If you’ve chased whitetails even for just one season, you know it’s their nose which rules the woods. If you can’t defeat the whitetail’s nose, you’ll be defeated before you’re even in the game, so to speak.

And, although body and clothing odor are the main focus for any serious hunter’s scent control regime, it’s the lower extremities – namely the feet (and boots) – that require perhaps the most attention. Without proper scent control on your boots, the rest of the scent-elimination program can be all for naught.

That’s why so many hunters opt for non-leather footwear, especially during early and even mid-season bowhunts.

The biggest scent advantage of “rubber” boots is not that the material somehow eliminates scent. It is that their construction can reduce several ways a hunting boot can acquire and release odors.

We know that most of today’s boots aren’t fully rubber. In fact, most are a combination of materials that allows for breathability, lighter overall weight, superior warmth and – yes – scent reduction.

Why that Matters to a Deer Hunter

1. A rubber exterior doesn’t absorb odors easily.

Dryshod Inc, for example, uses a natural-rubber exterior. Compared with porous leather, fabric or heavily padded hiking boots, rubber is relatively nonabsorbent. Soil, decaying vegetation, manure and other odor sources are less likely to become embedded in the boot material.

2. Less fabric on the outside means less odor retention.

A conventional insulated hunting boot can have substantial textile, foam and synthetic material exposed to the environment. Those materials can pick up smells from the truck, house, camp, gasoline, food, etc. A rubber boot gives those odors fewer places to accumulate.

3. They’re easier to clean.

This may be the biggest practical advantage. A hunter can rinse mud, leaves and organic material from a rubber boot after every hunt. With a leather or fabric boot, contaminants can remain trapped in seams, stitching and fibers.

4. The waterproof construction helps keep the inside isolated from the outside.

Dryshod’s waterproof bootie construction means water, mud and wet vegetation aren’t getting through the boot and into the insulation and footbed. That helps prevent the inside from becoming a reservoir for odors.

5. Less human odor buildup inside can be an advantage.

This is an important distinction. Your feet are a major source of odor. Dryshod’s breathable lining is designed to move moisture and air, potentially reducing the warm, damp environment in which foot odor develops. But a waterproof boot still won’t make sweaty feet scentless.

But here’s the important caveat

I wouldn’t claim Dryshod is inherently more “scent-free” than every other rubber hunting boot. A good pair of Mucks or LaCrosse rubber boots can provide many of the same basic scent advantages.

The real advantage is the combination of:

nonabsorbent exterior + waterproof construction + easy cleaning + limited exposed fabric + moisture management.

And there’s another factor that’s arguably more important than the brand: how the hunter treats the boots.

If a pair of Dryshods is worn into a gas station, around the house, through a restaurant and then straight into the deer woods, they’re carrying those odors regardless of how scent-resistant the boot material is.

For a serious whitetail hunter, the best practice is to keep the boots dedicated to hunting, clean them after use, let them dry completely and store them somewhere free of strong odors.

Dryshod boots are different mainly in how they combine a rubber boot’s waterproofing with the comfort and flexibility of a hiking/athletic shoe. That is particularly noticeable for hunting.

The big differences:

• Densoprene instead of conventional rubber/neoprene construction.
  Most Dryshod models use a 5 mm Densoprene foam bootie. It is waterproof, insulating and flexible, rather than having a stiff rubber shell with a conventional insulation package.
• They are surprisingly flexible. The upper and interior lining have four-way stretch, so the boot moves with your foot and calf. Dryshod sizes its boots more like athletic shoes rather than intentionally making them oversized and sloppy.
• The inside is designed to manage moisture. The 4-way-stretch AirMesh lining has tiny vertical fibers that allow air movement. That’s important because a waterproof boot can otherwise become a sweatbox. Independent testing of the Evalusion Hunt found the boot comfortable during long walks and reported relatively dry feet in warmer conditions.
• Natural rubber construction. Dryshod uses genuine natural-rubber overlays rather than PVC, PU or TPR. The company says this keeps the rubber flexible and less prone to cold-cracking.
• Better foot support than many traditional rubber boots. They incorporate a reinforced tuck board and rigid shank, giving the boot more torsional and lateral stability. That’s a big deal when you’re walking uneven ground rather than simply standing in mud.
• The exterior sheds water rather than absorbing it. Their Hydrokote treatment causes water and mud to bead up and roll off the textile exterior, which can be especially useful in freezing conditions because the material doesn’t become waterlogged and ice-covered as easily.

Read More

• An Easy Way to Keep Your Hunting Boots Scent-Free and Intact — A quick way to clean your hunting boots, control scent and avoid methods that can damage rubber.
• Scent-Free Boots Keep You Warm on Chilly Hunting Days — A closer look at waterproof rubber hunting boots, scent control, comfort and protection in the field.
• 3 Overlooked Spots That Need Scent Elimination When Hunting — Mark Kayser covers easy-to-miss areas hunters should address as part of a complete scent-control routine. 
• Don’t Underestimate a Whitetail’s Ability to Smell You — Why hunters need to keep their presence under the radar while scouting and hunting whitetails.