ORIGINAL: bow-addict

Hey guys......I am a profesional deer guide in the state of Illinois, I've guiding many a hunter, and I have literaly seen hundreds of scent sprays and techniques.

I don't believe that you can ever be scent free entirely, like we've seen from the previous posts, animals have truly amazing noses. Deer do not have quite the smelling ability that a dog does however.

That being said, All the hunters I guide, (many are from sporting goods companies) love to give out cover scents, so I have cases sitting around. But I prefer to try and HELP mask my scent with stuff from the area.

I will sometimes roll in the dirt before going into the woods, rub corn cobs on my clothing, and I've also taken fresh acorns and crushed and mixed them into a paste and rubbed it on my boots (very effective)

Use stuff from the area and you'll be alright, but play the wind, that is your best weapon.

ORIGINAL: stoneman

Well, if I ever decide to bow hunt for dogs, I'll be glad for that info. ~ I always wash my hunting clothes (EVERYTHING) in scent killer, and then store it in an airtight container full of pine needles and leaves (from the area I hunt). I wash with scent killer before leaving home. When I get to where I park, I get out, get naked, and hose myself down with scent killer before dressing in the clothes in the box. I apply cover scent to my boots for the walk in. My stand last year was only about 18 feet off the ground. I hadclose to100 deer pass under me in a month period, and not one, EVER smelled me. If I do all that crap for nothing, I'll keep doing it just because it gives me confidence when I have sudden/often wind direction changes.

ORIGINAL: Kybuckhunter

Stoneman I knew someone would make a comment about hunting dogs. I realize a dog may have better smell but I would say deer are still very close. It's easier to study dogs than deer so more is known about dogs. However a dog and a deer both have a very keen sniffer that's why I am using these fact. Just read this again it would be the same for deer.

Dogs seem to be able to discern a mixture of scents and pull out key traces of compounds of interest to them, and also to follow concentration gradients of the scent molecules. It is estimated that the ability to distinguish between different scents and to pick up scents is about 10,000 times to millions of times better than humans. A typical German shepherd, known to be a top scent tracker has 220 million sensory cells compared with a humans measly 5 million!

All it takes is common sense to show you cant cover your scent. I'm all for keeping clean but cover scent will not work. The scent of the ground is much stonger than the scent of a deer track but they can still smell the deer. Why doesn't the strong smell of dirt not over power the scent of the deer track? Because you can't cover it up.

I also posted the dog facts to show #1 Predator he didn't know as much as he thought and that my facts are straight.

ORIGINAL: Kybuckhunter

Predator...Some people will not believe anything you tell them or show them. They have their minds made up no matter what facts they are shown. I never said you were hunting dogs...I just told you how good they could smell and that you can't cover your scent. I believe that deer can smell nearly aswell as a dog. I used to use all kinds of cover scent years ago too. You name it I tried it. I say it doesn't work and you say it does. It would seem to me you are pretty young and you need to try these things for yourself. You will learn what works and doesn't as you get more experienced. All I can say is good luck and have a good year.