The scent of your gun

[mag30079]

What do you do to remove the scent of your gun? With all the prep that goes in to scent controll, what about the weapon? Ok you showered with the wash used the wash on your clothes sprayed yourself from head to toe, and your gun smells like solvent and gun oil.
 
I'm not aware of scent-lok oil and solvents...[:D]

[buckhunter21]

That's a great question...I personally don't do anything.  I'll clean my gun right before hunting season, and then right after...and then in-between if I need to depending on what kind of elements I'm hunting in.  After gun oil sticks on the gun I don't see it as leaving a real strong odor but I could be wrong.  Maybe that's why that booner has eluded me all these years?! lol

[mag30079]

same here Buckhunter21,
 
I'll wipe my gun down after hunting all day in the rain with some light gun oil on a rag. That about it, some one on here has to have afew tricks up there sleeve. corn oils, olive oil on the outside of the gun????
 
I got to thinking about this after spending 40 buck on sent-lok gloves, what if I get some oil from my gun on my fancy new gloves? Kind of defeats the purpose.

[8uck5nort]

I have used vegatable oil on my archery release cause I thought of the same thing. It worked ok, but it evaporateds too quickly and left a sticky residue. Stopped doing it and use just a very light dab of gun grease instead. However, I oil my guns down when I do hunt with a firearm. I just try and set up downwind.

If a deer smells something out of place, whatever that something is, gun oil, olive oil or the rubber smell from your boots that are supposed to be scent free, whatever it will alert them. It may not send them bolting, but they will be uneasy or even pike ther curiousity if your lucky.

I am also sure that an older deer who has been educated a time or two by a hunter with a firearm will bolt if he even gets a slight odor of gun oil cause he associates that with danger.

I am sure even with a high dollar scent control clothes masking your BO there is enough "out of place scent" that is coming from your equipment to still alert a deer if it gets wind of it. I am not really aware of any scent free patroluem products. Rubber scent control boots still smell like rubber. They prevent your sweat and stink from getting everywhere, but they still smell.

I even thought of burning scented candles like "Apple Pie or Cinnamon Something or Other" to see if that would get deer to come around and or hide my scent. Just need em curious enough to get em close for a shot. I'd probably catch myself on fire and be a screaming human fireball falling out of the tree stand, so I utlimately decided against it.[:D]

[HoneyHole]

Hoppes makes a low scent cleaner. I've been using it since last year. I usually fire a shot to burn off the oils anyways. Other than that, I wipe my gun down with whatever scent killer I'm using. 

[MSHunter]

Rusty Faulk (Not an endorsement for Rusty Faulk) use to do promos for a gun oil that was all nature and had no scent (supposedly), but I can't remember the name. I thought it was by Tetra. I checked their site, but could not find the product. If by chance I remember the name, I'll post it.

[lonlon]

Mag30079 Here in Wis couple years ago it rained opening day, next AM was ard zero. Couple guys missed bucks because of frozen guns.  We learned if your gun gets wet, break it down and dry it off completely.  Interesting topic on scent of a gun, have never thought too much about it but everybody's ideas are interesting. Before commercial scents were around we used to carry cedar twigs and them rub them between our fingers or scrapped them agaisnt the tree once in the stand, worked great during bow season and was about as natural a strong scent as you could find. Stills seems to work if you take the time to sneak a twig off the neighbor's bushes before you head out! Great sport,eh?

[buckhunter21]

I agree if I get rain or snow on my gun it's coming apart that same day and drying out then putting some more oil on it.  I've had friends have the same type of thing happen to them with their guns freezing up!

[shaman]

This is another one of those basic holes in the whole scent thing with deer.  Deer are truly queer beasts if everything you read is to be believed:

Deer can smell you from a mile off, but they can't smell your gun oil.
Deer can smell you from a mile off, but they can't smell the naptha coming from your rubber boots.
Deer can smell you from a mile off, but they can't smell your ATV
Deer can smell you from a mile off, but they can't smell your cigarettes.
Deer can smell you from a mile off, but they can't smell your farts.
Deer can smell you from a mile off, but they can't smell your  . . .

. . . you get the idea.

I always had a problem wrapping my head around this until it dawned on me that this was all complete hogwash.  Deer probably smell all these things but basically don't care.  Probably the one thing they do care about is nasty pit stink, and the gnarly whole-body stench a hunter acquires after days of not showering.

After years of making my brain ache and trying to kill all odor on everything, I finally figured out that a modicum of personal hygiene and common sense goes a long way in the woods.  The rest was somebody trying to sell you elephant repellent, and some instinctual cleansing ritual.  I used to be borderline OCD when it came to deer hunting.  Now that I've been in the woods over a quarter century, I'm well past that. As a for instance, I wear quad/parka and bibs that has never been cleaned-- since they came out of Walmart in 2003.  I wear a wool sweater underneath that has never seen a washer or a dry cleaner since it came out of the box from Cabelas 20 years ago. I just let the stuff air outside for a bit to get the worst of the stink off and then pack it away with a little sodium bicarbonate.  According to most  so-called experts, not only should I not be seeing deer, but the deer should all be running in panic away from my end of the county.  Of course, these experts generally want to sell you 4G 3D  High-Definition Stop-Stink in the handy pump spray (Now with a directional nozzle).    Let me tell you where you can point that nozzle.

Don't worry about gun oil, powder solvent, etc.  I use Ed's Red, a homebrew concoction of Kerosene, Automatic Transmission Fluid, Acetone, etc.  If that doesn't scare deer, I don't know what will.  I sit in my stand and have deer grazing directly beneath me all the time.  It's great stuff. Google Ed's Red. The recipe is everywhere. It is better than Hoppes and it's dirt cheap.

Also remember this:  Playing the wind and being still trumps anything you can spray on yourself or your gun. Bathe regularly and change your underwear twice a day. The rest will work itself out.

[vambo991]

Agree with Sham, wipe the oil off before heading out and play the wind. I don't think most deer would associate the smell of gun solvent with humans, anyway. Maybe I'm wrong.