Scent Elimination for a long range hunt?

[Tuler]

We're heading back to Idaho this year to hunt elk and deer. Typically it's a 200+ yard shot, but we have shot elk in the 30-yard range before (which shocked us as much as the elk). A buddy and I were talking about scent elimination and he was recommending that I should get some from a company called HOTT Scents for my trip. Would you recommend the same? Or do you think I should save my money?

 

[J E Custom]

To be sure, hunt with the wind in your face and you have a better chance. I bow hunted for over 25 years and no matter what sent blocker I tried, every now and then they nailed me. other times they had the wind in their favor and still didn't make me. so I just went back to my roots and hunted the wind.

It worked better and was more dependable.

J E CUSTOM

 

[The Oregonian]

I use a scent eliminator and use the wind...never used anything brand specific other than ozonics on a few Whitetail hunts.

 

[Salmonchaser]

So I'll buy into the hot scents stuff, cow in heat. There will be times where you simply can't keep the wind in your favor, it seems to help, some. Stinky stuff don't use in the tent.
Got interested in how well the spray on odor eliminators work. When I was on the job I would run training tracks for our police dogs. Never worked. If the wind and terrain are right elk will wind you at 300 yards.
Only safe bet is keeping the wind in your face.

 

[memtb]

Use the obvious recommended options for scent elimination/reduction.....but, you may consider putting your hunting clothes in garbage bags with some foliage cut from native plants! Sage, evergreen, ect., stored overnight will permeate into the clothing.....helping you become "part of nature"! memtb

 

[Ingwe]

I was a Big proponent of scent control, buying every scent control spray and gizmo, etc until I went to Africa for the 1st time hunting and stalking game with trackers that hadn't bathed in a week. They stunk of body odor mixed with smoke from our campfire but that didn't stop them from locating game and taking me close enough for a shot.

It's all about using the wind and they were masters of their craft.

After that I don't pay much attention to my scent. I've killed deer wearing cologne from the night before and as long as I respected the wind it didn't make a difference

 

[J E Custom]

Most animals make their living with there nose and can be amazing at separating odors. they learn quick which ones mean harm to them.

I have had deer seven hundred + yards away spook and run using sent blockers. And turn around and have deer less than 10 yards up wind that didn't know that I even existed. I have also had deer and Elk spook from the different smell of something that they were unfamiliar with.

I still believe that hunting into the wind is less risky and more productive. every bow hunter knows what movement can also do especially if you live on the gulf coast because of the mosquito's.
for years I wouldn't use mosquito spray for fear of them smelling me.
so I would just set there and let them eat on me. when I started hunting the wind, I could spray myself and not have to endure the pain. I also saw and harvested more animals.

If it makes you feel better, use the sent blockers but still hunt the wind.

J E CUSTOM

 

[Caveman0101]

Scent blocker is next to useless for elk. Unlike white-tail that live near humans and really almost always have some kind of human odors around them, elk have the harshest reaction to any smell out of the ordinary I've ever seen. While a deer will smell you and blow and maybe run a bit or just choose a different path to avoid you but ultimately continue on to where they were headed anyway. An elk will most often leave the drainage or maybe even the area. And they will do this at great distances, 400+ yards. My brother and I set out one archery season elk hunting with 2 sets of scent control clothing each, we changed each day and went to town every 3rd day to bath in scent blocker and wash the clothes. Multiple times a day we sprayed and wiped our bodies and clothes with scent control, it was a lot of work but the results were undeniable, every elk that got downwind smelled us around the 100-yard mark. After the first week, we swapped back to regular hunting clothes and hunted the wind and that's all I've done since. There is no doubt scent control helps with deer, but with elk, I think there are too many noses and they don't take chances. To tell you the truth if you're in elk country and the wind is not in your favor, go at it from a different point, or start shooting them ridge to ridge, haven't had one smell me yet from across a drainage.

 

[Alibiiv]

No elk hunting/hunter here, I black bear hunt over bait, so the shots are close and sometimes a hunter can get up close and intimate with a bear. We are very scent conscious because of the closeness that we hunt. I don't have any affiliation with the company in any way, we use "Dead Down Wind" spray and soap, usually we are at an outfitter with showers, we even use the soap to shave and shampoo with it. We keep everything "hunting" in the same totes at all times; stored in them all year until the next season. Our rifles are kept in cases that have been and are sprayed before and after each trip out. Before we start the hunt we wash our clothes, hunting as well as around the camp clothes, in Dead Down Wind twice and then dry them outside. Our hunting clothes and all of our gear have been in the same totes for years. We don't put our hunting clothes on until just before we leave for the hunt; and, when we get back from the hunt the first thing that we do spray the clothes then put "everything" back in the totes until we go out again. If totes are not an option, the large dry bags like the type used for kayaking/rafting would work. I have found that oftentimes hunters will forget their backpacks, hats, head nets, gilly suit, and gloves will attract and carry scents as well. I've seen the same hunter where the same hat for the entire week and never take it off, either hunting or around the camp. I've had bear within 10 feet of me and never knew that I was there. Was it the Dead Down Wind or not, I don't know but I have not been winded as of yet. I suspect that there are many scent blockers out there that will work if a hunter is scent conscious and if the hunter takes the necessary precautions to keep the "camp" scents off of their clothing and equipment; it certainly will not hurt if one does. Definitely playing the wind will help as well.

 

[snox801]

Good advise here. Only thing I can add is the only one that for sure will work is ozone. Whether ozonics or other. The science is solid on how ozone works. That being said whether you can condense it enough or whether it can kill oder fast enough is another story.
So what I do now is bath in sent free soap. Use sent free deodorant.
All my clothes go into a big bag or tote. Then I treat with ozone for about 5 min remove machine and close back up. This takes away all sent. Works much better than sprays. Then you can layer over that with your choice of sent blocker is you want or urine. Nothing is 100 percent but this has been the best combination for me.
Don't ignore the wind but if it changes on you best to be safe and do what you can.
I don't use my ozonics while in the field but use it on gear before hand.

 

[dukxdog]

I've never used any form of scent control other than the wind. Your body produces bacteria constantly. You can't cover up or spray enough to eliminate all of your odor since animals can smell 1-2 parts per million.

Domestic dogs smell 2 parts per million. They can differentiate six different odors at one time. We smell stew cooking but they smell meat, carrots, onions, potatoes, spices, et.

Crocodiles can detect a rotting carcass from four miles away. I had one pull down half of a leopard bait hung in a tree that was two miles from any water.

Sharks detect smells between one part per 25 million and one part per 10 billion.

Animal's long snouts create more room for special nerve cells that receive and interpret smells. It's estimated that humans have about 5 million of these olfactory receptors, while members of the deer family, including elk and moose, have about 300 million.

You just can't cover up your odor enough to be undetected by animals.

I feel the same way about commercial camouflage clothing. The power of marketing catches people.

 

[Ingwe]

I've never used any form of scent control other than the wind. Your body produces bacteria constantly. You can't cover up or spray enough to eliminate all of your odor since animals can smell 1-2 parts per million.

Domestic dogs smell 2 parts per million. They can differentiate six different odors at one time. We smell stew cooking but they smell meat, carrots, onions, potatoes, spices, et.

Crocodiles can detect a rotting carcass from four miles away. I had one pull down half of a leopard bait hung in a tree that was two miles from any water.

Sharks detect smells between one part per 25 million and one part per 10 billion.

Animal's long snouts create more room for special nerve cells that receive and interpret smells. It's estimated that humans have about 5 million of these olfactory receptors, while members of the deer family, including elk and moose, have about 300 million.

You just can't cover up your odor enough to be undetected by animals.

I feel the same way about commercial camouflage clothing. The power of marketing catches people.

TOTALLY AGREE. I think that scent control is a big scam

Even if you were able to store yourself in a giant scent free body bag and get placed in your treestand by a helicopter, the second you emerge from it and start breathing and sweating you are giving off scent

 

[Jeffrey Van Zandt]

We're heading back to Idaho this year to hunt elk and deer. Typically it's a 200+ yard shot, but we have shot elk in the 30-yard range before (which shocked us as much as the elk). A buddy and I were talking about scent elimination and he was recommending that I should get some from a company called HOTT Scents for my trip. Would you recommend the same? Or do you think I should save my money?

best scent elimination is LONG RANGE 800+ but with that being said I watch out of state hunters come up here and they put so much of that stuff on it is not funny only thing I may do is stand in the wood camp fire smoke up here we have so many forest fires every thing is us to oit

 

[snox801]

I don't think the point is to eliminate it completely but if you can reduce it as much as possible it help. Especially when the wind is changing direction like it does all the time here. Nothing covers it all but every little bit helps.