halfbakedi420

Would like to start off with explaining to everyone that human scent starts....where else? with the human. humans shed skin cells at a very rapid rate, even though you cant see them. they are lighter than dry baby powder and invisible to the naked eye.
So imagine yourself covered in baby powder and walking on a black carpet. same thing with scent. Now think of ways you cant put on items to keep the powder totally in. Now ya got all these items on, now imagine if someone was to come up and start patting on you, would there be a puff of baby powder comin out? i would think so. can we keep all the scent in? probably not, but we can try.

wash your clothes you will be wearing and a towel in scent free detergents, sure you can find some here at HNI...put your clothes in a scent free bag, read the directions on your bag and take care of properly. I put a lil bit of stuff from where i hunt in my bag, i.g dirt, leaves and pine needles. and yes i just washed the clothes but o well

ya dont wanna do the following and then go get in your truck!!!!!! i am allowing no travel time here...sorry....no way you will stay scent free..and unless your truck came from Texas Instruments and is clean room ready,( and i will still have my doubts)..the dirty truck wont help as you are just putting yer own skin cells on the outside of yer gear..i am lucky at one of my grounds i have showers available, and am able to walk right into the field...but others i dont and have to take a frigged shower buck naked in the woods and it sux..i aint gonna lie.

take a friggen shower...use something that will loosen all the skin cells possible while you shower. an umfa thingy ..wash rag . ex foliation is the key here...but dont just use your hands and the soap.

this is not the time to smoke cigeretts and eat breakfast, walk the dog...
this is the time to get as far away from everyone as you can, try and be upwind of your livin area, downwind of natural wildlife. make sure you have all your gear and its scent free. You dont need a buddy with ya, you dont want him contaminating you, this means grandma too.
open the bag, get your gloves on and spray them, put on your hood, then your top tucking in the hood, you dont want the hood ever comin over your top, it will be shedding skin cells on the outside of your gear and this is what we are tryin to prevent. i use a 1 piece, but if you have a 2 piece, its time to put on the bottoms tucking the top into the bottoms, same way, ya dont want skin cells falling on the outside of your gear. you guessed it boots...i know it sux, but ya need to tuck your pants into your boots...otherwise you are sprinkling skin cells out the bottom of your pants, and you just cant tie it off imo..waterproof/snakebite and/or rubber boots help keep the scent in better imo.

this is the time to spray down..if its real windy its hard to get your back i know, but ya have too, and with out your smelly buddy who just dropped a bomb and ate breakfast with his morning cigarette ...do it your self..unless of course your buddy is this gung ho about it too, and he probably dont want your stinking butt near him right now lol
spray head to toe and the bottom of the boots as well and plan on sittin fer a few minutes to let it dry. (bottom of the boots)

spray your bow, arrows, quiver, pack ( i dont carry one they are scent bombs unless you are really careful), .hopefully you keep your gear scent free, there are skin particles all over this stuff from practice the day before or whatever..what about the stuff in the bag, is there gonna be this big baby powder smoke bomb goin off when you open it up in the field.i spray my bow the night before and
leave my bow in a tree upwind from us and downwind of nature, its saturated from the dew sometimes . i also use scent free oil if ya can believe that. its real cheap, once again HNI can probably help ya with that.

remember keep that hood on tight and try not to bend over and look down because your downfall now is the opening for the eyes, ears and mouth, which you guessed it, smoke bombs of scent falling to the ground.

remember to take it off in reverse, spray your gloves before you start, always rewash your gloves when ever possible.

i have ruined a couple calls washing them, but have found a few that make it. what ever your taking out needs to be scent free and treated just like the clothes....if your gonna use a washer and dryer, then do a few loads of regular laundry with scent free detergent before your "real load"...empty that dryer vent every time. i do mine in the same scent free cooler fer years and dry them in the woods.i also use the creek water where i hunt, and they dry there too. right into my scent free "dirty bag"... you don't wanna be shedding skin cells on your clothes right outta the dryer or off the tree, so use your gloves, put the bag close to the dryer and fill it up dont be leaning over the clothes droppin skin cells in/on the clothes and bag, close it , and then hand wash your gloves then turn wrong side out to dry . then i put it in the bag. with them wrong side out, you dont get scent on the outside of the glove when you start gearing up.

i know guys who dont do none of this, and play the wind....but when ya wanna get 20 feet from a deer and the wind is wirling, its your best chance to do what ya can to control your scent.

suffolkbowhunter

Great post , Thanks

Howler

Seems like to me that you should put your pants over the OUTSIDE of your boots, and then tie them off. Otherwise, foot odor can come right up between your pants and your boots.

dliz

Great article, thats taking scent control to a new level. It should be called scent obsession.

halfbakedi420

on the contrary, odor is human skin cells, , as gravity is forcing the skin cells down from your hood into your shirt fallin down to your pants and right out the bottom of your pants onto the ground. which leaves a very distinguishing path of scent. the boots catch this scent and keep it aboard your scent ship. if you tie it off , it aint as good imo..just imagine fillin your pants with rice and tie it off and walk around.....i am gonna bet some will fall out.. human scent cells are falling off you at a rate of 30k -40k EVERY MINUTE!!!!..( thats 30,000-40,000) and human skin cells are way smaller than rice. hopefully someone knows the math on rice grain vs human skin cell?


as for your foot smell... i recommend Benzalkonium Chloride...
they come in a "hand wipe" usually at the doctors office or even spring creek bar-b-que with the rib plates..
if you are buying it get the purple ones, not the blue....
also works on ring worm(jock itch) ..there is no burning sensation as with blue star ointment and others.
.buy 2-3 boxes at a time, if ya had it for a few years maybe 5 boxes, use at will when ever you can..stops the itch almost immediately....take a real hot shower to get the fungus good and opened up(expanded) so when ya hit it with the wipe it kills more.

peakrut

Don't sit or lean against your tailgate while you change cloths. Once you have the cloths on don't sit on the tailgate. If your like me you know how much crap comes
across that from the years. Also don't warm your vehicle up then go out and put stuff in the back of the truck while exhaust fumes get all over you. I see this happen
so much at our deer camp and public hunting areas.

fshafly2

This is the core of my "obsession" on scent control.

For you skeptics, just check out some of the websites that discuss how bloodhounds and tracking dogs detect and follow humans (e.g. http://www.napwda.com/tips/index.phtml?id=24). It's not a leap of faith to figure out that deer are doing the same thing, since dogs and deer share a common evolutionary ancestor. Skin cell shedding is just one of the reasons carbon suits are a waste of money, imho.

Just to expand a bit, you shed your skin every 28 days - which means you are shedding ~1000 skin cells a second. When I shower just before hunting, I "exfoliate" my skin - I try to remove those cells that would normally be shed over the next several hours. You can find exfoliation brushes and washcloths in the women's skin care section of the local drug store. I wash/scrub with a "hunter's soap", and follow with another wash using baking soda as a mild abrasive. Just don't over do it!

You can't stop skin shedding any more than you can stop being human. You still need to play the wind. But you may have an advantage over your fellow hunters who don't know or don't want to bother...

-fsh

NY Bowhunter

I'm working on the construction of my vacuumed sealed scent free tunnel from my shower to my hunting land.

MOhunter46

You talk about gloves being so important, what if i dont like to wear gloves when im on stand, is that a big deal?

halfbakedi420

once again..its just my opinion, but to me yes gloves are a big deal, any part of your body without a cover is a big deal to me...its like a bowl for your skin cells, holds them in better than not havin on gloves jmo