Rubber boots... a necessity?
09-03-2008, 08:45 AM
#11
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Cenral Illinois
Posts: 3,180
RE: Rubber boots... a necessity?
ORIGINAL: GMMAT
If it weren't for the scent "control" (not elimination
) properties of my rubber boots.....I wouldn't wear them.
That being said.....I wear them, religiously....whether scouting, checking cams, hunting, etc...
I can smell my old baseball glove from a few feet away. I can't smell my rubber boots from that distance. I'm sure a whitetail's olfactory senses are a lot keener than mine.
"Part" of a regimen. Just a part.
If it weren't for the scent "control" (not elimination
) properties of my rubber boots.....I wouldn't wear them. That being said.....I wear them, religiously....whether scouting, checking cams, hunting, etc...
I can smell my old baseball glove from a few feet away. I can't smell my rubber boots from that distance. I'm sure a whitetail's olfactory senses are a lot keener than mine.
"Part" of a regimen. Just a part.
09-03-2008, 08:48 AM
#12
Dominant Buck
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location:
Posts: 21,043
RE: Rubber boots... a necessity?
Even though I wear rubber boots.....true story....
In my second year deer hunting....I had seen 4 does working along a tree line every morning. So....I get the idea I'm gonna set up in the edge and whack one of them. Good plan.
So I make a big circle as to not cross the path I knew they'd be coming from. I even walked through the creek as I got about 50yds straight across from whereI was gonna set up. The grass was covered in dew....and I played it perfectly....in my head.
Just before shooting light.....but light enough to see......here they come. They're early. When the lead doe get to my crossing point (across the dew covered grass....and this side of the creek).....she stops. All the others stop. Had there been light to shoot....she'd be a goner. It was still too dark. She puts her nose to the ground and follows my exact path to the base of my tree and looks all around. The others stayed where they were. After about a minute.....she saunters off....and they walk away.
She smelled SOMETHING. I had on rubber boots and had sprayed down, good. Would it have been "worse" if I was wearing leather boots? Who knows?
They ARE amazing, though.
In my second year deer hunting....I had seen 4 does working along a tree line every morning. So....I get the idea I'm gonna set up in the edge and whack one of them. Good plan.
So I make a big circle as to not cross the path I knew they'd be coming from. I even walked through the creek as I got about 50yds straight across from whereI was gonna set up. The grass was covered in dew....and I played it perfectly....in my head.
Just before shooting light.....but light enough to see......here they come. They're early. When the lead doe get to my crossing point (across the dew covered grass....and this side of the creek).....she stops. All the others stop. Had there been light to shoot....she'd be a goner. It was still too dark. She puts her nose to the ground and follows my exact path to the base of my tree and looks all around. The others stayed where they were. After about a minute.....she saunters off....and they walk away.
She smelled SOMETHING. I had on rubber boots and had sprayed down, good. Would it have been "worse" if I was wearing leather boots? Who knows?
They ARE amazing, though.
09-03-2008, 08:54 AM
#13
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Virginia
Posts: 3,882
RE: Rubber boots... a necessity?
Thats a wild story Jeff...
I really like the characteristics of a rubber boot, and hope to get some soon, I practice scent control, but Im not a billfold in a ziplock baggy guy either. But if they really play a big "part" in the Regiment... IM game.
I really like the characteristics of a rubber boot, and hope to get some soon, I practice scent control, but Im not a billfold in a ziplock baggy guy either. But if they really play a big "part" in the Regiment... IM game.
09-03-2008, 09:01 AM
#14
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Northern Idaho's Panhandle
Posts: 4,436
RE: Rubber boots... a necessity?
They can smell the rubber boots, forsure imo, its all a matter whether they start associating that odor with danger.. I had a cow elk and a young bull cross my path into my stand on Sat evening. They both stopped and sniffed the ground were I had walked about 65 yards from my stand. I got to sit and watch their behavior. They sniffed a bit and looked around at my path, walked around sniffed the air and then chilled out and went back to feeding right there.. I was really clean, wearing scent lok and rubber boots. I was glad there wasnt enough alarming odor to spook them off which is always the response I am trying to achieve with odor. I know they always get a hint of odor but they do react differently to varying concentrations of human odor. Just as they do with predators that hunt them.
09-03-2008, 09:08 AM
#16
Dominant Buck
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Central Florida
Posts: 25,116
RE: Rubber boots... a necessity?
When the lead doe get to my crossing point (across the dew covered grass....and this side of the creek).....she stops. All the others stop. Had there been light to shoot....she'd be a goner. It was still too dark. She puts her nose to the ground and follows my exact path to the base of my tree and looks all around. The others stayed where they were. After about a minute.....she saunters off....and they walk away.
GMMAT
I had the exact samething happen,,but with hogs..They had their noses up my tree when it was dark...and when daylight came..they were all gone... c7
GMMAT
I had the exact samething happen,,but with hogs..They had their noses up my tree when it was dark...and when daylight came..they were all gone... c7
09-03-2008, 09:13 AM
#17
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Posts: 7,208
RE: Rubber boots... a necessity?
I’ve always been a 100% rubber boot guy. BUT this season I may experiment. I’ve had deer cross my tracks many times in turkey season or at other times of the year with regular boots on and not spook. I have also had WAY more deer(and foxes) cross my trail and not spook while wearing rubber boots during bow season. On the flip side, I know rubber boots CAN hold scent too. Regardless of the footwear worn, care should be exercised in what the boot is exposed to and scent elimination precautions should be used just as with regular clothes.
09-03-2008, 09:27 AM
#18
Dominant Buck
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location:
Posts: 21,043
RE: Rubber boots... a necessity?
Hey Shed.....I'd like your (and anyone else) take on this...
I'm not so sure the deer are smelling the actual rubber (or any footwear material). From what I've read about their sense of smell.....they can detect where we've walked....simply by detecting things that have broken that we step on. A fresh twig snaps....a leaf is broken....etc...
If this is true....NOTHING will stop them from detecting our paths sometimes....short of us transporting to stand.
Beam me over, Scotty.
I'm not so sure the deer are smelling the actual rubber (or any footwear material). From what I've read about their sense of smell.....they can detect where we've walked....simply by detecting things that have broken that we step on. A fresh twig snaps....a leaf is broken....etc...
If this is true....NOTHING will stop them from detecting our paths sometimes....short of us transporting to stand.
Beam me over, Scotty.
09-03-2008, 09:38 AM
#19
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Inverness, MS
Posts: 3,982
RE: Rubber boots... a necessity?
I've had many bucks turn inside out when cutting my trail that was layed with rubber boots... I still wear them b/c I believe they do help some, but every mature book that has cut my trail knew it immediately and vacated the area. And yes Jeff, they are amazing creatures!
09-03-2008, 09:40 AM
#20
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 5,425
RE: Rubber boots... a necessity?
It's not just the boots, but your pants legs brushing against brush as you walk in...The only way to know that they won't smell where you walk in is to take a path that they aren't using...I used rubber boots for about 30 years, finally had to quit using them, turned my ankle too many times...I spray them down with scent killer every time I go into the woods and also rub them into the leaves anddirt to help scrub the bottoms, hoping to rub off any odors that I might have picked up and replace with natural odors from the area...