Scent Control

[shaman]

ORIGINAL: Vikinghater

I don't know what to think sometimes,  I had a young buck walk right up to within 20 yds  behind me during a light mist one year while smoking a camel playing blackjack on my cell phone.  I was out cutting firewood and shut the chainsaw off and turned to see a nice 10 pointer (and I mean nice) watching me. That one caught me off guard and was just a week before the gun opener (about nov 15th) and thought it was rut activity but not a doe to be seen.

This goes back to what I was saying elsewhere about bucks in rut being weird and stupid.  My guess would be those bucks were probably figuring out if you were mountable.

I've had bucks with nice racks surprise me at the strangest times.  I had one come over to my ground blind and peek in once-- sadly I didn't have a buck tag left.    I've had them catch me taking a dump.  I've had one follow me down a logging road. I shot THE BIG ONE back in 2007 and then had to wait for half an hour while 4 sub-dominant bucks came and hung out under my stand and displayed for each other.  I was not going to climb down into that mess, let me tell you!

Last season was the first that I've ever been able to string several days together hunting the peak of the rut.  In the past, it's always been a weekend here and there.  I really got to see the whole rut develop and peak and fade.  There were about two days where it was just crazy.  Bucks were running everywhere and would come to anything-- calls, rattles, even the creaking of the stand.  I don't think they cared about scent.  I don't think they cared about anything except their compulsion to breed. 

[USNavyChiefRet]

I too am strict with my scent control. I shower in Dead Down Wind, I use their foam and field towels as well as their spray and mouth spray. The question I have is this. I recently purchased ScentLok's "Full Season" jacket and pants. I called ScentLok and asked the lady I talked too if I should wash the jacket and pants in scent free laundry detergent before I used it. She said absolutely not, "all I had to to was put it in the dryer for the specified amount of time and then store it in a scent free container. If I only have 2-3 washings per season why use one up, just use your dryer."  I have both a Scent Blocker duffle bag and a large tote with a ScentLok scent eliminating storage system that contains a carbon web and bunggie cords to hold the web in the top of the tote as well as a self-adhesive seal that goes around the edge of the tote's lid to seal it.
My concern is, shouldn't I have washed the suit in Dead Down Wind carbon reactivator or just plain Dead Down Wind laundry detergent? It would seem to me that this suit hanging in the store must have picked up an awful lot of scent, and I understand that by placing it my dryer on medium high heat should reactivate it but what about the exterior? Sure I sprayed down with the DDW field spray and that should have killed some if not all of the scent, I'm just wondering about laundering it first. I hunted the other day (now I wasn't wearing this scentlok suit, I was wearing a scent blocker suit which I had activated in my dryer and stored in the scent free tote) and never saw a deer. Saw turkeys come out of their tree in the early morning and starting calling, and they were close maybe 50 yds away, and they don't have great sense of smell, but not a single deer. Now I know it warm for Minnesota last week, in the 70's so the deer don't have to move. They can stay bedded down and there are alot of acorns around, I mean lots! so there is food for them in the woods. I was set up on a pinch point where 3 trails come together into one and then it heads towards the road so they can use the timber as cover until they get to the road and then cross the road when it's clear. I'm just thinking maybe I should wash this scentlok before the next time I hunt. Any advice?

[Goose]

Our season opened Sept. 12th here in WI, I washed mine right before the season and I just washed it again yesterday. It isn't going to hurt anything to wash it.
I personally would wash it, air dry it, then re-activate in the dryer.
 

[DeanoZ]

Chief I have a similar setup and I washed mine in the Scent-lok carbon laundry detergent.

[USNavyChiefRet]

Thanks DeanoZ and Goose. I believe I will do that. I am rather picky when it comes to scent discipline, I try to keep a list in my head of all the articles I'm taking in the field with me and making sure they are scent free. I know many people miss the binocs, calls, pull-up ropes, etc. I try to leave my harness and back-pack outside under an overhang but even those I spray right before heading into to the stand.
Thanks again. Good hunting!

[nhdeerchaser]

Excellent points made, by all!

I limit myself to just spraying scent killer on my boots before I walk in. I don't know if it works or not, but I do it anyway.

Mike

[DeerCamp]

Well the other day I was bear hunting, and I did a bacon burn and sprayed grease all over the area. A little while later I had a doe come walking buy, she didnt seem alarmed or anything. I also had cakes,jellys and all sorts of goods out there and this is waaaay back in the woods. I dont think she was curious or anything, I think she was just wondering. But it didnt seem to bother her one bit. I feel that it all depends on the deer, as just like people, each deer is different.

[FlDeerman]

Same with me,spray and go.
During the rut I use Tinks smoke sticks and I've shot two old bucks coming up the smoke trail like sharks on a chum line.I guess some things can even fool the old boys.

[Robbiecd]

I have been trying a technique that makes all of my washable gear 'carbon infused' and essentially scent-free.  I wash everything that can go into the washer with scent-eliminating detergent.  I then throw it all in the dryer with an old sock filled with activated carbon.  You can get a large jar of this stuff at Walmart for a little over $6 in the fish aquarium section.  The carbon dust leaches out of the sock and onto everything in the dryer.  Sure, it turns your hands grey, but all of that carbon dust is neutralizing your scent.  I can't think of a better way to use activated carbon technology to reduce scent for the hunter.  I also have several old purple Crown Royal bags filled with carbon that I keep stashed with my gear and cloths, including my boots.  This continually absorbs odors and is very cheap to replace.
 
Now if I can just remember to wash a towel the same way.

[DeanoZ]

ORIGINAL: Robbiecd

I have been trying a technique that makes all of my washable gear 'carbon infused' and essentially scent-free.  I wash everything that can go into the washer with scent-eliminating detergent.  I then throw it all in the dryer with an old sock filled with activated carbon.  You can get a large jar of this stuff at Walmart for a little over $6 in the fish aquarium section.  The carbon dust leaches out of the sock and onto everything in the dryer.  Sure, it turns your hands grey, but all of that carbon dust is neutralizing your scent.  I can't think of a better way to use activated carbon technology to reduce scent for the hunter.  I also have several old purple Crown Royal bags filled with carbon that I keep stashed with my gear and cloths, including my boots.  This continually absorbs odors and is very cheap to replace.

Now if I can just remember to wash a towel the same way.

You may want to give this a shot, http://www.naturalpredator.com/TRUCarbon.asp I know Marc Anthony uses it with success.  Its more than the Walmart brand but you don't end up with grey hands