Scent Blockers and Deer Hunting?

[Dirty Dawg]

I'm not a deer hunter, at least not at this point in time, but as my son grows into it I've been accumulating firearms and gear and trying to learn as much as possible so that when the time comes, I'll be somewhat prepared or at least have a good idea of what's going on. With that in mind I was watching a show on ESPN where a guy was bow hunting in Wisconsin. Prior to his hunt he trotted out a whole line of scent blocking products including shampoo, conditioner, soap, skin cream, sun block and laundry detergent. Once he was done with his laundry he put his hunting clothes in a scent-loc duffel bag and threw in some scent block wafers. And of course, once he got to his land, he sprayed on some deer urine for good measure. Whew... I was exhausted before he ever took a shot.

So my question is this; how much do any these products help? I figure it's basically a way to pay for the production of the program but do any of these products really improve the odds of taking a deer? I'm really curious because, I've spent a fair amount of time in the woods and have gotten close enough to deer on a few occasions that I could have almost killed one with a well placed rock. Is it all about the products or more about how you approach the animal, paying attention to the wind, cover and moving quietly?

 

[bang_bang]

I wouldn't get too carried away with that stuff. At the most, I use some scent cover spray to help eliminate cat, dog, and tobacco smoke from my clothes. Deer do have a keen sense of smell, but I've taken many of deer fresh out of the shower and while smoking a cig.

Best bet, take a large duffle bag, take some dirt, sticks, twigs, etc from the area you hunt and put it in the bag. Then put your hunting clothes in there, to absorb the scent of "nature." I would even go as far as placing these in a shed or garage, away from cooking or pet odors.

I don't even do that, but, I've heard of several people doing that. I see most of the Scentlocker stuff to be useless in most deer hunting applications.

 

[Sinixstar]

People killed deer for hundreds, thousands of years - without any of these products. I've never used 'em - and my deer ended up just as dead as anyone else's.

Somebody's always got something to sell to give you an advantage. A new pattern camo that makes you all but invisible (until it snows), a new scent blocker, a new laser sight, yadda yadda yadda.

 

[kmrcstintn]

if you don't want to go through the entire routine...use a quality scent cover spray...odorless, fall blend, or fresh earth scent, clip a fresh earth scent wafer to your hat, and use lure scent of choice or cover scent of choice on your boots, scent pads on your boots, or a handheld drag (eg: doe urine, buck urine for lure; fox urine, raccoon urine for cover scent)

 

[Ridgerunner665]

I use Scent Killer (Wal Mart has it), just spray it on your clothes. It helps but does not eliminate human scent...I also use the "Fresh Earth" scent wafers...they will cover your scent and they last longer than the spray stuff.

And during the rut I use an estrous doe scent and a grunt call ( I prefer "Code Blue"...but Tinks #69 also works)

I kill my limit every year with that...

 

[matrem]

Most/all of these products CAN help.Wind direction is your only sure bet.