Author Topic: How important is cover scent. I say it is #1 on the list. (Read 1242 times)

themixedgamebag · « **on:** February 10, 2003, 08:22:34 PM »

I have heard many hunters, even after watching the latest video's on hunting , say that they don't need cover scent, or to even bother taking a bath before going hunting as long as they are high enough in a tree. I feel that if you walk in smelling like the kitchen at breakfast, then your going to leave a scent trail that the bucks will avoid evenif your in the air 30 feet! Somebody out there explain this to them besides me, half my family thinks I'm going overboard by showering with the "green soap" every trip out.

Graybeard · « **Reply #1 on:** February 11, 2003, 11:21:40 AM »

Sorry, won't be me that explains it. I don't agree with it. Cover scent is not even a consideration for me. I've tried them as well as attractant scents. So far on days I've used ANY kind of scent I've seen ZERO deer in my entire hunting career.

I look at it this way. If you come into a house around the holidays when the wife or your mother is cooking LOTS of goodies up do you smell only one of them? Does one strong scent cover all the others? Then how in the world can you think that an animal with a nose 100 or more times as sensitive as yours can't also pick out your scent from the cover scent?

Dogs have noses no more sensitive than a deer's. They are trained to sniff out dope even wrapped in plastic and placed in a gas tank.

Sorry but I'm totally and 100% conveniced that cover scents are a waste of money and that folks who depend on them rather than trying to stay clean and watch the wind are fooling only themselves not the deer.

GB

jhm · « **Reply #2 on:** February 11, 2003, 11:58:31 AM »

I dont use any to add to or take away from the hunting experience I just spend alot of time in the woods around the stands and the food plots/feeders and the deer seemed to adjust to the human scent being around there as far as the smell of the good old coffe we throw the used coffe grounds on the ground around the stand to aclamate the deer to the fine aroma of folgers in the morning.

JIM

Daveinthebush · « **Reply #3 on:** February 11, 2003, 01:24:02 PM »

Being clean... certainly won't hurt and smelling like everything else around you is better than smelling like old fish. The importance is not smelling like anything that is abnormal. Deer smell people almost daily for those that are near civilization. In the Adirondak mountains we would do deer drives in the morning and then in the p.m. the same drive. Often the deer were walking in our tracks when we returned.

For me I think movement is more or an issue. Ever NOT see a camoflauged hunter in the woods and then all of a sudden he moves and you have him located. The higher in a tree you are the more your out of the perpherial vision of the deer and less likely to spook the animal. I only go 16 feet but always have trees between me and the trail so I can draw while the animal is behind the tree. If I cut a shooting lane it is never very wide, only as needed and the trees leading to mine are cut up at an angle so as to leave as much cover as possible.

Yea you don't want to work on the car before going hunting but you don't need to get carried away either. I had one friend that stunk no matte what he did! Honestly! He tried everything to include a change of diet and the deer always nailed him. Don't know why!

Mad Dog · « **Reply #4 on:** February 12, 2003, 05:06:07 AM »

I've said this before, and some guys just think I'm an old fogey. I quit using any kind of scents, 15 years ago. I do all my hunting off the ground, and I get anywhere from one to four deer a year[depending on how hard I hunt, and how much meat I need in the freezer :lol: ]. Also, I don't wear camo clothes, just carhartt brown duck with the required hunter orange here in Indiana. My personal opinion is there are WAY to many companies getting rich off selling sent and camo. Just my 2 cents worth.

freddogs · « **Reply #5 on:** February 16, 2003, 03:03:52 PM »

:lol: I think scent elimination is a good thing. I don't think cover scents work very well. The two are different things.
Bird dogs can hunt well enough after being sprayed by a skunk. I don't think a little fox scent is a help.

dakotashooter2 · « **Reply #6 on:** February 16, 2003, 04:02:45 PM »

I just plain quit using cover scents and haven't noticed any difference in the number of deer I see. I do however pay much more attention to wind direction but at times even that does not seem to matter. I cant even count the number of times I have seen deer cross my trail without a clue. I really got back into stilhunting this year and had a couple of bucks come in from the downwind side within 25 yards before the jig was up. I won't say that it doesn't help but I don't think it is necessary. :roll:

Robert · « **Reply #7 on:** February 16, 2003, 04:18:09 PM »

The most important thing is NOT hunting with smokers, and being fairly clean. I use a non scented soap, and either hunters detergent on my clothing or sometimes I just use unscented ALL laundry soap, it is excellent. I only wash my camos if they really need it, or if I have sweat in them. If they are soiled from mud or bushes, I leave them alone. The problem with so-called cover scents or attractants...is whether you really trust them, or if they are instead a 'game repellent'. If you want an attractant or cover scent, be clean, dont smoke, and make a habit of eating apples when you hunt. I have almost had to chase deer away when eating apples. It can get scarey, I have actually thrown the apple to them to get them to stop bothering me. A buck could really hurt you if he had a mind to.

Selmer · « **Reply #8 on:** February 19, 2003, 09:03:18 AM »

I wasn't going to contribute, but I'm bored. I'm with GB, I don't use them, any time I have I don't see deer. One of the guys in our small town that shoots the biggest bucks year after year is a chain smoker, even does it while hunting, and if he can get them...I'm sure smoking doesn't help, but it hasn't hurt him. I do wash my clothes in baking soda, but I don't store them in plastic, it stinks anyway, and my scent doesn't concern me much, I've yet to not fill a tag with a nice deer.
Selmer

Frog123 · « **Reply #9 on:** February 25, 2003, 09:30:38 PM »

I have to throw my two pennies in on this one. I do not use any artificial cover scents. I've tried them with more negative results than positives. Once I sprayed fox urine to my boots and walked to my stand. A mature doe crossed my scent trail at 30 yds and turned on a dime and followed it right up to my ladder stand sniffing the ladder rungs and looking me right in the eyes. That day I would have been better off hunting with a Brick-O block instead of a mathews bow, and skunk scent just terrifies the crap out of 'em. Think about it. The only time a skunk sprays is when threatened or attacked by a predator. I have been known to step into a cow pattie while walking through a pasture, I feel like this is an effective "cover" scent. Another cover scent that I use is a hand full of dead decaying leaves from the forest floor placed into a plastic bag with my 3D suit or some cedar boughs but only if I'm gonna be hunting in a cedar thicket. I agree with GB, a deer's nose must be very similar to a dogs in it being able to disseminate one odor from a background of many different ones.

Frog

Tony D · « **Reply #10 on:** February 26, 2003, 10:29:19 AM »

I'll join the bandwagon. I think cover scents are only good for taking our hard earned money. We are far better off controlling our scent as much as possible.

We won't ever be able to completely hide our scent from deer, but we can play the wind and hold still!

Snowshoe · « **Reply #11 on:** February 26, 2003, 02:10:56 PM »

I used to smoke, and still got my tags filled every year, so why bother. I do most of my hunting on the ground sneeking around, or using gentle nudging to move them. I don't even know anyone that uses cover scents.

Farmboy · « **Reply #12 on:** February 26, 2003, 02:41:37 PM »

I haven't used a manufactured cover scent in about 15 years. I also have a friend that smokes cigarettes like no tomorrow and has killed deer every year as long as I have know him (20 yrs.). I believe try to stay as clean (scent free) as you can. When I hunt out of a ground blind I'll always scrape up the earth to get the fresh scent of dirt stirred up. I have had deer within 3 feet of my blind and never know I was in the world. I think the deer scents are another sale gimmick for the masses. Some people uses them and had success and others don't. I'am one that don't.

:toast:

Frog123 · « **Reply #13 on:** February 26, 2003, 10:48:27 PM »

Ain't it ironic. One of the most successful hunters in our group smokes like a chimney and never goes to stand during the winter without a thermos of hot coffee. His theory is doesn't matter what you do the deer will still smell you if they get down wind of you. He places his stands as to where the deer have to cross upwind and use the smoke from his cigarette to check wind direction. I kind of agree with what he says. To him the smokes and coffee are comfort items. He can sit still longer and be more comfortable with a pack of winstons and a cup of maxwell house and there for can stay in the woods longer increasing his chances of tagging out.

Frog