted. Moved into the underbrush and snorted for 15 min. You could hear her for for 300 yd. Maybe the Chinese don't field test their rubber in the USA.

How about spray on scent blockers?

[Katmandeux]

Here's my two cents: A whitetail makes his living with his nose, 24/7. It is a far more sophisticated organ than we can imagine...he sifts through a veritable soup of smell routinely, and identifies things that taste good, things that will harm him, girls to party with, and so on.

It's folly to imagine that we can fool that nose. Like drug traffickers attempting to get herb past a drug dog...ain't gonna happen.

[777]

The best purchase I ever made was a scent blocker suit. I also use scent away when I'm going to a stand and re-apply when I get there. I now have deer pass down wind of me and they never know I'm there. That being said I have one uncle that has killed some nice bucks while sitting there smoking cigarretes so go figure:smile2:.

[Mark J]

It only takes stepping or rubbing that boot into something one time that isnt natural to a deer's nose.
How many folks pump gas into their truck wearing the boots they hunt in?
You dont have to spill gas on your boots. You can step where its been.

Around where I hunt on the farm scent isnt a huge player to kill deer. It might be to kill trophy deer.
I might take an apple and cut it in half and grind it in the soles of my boots and if I get serious I might hang my hunting clothes in a hog house overnight.
I smoked for years sitting in a treestand to the point the carpeted platform on all my lockons is a hodge podge of cigarette burns. Some from laying a cigarette down to shoot the deer right below me.

I think its a matter of where you hunt.
Here, the deer are used to farm activity and foreign smells.
They are used to seeing people out in the open and hearing alot of noise.
but with that said one side of the farm is vastly different from the other in that aspect.
The remote side of the farm that only gets row cropped is altogether different hunting then on the hog farm side. To hunt on the row crop side you have to have it a little more together it seems to me. I've never seen the number of deer on the row crop side that I have the hog farm side.

How used to people are deer here?
The other day I pulled up in the yard and had a doe and two fawns out in the yard at 4PM about 40 yards from me.
I got out of the truck and walked in the house.
They didnt pay me a whole lot of mind.

[David Knotts]

I remember sittin with my Granddad when I was a kid, he would be smokin, and have a deer come in from down wind. I know guys that have as much scent free stuff as they can get, and deer still smell em out.

I think it's best to have a good pair of rubber boots, and hunt the wind.

[kkyyoottee]

Clothes, boots, etc. It is all in your care. I have seen guys in restraraunts with smoke, food smells, etc. on their way hunting. I dont care if you wear scent blocker or not the deer are going to smell it!! We personally wash our clothes in baking soda, pack in pine or cedar bows in rubber tote and dress in the field outside of our vehicles. We also carry plastic bags of cow crap and step in it before heading to our stands. We live in farm country and deer know what it is and I have personally seen deer start following my "cow tracks" . If there is a lot of human activity like where we hunt , deer see farmers all the time and smell them. Take a good shower, keep clothes as scent free as possible and use common sense with the wind and movement. They can say all they want about those 200 dollar suits. I believe the key is movement or something out of the ordinary and they put the scent and that and they are gone. I have watched deer and about every other critter in the woods for 40 plus years bow hunting. And you know what I have harvested just about as many deer in blue jeans, a stocking cap, and a plaid shirt as I have in camo. But I do have a urge to get one of those swamp looking outfits and see if I can grab a deer as it goes by.

[bootshowl]

Isn't it something. A week before season opened few years ago I was sighting in my shotgun in a soybean field that had been harvested. I let loose at least 10 rounds at a target at 50 yards, was talking to my uncle smoking a cigarette, they come out the timber not a 100 yards away and started grassing the pasture....acted like we weren't even there. Even ignored our laughter. I don't have em figured out yet. But after opening morning and the blood gets in the air, they act like yotes....

[Kutter]

I have about the same experiences as were mentioned. I have killed half my deer while in the middle of a smoke. The only scent stuff I use is to step on a fresh cow paddy on the way to my blind. As was said earlier, hunt the wind.

Years ago, I tried fox urine on my boots to hide my scent on the way to the tree stand one season. I watched 3 does walk past my tree, stop, and look straight up at me. All three took off with tails in the air. Finally, I realized that what spooked them was the fox urine. Fox don't normally climb trees!

kkyyoottee, I just wish someone would develop un-camoed clothes that had the same characteristics as camo. I would prefer black colored pants, shirts, bibs and jackets, especially when hunting inside a blind. A little Thinsulate or Goretex would be nice. Also, why is it so few clothes designed for hunting, are made for HOT weather? Even those that say they are made for hunting warm days, roast me out and sweat is not something the deer enjoy smelling. And why are almost all hunting pants BDU's? I wear regular jeans every day of the year, but jean hunting clothes are limited. At least they are starting to make a few of them in jeans.

While on the subject of hunting clothes, I have a personal rant on the Missouri Dept. of Conservation. Normally, I praise them to high heaven, but come on, when it comes to blaze orange, get on board. 90% or more of all blaze orange clothing is Blaze Camo. Almost all states allow it. Not here in MO. Here it has to be solid blaze only. I know deer are colored blind, but any one color stands out to them. For now, my only option is to, ah, well, be a little sloppy and drop my vest into the mud now and then. Oooop's.
Don't give me the safety talk on solid blaze over blaze camo. If safety were the issue, we'd all have to wear hot pink vests, as studies repeatedly say that is a better stand out color in all lighting conditions. Same goes for the weird yellow color that is striped into highway workers vests.

[postbeetle]

Just about anything will work. Have the dog take a leak on your outfit. Wash them in what ever soap you want. Buy all the scents you can afford. Have them come in fuschia pink with a Ghille suit and dark glasses. Have the wife spray you with her favorite perfume.

When that 1st shot goes off at whatever time your 1st major season is, whether using a big bore or a slug they will disappear into some large cave in the hills until two days after the last major season is over. Then they come out and laugh at you.

[Grumper]

Scent blockers are only good if they are used propery. I have had very good luck using mine, and will continue to use them. First of all, all the products I have are made by Scent Blocker, which is Robinson outdoors. I use all the products, not just the clothes. First of all, all my gear, including boots, are stored and vaccuum packed in large ziplock bags, and then stored in a plastic scent free tote. When it comes time to use them, I will wash them with the correct detergent, and then I will "activate" the carbon. before putting on, I will spray myself down with scent killer, and wash my hands and face with scent shield body wash. Then I will go to the woods. I put my suit and boots on, outside of my vehicle, when I get to my property. (No point in using it if you're gonna ride around in a dirty scent filled truck!!) Once my suit is on, I will spray myself again with scent killer (I use White Lightning), and I'm ready to go. I don't use stinky urines or anything like that. I don't want any scent at all around my stand. Now..... like Mark and Kutter said. If you hunt where there are alot of people, or behing your house, where there is human scent in the air, or it's opening weekend of rifle season,it probably won't matter, and if you are rifle hunting where your deer come at long range, it probably won't matter either. But if you bowhunt in the middle of a 1000 acre block of timber, where there are no humans around, you couldn't ask for a better investment. I am an avid bowhunter, and I use these products to get an edge on the deer's senses to perhaps gain that extra few seconds I need to get a shot.

[Kutter]

When that 1st shot goes off at whatever time your 1st major season is, whether using a big bore or a slug they will disappear into some large cave in the hills until two days after the last major season is over. Then they come out and laugh at you.
Damn them cowards! Skeeeered of a few little bits of lead.

[derbycitycatman]

When I first started hunting I was so worried about scent. I bought the scent spray and special soap, that lasted less than my first year hunting. Now I just wash my clothes in just water, no soap and hang them out to dry. Maybe put some pine boughs in the bag with the clothes when their dry if it will be days before my next hunt. I still have some scent killer spray, fox urine and coon urine. I rarely use any of it unless I happen to think about it but 90% of the time I dont. For the shower I use Dove I think its supposed to be unscented it seems to work. Last year I bought some rubber boots at least they keep my feet dry from walking thru the weeds and I dont have to worry about keeping em tied going thru tangles of thorns. On the way to the stand I have a habit of eating an apple and spitting on my boots, than I toss the core wherever. Ive even seen a doe eat it once. My first deer I had to put down my smoke to get him. He was sniffing the air so I dont know if it was the tinks or the smoke. One time I used some fox urine and put out some cotton balls with it around my stand to cover my scent. It did a good job, none of those 5-7 foxes had a clue I was there.:smile2: That was one of my most memorable hunts just watching those foxes play and roll in that stuff.

[Kutter]

Gary, of course I know your right. Perhaps that is why I no longer bow hunt, too much work. You know me, so of course you know how big a turn off that would be for me. Now a days, I hunt the long shot, so to speak. Too old for climbing trees and to lazy to still hunt. I just sit in my blind or under a tree somewhere an watch the fields. The way I look at it, if the deer wind me, it's my fault for sitting where I wasn't supposed to be. Deer are remarkable at picking up scent, but I don't care how well they are at it, they can't smell me if I sit far enough away. I understand how you bowhunters would need every edge you can get. I used to bow hunt. It got so complicated I had to give it up. Too much like work, as I said.

[baitchunker]

well i have to say that sent blockers might work. of course they might not. i ALWAYS wear rubber boots, but i hunt in 95% alabama river swamp, so you kinda have to. i also like eating an apple orange or baked sweet tater on the way to the stand.
usually at the start of the season i get all krazy overboard on scent-camo-whatever else the salesman has. but after a few long hunting groups i dont worry about it. i killed 2 does in one week last year when i still had fresh from the morning hunt blood on my pants. then again i stopped smoking for deer season last year and i saw more deer than i ever thought existed. who knows, as long as i am in the woods, who cares.
j.d.

[kkyyoottee]

Heres the deal with me and my suspicions on these items now dont get me wrong but let me play devils advocate here for a minute. I have used the anti- scent soap, washing liquid, and etc. I wont say the name cause they might sue me. Any way I cant smell it , looks like plain water. Now let me finish I know a deers nose is a million times better. But here is a little experiment I tried wearing rubber boots sprayed with this miracle water ,I tied a string to a shirt that had been washed in the miracle water, air dried and then I made me a drag, and started for the woods. when out of sight my daughter turned our dog loose and was given the command to go get me. A game we play with our brittany and a 1/4 mile later she found me with her nose to ground. I was up a tree and could view her all the way. I believe if these products give you confidence by all means use them. I personally could give you 10 tricks I use for 9.95 and save you hundreds on all the darn gadgets and miracles in a little bottle that is being lined up at every sporting good store across the USA as I am typing this. And your meat pole would be just as heavy and so would your wallet!! But hay thats just me.

[hunter]

Personally I don't think there is anything on the market will block any human scent completely. I myself shower with dove and take special care of the clothing I'am planning on wearing. I use my boots for hunting and hunting only. I found hanging my clothes outside and putting them in an bag and not dressing till I get to were I plan to hunt, works best.

Another is understanding thermal factors for evening and morning hunts is huge. And how the terrian your hunting , effects wind and thermal factors. At any given place, with the right conditions you could probably go undetected wearing the clothing you just left the bar with the night before.

I do think scent elimators and carbon suites, etc. Do increase your odds, but the key factors is deer movement, wind direction, thermals and how you enter and exit your stands. I hear all the time, well I just put my cigarette out and here come big boy, or I flipped my ashes on the dear right under my stand. My own opinion a lot of luck involved.

[David Knotts]

Well I don't smoke while I'm huntin, but if I go out to my moms, she has 6 deer in a pen, if I have pack of smokes in my pocket, they will come up snif my pocket, do their best to get at em. A deer will eat every cigaret you give to it. I've been told that tobaco is a natural wormer, that has made me think if deer smell cigaret smoke, they may be lookin to eat the tobaco they are smellin.

[Katmandeux]

By the time I've been in camp for 3 or 4 days, I smell like a goat, anyway.:embarassed:

[kkyyoottee]

By the time I've been in camp for 3 or 4 days, I smell like a goat, anyway.:embarassed:

Cat just hunt where there are goats being raised!!!!:smile2:

[Mark J]

Well I don't smoke while I'm huntin, but if I go out to my moms, she has 6 deer in a pen, if I have pack of smokes in my pocket, they will come up snif my pocket, do their best to get at em. A deer will eat every cigaret you give to it. I've been told that tobaco is a natural wormer, that has made me think if deer smell cigaret smoke, they may be lookin to eat the tobaco they are smellin.

Deer eat tobacco . Particularly the young greenhouse raised plants that arent hardened like those sprouted in a plant bed.
They aint nothing but brown goats.

[badkarma]

Hunt the wind!!!! More than once I have stood up in my stand to pee and had to stop to kill kill a buck.

[flathead willie]

The best purchase I ever made was a scent blocker suit. I also use scent away when I'm going to a stand and re-apply when I get there. I now have deer pass down wind of me and they never know I'm there. That being said I have one uncle that has killed some nice bucks while sitting there smoking cigarretes so go figure:smile2:.

Here's my two cents: A whitetail makes his living with his nose, 24/7. It is a far more sophisticated organ than we can imagine...he sifts through a veritable soup of smell routinely, and identifies things that taste good, things that will harm him, girls to party with, and so on.

It's folly to imagine that we can fool that nose. Like drug traffickers attempting to get herb past a drug dog...ain't gonna happen.

I am a firm believer in rubber boots after raising bear dogs and seeing them lose me when I put on the boots. I think the whole trick is to make sure they don't have contaminating odors on the outside, (like sweat from your hands). As for scent eliminators and cover scents. I don't believe in them. Market hunters at the turn of the last century almost wiped the deer out of this country without them. If you are breathing, then you are giving off tons of scent, period! No suit will cover that up and no blocker will eliminate it. The simple fact is that you can't hunt a deer that is down wind of you. Sure, you may luck up once in awhile and actually see one down wind, but that will be rare, and chances are, thermals will be involved. No suit or cover scent will make up for poor hunting skills and habits. If the deer are coming in down wind of you, you need to move your stand!!! I've killed dozens of deer while smoking. I hunt the deer that are up wind of my position, not down wind.

[chris45601]

Well i live by putting my Cami's in a garbage bag with baking soda and putting the bag out in the shed. Now i did get this one sent blocker that i used and i was wearing rain gear that day and driving deer that day it was about 50 degrees outside so you know i was sweating something fierce. I took all my camo off and Couldn't smell the B.o I was amazed, It seem o work pretty good if i couldn't smell myself.

[pythonjohn]

" I have watched deer and about every other critter in the woods for 40 plus years bow hunting. And you know what I have harvested just about as many deer in blue jeans, a stocking cap, and a plaid shirt as I have in camo. But I do have a urge to get one of those swamp looking outfits and see if I can grab a deer as it goes"

WELL SAID WILL!!

GOOD HUNTERS RULE !!!!

After hunting with guns and then hunting with bow and arrow spears, and knife. There is no comparison as to the skill it takes to get close enough for a shot or ambush.
I know these are not going to be a popular satements.

But here they are !!

Rifles and scopes for deer hunting is no challenge.
The deer never hears the shot that kills them!
Electronics for animal hunting should be outlawed.
No cameras and listing devices
Baiting animals with any kind of food sorce should be outlawed.

Lets get back to the real hunt!

Shot guns.
Bow and arrow.
Primitive wepons. ( Not real keen on this one either)
it shoots like a rifle up to 200 yards.
Spears.
Last but not least a good knife ( The ambush).
Want to be a real hunter and learn better tatics and pass along something to the next generation ?:0a36:
Take the challenge!
Been there done that!

[Kutter]

You mean ya can't kill a deer with your bare hands? You have to use a knife or spear? How unsportsman like!

Ooop's, did I say that out loud?

Or was I just saying what others think?

Just joking, John, but you knew that was going to happen.

Who gets to set where the line gets drawn on what is fair chase? It's the same with catfishing. Jugs, trotlines, handgrabbing. We all have our own preferences.

[billNpam]

This is my .02 on the subject. Deer are creatures of habit, they take the same trail, drink from the same watering hole, know where the best food plots are etc. etc. When something is differnt or in this case smells different then this puts them on alert. Not saying that they are going to bolt out of the country but they diffently know you are there. In my opinion some deer do not associate smoking with danger. I have seen deer follow the same trail I walked in to my tree stand with no reaction. But then two hours later I have seen a deer bolt to parts unknown on the very same trail. So I would say depends on the deer and if that deer associates danger with a certian smell.
To back up my therory I have used a variety of different lures and scents. some deer run into the scents bombs and paw the ground and act a fool while others turn and run. WHY? Just last year I had a skunk come into my Tinks 69 canster that I had hung on a little sappling. It shook the sappling till the canster fell to the ground and it took it with him.
So I truely think it depends on the deer and what smell they associate with danger.

[charlestoncatman]

i dont even worry about scent anymore...last year i got a pretty large bodied buck to stand about 15 yrds from me for two min..while i was smoking..too bad he was behind a tree, i couldnt move a muscle..maybe this year ill get him

[randallewis]

Richard your odds are better if you quit smoking. You had the wind right. Trust me.

[jeffw51]

i have found that scent proof items are like a second skin as soon as you step in or cook in get gas while wearing them you have just greatly reduced the affectiveness.wind is a funny thing it is not always doing what you think it is i hear guys say that deer was directly down wind of me but in reality the wind being carried up on a thermal or bouncing off an object an never reaching a deers nose.i am a bowhunter and sometimes when i shoot a deer i can see his eyelashes scent plays a major factor at 5 or ten yards.the scent blocker suits work well and i have killed several deer while they were trying to figure out what the hell they were smelling?

[drumkiller]

Hi all, I have to agree with what has already been said. Hunt the wind.
Personally, i use rubber boots and scent control spray. The spray isnt to eliminate the odor, contrary to what the bottle may say :-) but more to help cut down on the scent.
Now the question is does it help me bag deer? No idea but it makes me feel more confident that i will, which i think is more important then the actual effects of the all the gimmicks out there.
So bottom line, if you believe it works, use it.

[Kutter]

Drumkiller, I have hunted deer for over 30 years. I would say that in a typical year, I will spend $100-400 on "new" stuff. On average, about $20-50 of that will work enough to use in the following years. The rest are just ideas made to catch the hunter, not the deer.
Now, I aint saying that is a bad thing. I will continue buying "stuff". I just no longer expect much of it to be any good. On the other hand, those "jewels" I do find can make a world of difference.
A few things I have learned about "stuff", that while applying to me, may not apply to everyone.
1. Spend as much as possible getting quality. However, try the cheap out first to see if you really "need" it.
2. Off brand names are usually "off brand" for a reason.
3. If at all possible, buy local from the one man shop, he still values you as a costumer. (or at least, he values your money)
4. You will not find any hunting clothes that exactly fit the bill for what you want. However, if you buy the next best thing, next year they will have exactly what you wanted this year.
5. Picture yourself in many years to come, giving your hunting/fishing stuff to a child/grandchild or whomever. Now, start taking care of that stuff so it'll still be around for them.
6. If you can honestly say that you do not want to have your hunting knife buried with you, you haven't found the right knife yet.

[chambers bd]

wash your clothing in baking soda it works great:roll_eyes:

[poisonpits]

i tried all he stuff you guys are talking about and found that i was not killing any more or bigger deer than when i wore bluejeans and flannel shirts so now in my golden years i hunt in bluejeans and flannel shirts.i get my limit ever year and some of them are bragging size.not giants but good deer.

[223reload]

Same here ,Johnnie. I dont go an get the newest crap . I hunt with blue jeans and denim shirts and i got an old camo coat that looks funny by todays standards but it keeps me warm and it blends somewhat. as for scent killers .I think it is giving the hunter an unfair advantage . I dont use them and never will. Hunting should be taking an animal on its turf ,on its tearms . jJust like the settlers did....just my humble opinion.

[Big B]

Here's the scoop on scent blocking hunting clothes. And some of you will not like it. Mostly the scent blocker guys. Most of the scent blocking clothes involve some type of carbon. The carbon has to be reactivated by heat. What the clothing manufactures don't tell you is that your clothes drier DOES NOT get hot enough to reactivate the carbon. Not even close. I have watched studies on hunting clothes,pitting the blocker against traditional, and you can get just as close with the cheap clothes as the $100 plus per item scent blocking clothes. My buddy shot a buck standing on the ground last year at 7yds wearing traditional clothing. Save your money. However, rubber boots are a must. I do use the scent neutralizer. I make my own. Its cheap and effective. I will find the recipe and post it.

[ladyfish50]

5. Picture yourself in many years to come, giving your hunting/fishing stuff to a child/grandchild or whomever. Now, start taking care of that stuff so it'll still be around for them.

This is where my husband & I are now; our grandson's are 12 & 13. We were going through some of those hunting clothes we "just had to have" through the years. We started to get rid of them, but now we're thinking about saving some for the boys. Yep, you should take care of that stuff.:wink:

[ladyfish50]

Think "common sense"; we're trying to get more high tech. These deer have been hunted forever; they're not trying the newest gimmicks. They do what they've always done. We should go back to some "old school" thinking. It's alot more gratifying when you finally do outsmart one...buck or doe...and close the deal. That's hunting. Hope y'all don't mind the opinion of "just a girl"!:wink: