Myth Busters-Bloodhound-Human Odor

[Marc Anthony]

bmorris, If you want a copy of this test, I would contact Virginia Tech directly and ask for their study. If I had a copy handy, I would happily email you one. I do know right after it was finished, Natural Predator, the company that makes Tru Carbon was anxious to mention it on their website. It was not funded by any outside source, that I'm sure of.

As far as the dogs goes, I don't doubt one bit that they didn't detect human scent. Blood hounds are incredible animals! So are deer! It's just too bad we can't ask them specific questions regarding human scent and how hard it is for them to detect it under these testing conditions. I also agree with you regarding the test conditions and the applications of these products. My point is this: Activated carbon works extremely well under the conditions most hunters are under and when it is applied as instructed, there is no other product commercially available known to reduce human scent as effectively.

Under the conditions I've tested them under, I have also found no other product/chemical'formula that allows me to elude mature whitetails up close. In some of our tests, I've had members of our research team sit in a linear fashion along a heavily traveled deer route. Each and every one of us had a different type of scent control product. With me wearing the activated ladened Ghillie suit, I have had spoked deer run from one person using an off the shelf scent control product with to within 10 yards of me for safety. I've had bedded deer in front of me for hours, while I was on the ground, with no sign of distress. I can't tell you how many deer over the years I am in close contact with that have no idea how close they are to me. The biggest change came when I switched from a water based product to an activated carbon one. As a side not, I even made my own scent spray that works really well but it just isn't effective as the carbon.

As far as application goes, if a person doesn't shower or jumps into the woods right after work and expects his body to not smell or even better yet, expects his scent control product to perform flawlessly, he's in for a big surprise. Nevertheless, I've placed an once of raw skunk perfume in my hand and have poured activated carbon right on top of it only to witness the smell to completely go away (by my standards, meaning that I could not smell a trace of it). That is proof enough for me that it does work but obviously not sure to what level. When using scent control for deer hunting, one must also use everything in his/her power to mask their scent.

[bmorris]

Marc:
Perhaps you can provide a little more information concerning the Virgina Tech test. I called there and spoke to a few people but no one was aware of that study. With some more details maybe I can run it down. I will conduct a test with your carbon and see what how it works with a blood hound. I will also send some of it to a couple of labs to see how it tests out. I just think there is to much misinformation out there as it relates to carbon and most of that is because of activated clothing. When I read the study I saw that they tested against urine, garlic ,sweat and garlic. There was no information on how these test were conducted. We need to learn how these test would effect Scruf , scent cones and Scent pools. That would be helpful information.

[Marc Anthony]

I would suggest you email Natural Predator and ask them for a copy. I think the study was conducted several years ago and they will most likely have it in their files! As I mentioned earlier, if I had a copy, I would have gladly sent you one. Unfortunately, I don't have one.

[charlie 01]

Marc Anthony. I thought I read in a post somewhere that you are into taxidermy. If that is so, how can I get in touch with you directly. I have something I would like to run by you.

[Marc Anthony]

ORIGINAL: charlie 01

Marc Anthony. I thought I read in a post somewhere that you are into taxidermy. If that is so, how can I get in touch with you directly. I have something I would like to run by you.

Charlie01, drop me an email and we'll talk! Yes, I'm a taxidermist.

[bmorris]

Marc.
I have requested a copy of the Virgina Tech study twice form Natural Preator and have not recieved anything from them. This is just like Scent Killer who claim that 99% of "replicated " odors were found to be stopped in a study at RUTGERS UNIVERSITY IN A STUDY DONE IN THE KICHEN LAB THERE. THEY WON'T RELEASE THE RESULTS EVEN TO OUTDOOR WRITERS.

The scent killer was used twice in conjunction with Scentlok and the Bloudhound and is posted on you tube and Discovery channel and it didn't seem to provide any assistence in fooling an animals nose. I still maintain if your particular scent system can't fool a dog it can't fool a deer's nose.

[Marc Anthony]

ORIGINAL: bmorris


Marc.
I have requested a copy of the Virgina Tech study twice form Natural Preator and have not recieved anything from them. This is just like Scent Killer who claim that 99% of "replicated " odors were found to be stopped in a study at RUTGERS UNIVERSITY IN A STUDY DONE IN THE KICHEN LAB THERE. THEY WON'T RELEASE THE RESULTS EVEN TO OUTDOOR WRITERS.

The scent killer was used twice in conjunction with Scentlok and the Bloudhound and is posted on you tube and Discovery channel and it didn't seem to provide any assistence in fooling an animals nose. I still maintain if your particular scent system can't fool a dog it can't fool a deer's nose.

bmorris, I can't explain why or why not you can't get a copy from anyone involved with that study. Natural Predator is going through a sale of the company which could explain why they haven't responded. Most universities don't feel obligated to hand over their work to anyone who happens to call over the phone and demand/ask for a copy, although it would seem to me that they would want to.

You are entitled to believe whatever you want to believe and I'm not here to ASK you to believe in my studies, anyone else's studies, etc. I contributed my experiences and offered to you a known study for you to comprehend. I am curious if you tried the experiment that I suggested? If you want to test carbon first hand and not rely on anyone else's recommendation, simply pick up some commercial carbon, like Tru Carbon, pour some skunk pee, doe pee, human pee or whatever byproduct that you are suspicious about, in your hand and then pour the carbon over it! Tell us all what happened. Simple enough!

If you still aren't convinced it helps reduce scent, I wouldn't know what else to suggest to you. No one is saying that it removes ALL human scent, their just saying it reduces scent better than anything else. I'll stand by that comment also! I've tested it up close and personal with dozens of mature bucks, does, coyotes, etc. and have found that no other product aids in my stealth as activated carbon.

As far as Mythbusters goes, I don't rely on non-hunters advice too often in my decision to purchase a particular product. I've seen several of their studies before and have found some of them to be "under studio conditions" and not reflective of real world situations. That's not to say I don't believe in scientific research, I do! I just think when you are testing one product, you should test it under the conditions that it was made for. That's exactly what I do!

[charlie 01]

Tried a few times to Email you. Would not SEND. What is your E-mail address?

[Marc Anthony]

http://www.nontypicalhunter.net/contact.htm

Click on that link above and contact through that page.

Marc

[LaCatahoula]

I don't know if this is worth a dime but I have had deer come within three feet of me with a bacon biscuit in my hand and no scent control at all but the were up wind of me. Now this hunting season I have gone whole hog on the scent control kick including scent lok clothing and had a coyote come from downwind of me and he was too close to shoot out of me stand I had to let him get further away to shoot. Maybe id does work maybe it doesn't work but I can tell you I won't be stopping my regiment any time soon and I will be buying more carbon clothing.