9 Scent Control Tips for Deer Hunting

​Scent Control for Deer Hunting

Take a complete shower with some sort of scent neutralizing soap and shampoo. Always take care of your hunting clothes and all the other items you wear by washing them in a scent-free laundry detergent. Then let the clothes dry outside and not in the dryer. then place the clothes into a scent-free bag or sealed box totes. You can add some leaves, branches, etc. to give them a natural smell. Whenever you go to your hunting location, apply odor eliminators on your clothes, boots, body, and gloves, and let them dry. But don’t forget about your camera, gun, bow and others gear. Be sure to spray those items too so that deer do not detect the smell of plastic, human or other foreign odors.

The bigger and older the deer, the harder it is to fool them. They don’t get big and old by being stupid! But a crazy fact in my experience is, the older they are, the easier they are to pattern.  So they become fairly easy to kill if you can cover up and remove your human scent and pressure.

Is Eliminating Your Scent Useful?
Jeff Murray is a well-known author of a book called “The Moon Guide” and is an expert when it comes to whitetail deer hunting and has provided several useful deer hunting tips. He says that wearing carbon-lined clothing such as Scent-Lok has increased his personal success rate of catching mature whitetail bucks
Does scent blocker really work: What is a hunter’s Opinion?
Does scent blocker really work?
A hunters’ opinion for this matter varies. There are some who swear it works, but there are some who said it has no effect at all. Why do the hunters differ in their opinion? The answer is quite simple.
On one hand hunters who have experienced great success when they have used scent-eliminating products thoroughly believe in them. On the other hand, those hunters who haven’t yet experienced or used them do not.
Why is it that scent-eliminating products will work for some deer hunters and not others?
Hunters who believe in and use scent elimination take deer hunting seriously, and they know there are several steps a hunter must do and go through in order to be completely scent-free. If you miss just one step these will not work for you.

9  Deer Hunting Scent Control Tips – That Actually Work

Tip 1: Hunt the wind – The Untapped Gold Mine Of SCENT CONTROL That Many Have Seemed To Have Forgotten.
Here is the #1 secret scent control tip, and it’s FREE……. hunt the wind! During the off season, You need a bag that you get after you buy a comforter set. You must then place the all your hunting clothes into the bag, poke holes in it, place it in a big tote and fill it with dirt. The dirt will release all the air in the bag and the holes will help the NATURAL earth scent to seep into the cloths.
But the downside of this trick is that if you hunt in the mountains, this trick may not work properly because the wind blows in 360 degrees every 5 mins.

Tip 2: # 1 Form Of Scent Control For Deer – ( If You Can Master This Technique, You Can Hunt Deer Anywhere )
You can do a lot more things for scent control that don’t take a lot of time to do. And if you spend an hour on scent control every time you go into the woods there’s a lot more you need to be worried about. Simply remember, the number one form of scent control is simply your stand location. Where your stand location is set or where you’ve planned it to set is the number one form of scent control. If you have your stand located properly you should be in the driver's seat. If your stand location is set correctly for archery hunting you can take your scent right out of the picture and should be able to fool a deer’s nose easily. That’s the basic foundation of all scent control…making sure that your stand is positioned well first.
A good reminder for all – Your access to any stand location must be planned out well in advance also so that the deer you plan on hunting never have a chance to know you are in their domain.


Tip 3. Scent Eliminator Sprays – The Truth About Scent eliminator sprays
Dress outside the truck when you arrive to your hunting location. Use a scent elimination spray. Even though I believe that it works and I have seen many proofs, scent elimination spray can’t eliminate human scent completely. It just covers up human scent a little bit. Scent control is all about adding up small percentages. A Scent elimination spray might give you some extra advantage.

Tip 4: Activated Carbon Lined Suite – Have You Heard? 
Many claim wearing a carbon-lined suit like Scentlok will make you scent-free. Also some controversies arise whether carbon suits really work. When you are not using your carbon-lined clothing keep it in a separate pack. This will keeps foreign odors from other clothing transferring to your deer hunting clothes.
To make it effective, you must activate it by placing it into the dryer for at least 20 minutes. Once your carbon suit has dried it will be activated and you must then place the suit into a scent-free bag and leave it in there until you arrive at your hunting location. Do not place your activated suit on the back of your truck or hang in your closet because this will attract odors.
Make sure that your suit is scent-free so that it can perform well. There are scent-free bags so that you can make sure your suit remains scent-free.

Tip 5: Being Scent Free is Easy!
Here are some more deer hunting tips before you leave your home and head to the woods. Make sure to take a shower or bath to make sure you have gotten rid of as much human scent as you possibly can. The smaller amount of human scent your body has, the better off you will be. When you are wearing your carbon suit, it’s extremely important to remember to wear your gloves, hood, and hats. Human hair and breath give off a large amount of odor. To make the carbon suit effective you must wear the entire suit, not just parts of it.

Tip 6: The Lazy Way To Make Your Boots Scent Free
Along with the gloves and hood, you also need to remember to ensure your feet are also scent free. The nose of the whitetail deer detects the human scent that has been left behind by your hunting boots days after you have left the woods. To ensure your boots are also scent free, you should keep your hunting boots in a scent-free container anytime you do not have them on.
During some point of your deer hunting trip, you’ll most likely have to walk a great distance to get to your deer hunting stand or blind. It is pretty likely that several deer will be walking over and around the exact same trail, you walked on. Rubber boots are the best for warm weather simply because the rubber boots will not hold on to foreign odors. On the boots you use for cold weather use a scent free soap in order to wash them. Always use you cover scent spray all over the entire boot and this also includes the soles.
You can also spray scent eliminating spray to your boots and be sure to wear an odor eliminating socks before going into the woods

Tip 7: Use some sort of neutralizer spray -Advantage against a deer’s sensitive nose.
There are varieties of different odor eliminators that also include dirt covering scent. This spray helps to eliminate the odor from your boots and will make them smell just like dirt. Make sure to spray down all of your equipment that you will be bring into the deer woods with you like your bow and any other gear. They may have odd odors on them that could possibly spook a deer. 
Your tree stands along with any other equipment also needs to be scent free. They usually pick up human scent from people being on them. Use some sort of neutralizer spray and/or covering scent spray on every piece of your accessories that you carry in. If any of your equipment is washable then you should wash it and store it along with your clothing.

Tip 8: Beware: Before You Go Hunting
Before you leave for your deer hunting trip you should shower and use scent free shampoos and soaps. You should not use any kind of soap or shampoos that contain a scent. You can also purchase deodorant that is scent free or possibly not use any deodorant at all before you go on your hunt. Remember, do not use colognes, perfumes, or any scented deodorants.

Tip 9: How to Cover Human Scent on Your Breath when Hunting
A great deal of human scent comes from the mouth when breathing and your head. Wearing a carbon-lined hood is of great help.
Chlorophyll tablets are yet another way that can help you eliminate your human body odor. It has been prescribed by doctors to cure extreme bad breath and body odor. Taking chlorophyll pills to help get rid of your human scent by starting with the metabolic level.
 Chewing gum that contains chlorophyll helps eliminate breath odor too.

Conclusion:There are many ways to eliminate your human odor. But regardless of what method you choose, just be sure you have done that before going into the woods.
Anything you can do to help get rid of your human scent helps. The nose of the whitetail deer is similar to a smoke detector. Just as with the smoke detector and smoke, it only takes a small amount of human scent to set the detector or the nose in this case off.
The steps needed to be able to eliminate all of your human scents before you climb into your stand can seem like a great deal of work and time in preparation for your hunt. But think about the extra time as a well-warranted event once you have harvested a large buck. Not to mention that by following these deer hunting tips it can be very easy.
Covering all human scent your body is carrying can be a hard task, but the harder you work to make yourself scentless, the more likely you will get a good, quality deer.

Verdict: Can You Eliminate Your Scent? Regardless of all these scent control deer hunting tips, trying to actually trick a deer’s nose can be a difficult task. And essentially it's impossible. The key is to take some time and effort in scent control and you might actually get that few extra seconds you need to pull the trigger on your trophy buck.