deer sense of smell... mature vs. the immature

[Savage]

This might be a little hard core, but I like a lot of hunters leave my hunting clothes outside and, I change outside to minimize the scent that the deer could pick up.

Also, make sure that you wash your clothes in non-scented detergent.

Deer can pick up your scent from quite a distance, but if your lucky and the wind is blowing in your direction - the deer may not be able to pick you up as easily.

[SHKYBoonie]

ORIGINAL: Savage

This might be a little hard core, but I like a lot of hunters leave my hunting clothes outside and, I change outside to minimize the scent that the deer could pick up.

Also, make sure that you wash your clothes in non-scented detergent.

Deer can pick up your scent from quite a distance, but if your lucky and the wind is blowing in your direction - the deer may not be able to pick you up as easily.

This isn't what I consider "hard core" at all.

I take a shower before each hunt, morning and afternoon, with non-scent soap. I brush my teeth with non-scent tooth paste. I purchase a new hat each year to keep it from getting to contaminated with sweat. My clothes and other gear are washed in non-scent detergent, line dried , some on high heat in a dryer that I spay down with scent killing spray (and NO Woods, the drier doesn't get to 1500 degrees)[:D] and put in sealed containers for keeping smells off of them. I don't miss a single detail down to the strap on my bino's! I wear activated carbon clothing in several layers, ie; base layers, mid layers and outer layers. I DO NOT dress until I am at the place I am hunting. I spray down with scent killing spray before I get dressed, after I get dressed and once again in the stand. I make sure my RUBBER boots are kept in a scent free container. I also spray them down with scent killer a few times. I also make sure that I am entering my stand area with the wind in my favor. If it isn't, I don't hunt it. This may be considered by you to be a bit extreme, but I would swear by it. A deers nose is its greatest defense.
 
I could go on and on about this subject, but this thread is actually asking the question, do "YOU" believe a young deer doesn't smell odors as well as a mature deer?

[Savage]

well done.... I don't think that is extreme at all.

You probably have good luck seeing deer then.

Also, IMHO - I believe what the other guys are saying in regards to a young deer being able to smell as well as older deer.

They just are not as experienced as the older deer, to know what the scent means.

Savage

[sam]

Hi SHKYBoonie,

Your approach looks the best. I got this tip from Epd when I met him.

1. Keep all your hunting stuff  sepreate in a box sealed .
2. Have a different underwear and towel for hunting only.


sam
Hunt safe

[scotman]

Just look at human anatomy were in essence an animal but are sense of smell does not increase or decrease it just is. Do you smell flowers at a young age and are not able to smell them at a old age? No you smell them all the time old young or middle aged.

If their sense of smell diminished it would be easier to hunt mature whitetails but we know for a fact the older the deer the harder they are to hunt. Otherwise everyone would have a B&C or P&Y mount on their wall.

[3 to 1]

I agree with WOODS WALKER, its about scent and association. I've talked to co-workers who go to great lengths on scent control and still get busted. I hunt on two small working farms and I use only SOME scent control and watch the wind. I have been busted here and there, but not anymore then others. A lot of times during early bow season I have passed the tractors on my way to my stand. The smell of tractor grease and diesel fuel the whole way onto the property. The deer still come out. SOMETIMES, scent control can be over rated. Yes I have taken some good deer from each of the two farms. This past year(2009) I harvested a 130 class 10pntr 300 pounder.

[Jon H.]

I do the same a you SHKBoonie. But I also wear a jump suit and stocking cap, wash in sent free soap while im driving to my stand. I think it helps keep the smell in my truck off me. When I get to my spot I change my clothes.

[Woods Walker]

ORIGINAL: Jon H.

I do the same a you SHKBoonie. But I also wear a jump suit and stocking cap, wash in sent free soap while im driving to my stand. I think it helps keep the smell in my truck off me. When I get to my spot I change my clothes.

I do similar. I NEVER wear my hunting outer clothes, and especially my boots anywhere or place other than in the woods. If I'm hunting out of my truck, I have a folding chair and a piece of indoor/outdoor carpet I stand on while I get dressed out side of my truck when I get to my hunting area. I also undress the same way before I get back in it. At hunting camp we have a shed that's outside away from the house and it's odors that we get dressed/undressed in before and after the hunt.

[buckhunter21]

ORIGINAL: Woods Walker

Another way to put this is that a more experienced deer, regardless of whether his sense of smell is better or worse than a more inexperienced one, can out the odors that he smells in CONTEXT to where the smell is coming from, and what he associates it with based on past experiences.
 
For example, a deer may very well be able to smell a human at 700 yards, but if that deer lives in farm country or the edge of the suburbs, he'll run himself to death running away from it, so he learns to TOLERATE that scent as long as it comes from where he does not associate it with danger or being harassed.
 
I can walk to my barn (like I do at least twice every day to feed the horses) with the wind blowing towards the woods, and those deer will not move, even though it's only 50 yards away. But if I sneak around from the OTHER way, they will run like the devil himself is after them......context......"HEY! What's that ugly SOB doing coming from THAT way??!!!"
 
My ghillie suit, which is made of treated burlap, still has a bit of that burlap odor to it, but it doesn't seem to bother deer...ALL kinds of deer....in the slightest. In fact, I am beginning to believe that it may be one of the reasons why they seldom bolt from me due to scent. They may smell the burlap, but they don't associate it with danger. If more hunters wore them, and they began to become educated, then it probably wouldn't work as well.
 
Vanilla is know to work quite well as a deer attractant, yet NO deer in North America has a natural exposure to vanilla plants but it doesn't scare them...quite the opposite in fact. It smells good to them, and unit they start getting shot at or associating it with humans every time they smell it, it probably will work.
 
Do deer have an acute sense of smell? Of course they do. But just because they can smell it doesn't mean they will be afraid of it. Again.....CONTEXT.

 
Well said.  One question I do have though, you bring up the scent of vanilla.  They think it smells good, and until they have a negative reaction associated with that smell, they may continue to come towards it.  What about doe/buck urine scents?  Bucks and does alike probably have negative experiences with them since a lot of hunters use them, yet they still come towards it.  Granted, the 'danger' part may be the way in which they do come towards it....Same with hearing grunt and rattling calls.  Circling downwind and being wary....

[Woods Walker]

Well I think that comparing the smell of vanilla to that of an estrous doe is not a valid one.

I mean take yourself. If you smelled an odor that you had never smelled before, and out of curiosity you investigated it and got your tail kicked, then you'd most likely run the other way when you smelled it again. Now take the scent of a woman. I can think of too many guys that I know who either have gotten their butt kicked, or gotten in to trouble of some kind (all of their own doing of course) over a woman, myself included, and yet we KEEP GOING BACK FOR MORE!!!! [:D]

I know we're pigs, but so are bucks! Every year bucks get shot at, maybe wounded, or at the very least harassed constantly while around does, and/or the smell of does, and yet they keep pursuing them.