I think we need to show the game we hunt a bit more respect. Nothing you can spray, rub, or wash your clothing in will make a tiny bit of difference at hiding our Human scent.
recently on a cable channel there was a program about smuggling money in and out of the USA. The films were made in Miami and New York airports with a couple clips in Dallas and LA.
The whole documentary was very well done and professional. However I did not see the first 10 minutes or so, I was late to the show.
So what story did it tell? Well these dogs did not sniff dope, bombs, guns, or meat. The Customs guys said if you want to find a criminal all you need to do is follow the money! These dogs were trained to smell American Money! They work in the aircraft jet way sniffing the passengers as they were boarding the plane. They sniff here and there as the people walk by and follow the ones who have too much cash.
Most of the video had people open a carry on bag and they had plenty of cash in side. No big impressive feat from what I have seen before...... By the way the limit of unclaimed cash you can have leaving or coming into the USA is 10,000 US dollars. That much money in 100 dollar bills is about 1/4" thick and easily fits into a legal size envelope.
Several of the people had cash in one gallon zip lock bags, inside a hard sided brief cases. Many had the money wrapped in plastic cling sandwich wrap. One guy had it inside his lead lined film bag. That one had the Customs guys howling with laughter, as if the lead lined bag was a scent deterrent!
Another guy had a big stack of cash in his front pocket and made a rude comment about the dog violating him. However the big one that was really impressive to me was the guy with the Carbon lined Camo jacket in his carry on with the money (50,000 bucks) contained inside the folded up jacket. That was inside a soft sided zip shut wheeled carry on case.
Finally they had the dog on a few practice runs with money that had been sprayed with diesel fuel and put in a plastic bag and then placed inside a suitcase that was then placed in a stack of about 30 passenger suitcases. The dog ran past all of them and on his second loop around he stopped at the case and sat down. He did not indicate which suit case it was in the stack but sat right in front of the correct one. According to the Customs guys and the airport security that's why you cannot lock your luggage any longer in checked baggage. The customs guys just pulled the 4 close to where he sat and separated them. Then the dog ran them again sitting right in front of the correct one. If he would have been unable to identify one in particular they would have opened and searched all 4.
The really interesting thing this was how these Customs guys take dogs from the pound and train them. None were pure bred special breeds. Everyone was a mutant dog of mixed breed. The customs guys were actually quite boastful about the dogs they use, claiming nothing is going to get by his dogs nose. They had lots of stories about people hiding money that the dogs found.
One was very interesting. A black girl was boarding a flight for Jamaica. She had a wheeled carry on and the dog just locked on her and the guys knew they had a smuggler by the dogs reaction. She said she had only a few hundred dollars and showed them. They could not find the money and called a female officer to pat her down. Still no money. They began questioning her and it turned out she was there after leaving her job as a bank employee where she had to count money for the last several hours while wearing the same clothes she had on at the airport. The dog smelled the residue of money on her clothing, skin and hair. That's pretty impressive!
Give game the respect it's due and stay down wind. You cannot fool an animals nose with anything currently produced on this planet!
How does one hide their breath? Are we certain that all this is well enough understood that the Hype and fluff regarding these products is real or would these animals have reacted the same anyway?
I can't even count all the game I have been within a few feet of. Yet it had every chance to smell me but stood staring and waiting for movement. So long as I remained still and made no eye contact they eventually went about their business and slowly walked away or began eating again.
If I were wearing a Carbon suit during those events I would have believed the suit was the reason, yet those animals were there while I stood without camo and with no special treatment to my clothing.
By the same token I have had countless animals bolt away the very instant they scented me. I have seen my dog retrieve a freshly killed pheasant and on her way back to me go on point on another live bird. Now hold on a minute, there is a dead bird of the same species right under her nose being held in her mouth. How is that not a "cover scent" she still smells another different bird and can tell the difference between it and the one in her mouth!
The Cop, or maybe I should call them the "hosts" at a dope dog exhibition I attended several years ago explained it like this. If you have a pizza delivered to your house within a few minutes anyone (human) entering the house will smell "pizza". However when a dog enters the house he smells the cheese, the sauce, the dough, the meat, the peppers, the salt, the perfume in the soap the lady who put the toppings on used when she washed her hands, the cigar the delivery guy was smoking, and the air freshener that was in his car etc. etc.
The dog does not smell one thing but has the incredible ability to identify each smell for its own value, and in only parts per billion amounts.
I once had a bear bait that was almost the size of a VW bug. It was a big pile of rotting meat I used for a population study I was doing for the WA. dept of F&G. and the WA Forest protection Association. I used road kills and all the trappers beaver carcasses I could collect. You could smell this from 1/2 mile away with the wind just right. You could actually hear it from 20 yards away from all the maggots squirming around on it and the bugs buzzing round it.
One day I was lucky and got a 5 gallon pail full of the old fried food from the local gas and go. Burritos, tacos, jojo's, egg rolls, chicken and the rest of that deep fried heart stopping crap.
I took the bucket and a shovel into the site with me and lifted a huge rotting beaver carcass that was more grey slime then an actual remaining carcass. I dumped the fried contents into the hole and let the carcass slide or "ooze" back over it. About an hour later while I was in my elevated hide the first bear showed up. He walked in nervous and circled the pile. While he was only a foot from the massive stack of squishing ooze and maggots he stood on his hind legs and woofed. Then he dropped down and bolted away. About a minute later a big male pitched up at the site. If this was not the ultimate, although unusable cover scent then I don't know what is. It was however worthless as witnessed by the bear detecting another bear 50 yards away or more when only a foot from this pile of obnoxious goo. ( note to self: cover scent is a joke)
The Big bear walked around the pile and instantly pulled the grey slimy beaver off the pile of "goodies". He ate all of what was there, I think and then he left. Within a few minutes another bear came and also went to the exact spot. He ate and quickly departed as another bear came and he too went to the same place to eat. He pawed around and dug a big hole in the pile of slime, no deal for him. Nothing left, but he could smell the fresh deep fried food had touched the grey slime and he knew it was there someplace.
If you think for a second that cover scent works think again! I'm not confusing attracting scents with cover scent. Don't believe that putting some "cover" scent on your camo outfit, boots, or the tree stand you're in will hide your human scent. Read this again if you don't understand why.
All this can be said equally for the scent suits. It only takes a tiny few particles per billion for a deer, bear, or most any other game to detect you from the natural surroundings. I contend that if you were close to an animal with this special suit, you would also have been without it! The amount of scent coming from your mouth alone is more then enough to alert any game with a nose!
I think PT Barnum said it best, that quote still works today for most hunters with a fresh Cabelas catalog and a Visa Card!
