I don't remember seeing a topic regarding this subject and also didn't find anything under a search. Seeing the Avon post reminded me about the subject.

I can atest that my PH and tracker both spent considerable time making sure we stalked and/or approached game appropriately with the wind in our face (and of course it frequently swirled on us) but I do not believe they were as conscience about cover scents or non-odiferous personal hygience as a white tail hunter may be in the US.

One particular morning the tracker arrived and the smell of beer was readily apparent. My hunt was entirely successful and no complaints. But how much can the dyes, perfumes, and not paying attention to hygiene really affect your african hunt?

Your opinions please, and thanks.

Fred

Looking for opinions?

Fred,
I would guess it would be a personal thing meaning how much of the stench can you tolerate. I don't think the animals care one way or the other! Bryan

I don't think it is a big deal. I hunted with one PH that smoked cigarettes while we tracked.

Regards,

Terry

I got a laugh out of this, only because on my hunt in RSA in 2004, one of the trackers had horrible BO. It was so bad that when he and the other tracker were in the back of the truck, going down the highway with the cab slider window open at 70 MPH, the PH without any thing said, reached over and closed the slider. From then on, in my mind only, his name was "Stinky". I too had a very succesful hunt despite the heavy odor.

if you've got the wind in your favor it doesnt matter what you smell like and if you dont, the party's over..... it doesnt matter how well you've tried to cover your scent. that whole scent elimination thing is the biggest crock to come along in a while...imho

You cannot hide your scent from animals with cover scent or lotion, or anything yet invented by man. Carbon suits or carbon lined clothing is also the biggest joke in the hunting industry. It has zero redeeming quality for scent control and is probably one of the biggest scams in the history of consumer hunting products.

Here are a couple instances I was directly involved with to show why I so strongly feel this way.

First I ran a very successful bear hunting camp using baited stands for many years. I was also the wildlife manager of the tree farm I was using for this side business. My primary attractant was skinned beaver carcasses I was able to get from the trapper working on this same tree farm. Beaver has a strong smell that bears cannot resist.

I probably had 75 of these skinned carcasses at the beginning of each season. About 1/2 way through the season I would clear out the freezer as I was no longer in need of that many. On one particular bait I had maybe 25 of these bodies stacked in a pile. The smell was so bad after a week in July sunshine and heat that even a human beings pathetic olfactory system could smell this with the wind right for a 1/2 mile. It was so bad that you could hear the bugs and maggots squishing around in that pile from 20 yards. My then 10 year old daughter said to me once If she should ever fall into that pile...."please just shoot me".

On this particular bait I could see a dozen bears from small bears to 400 pound bears every evening. The smell was hidious but the bears were thick. One afternoon when I was dropped off to sit in the tree stand and video bears I brought in some of the heart stopping fried food leftovers from the local "gas and go" I used a shovel to lift up a greay slimey carcass and pour into the space the goodies I had with me. Some donuts, fried food and other crap from the grocery store and bakery.

I climbed into my stand and sat tight waiting for the bears to come. About 1/2 hour later a small bear shows up and sneaks in very cautious. He walks a circle around that pile and locates the smell of the good stuff I added. He starts to dig away the rotting meat and pulls out some big french fries and a burrito. His nose was poked into that slimey mess and he was able to locate this food! If that were not impressive enough about 5 minutes into his feast he stands up abruptly and stares off into the trees. Then down to all fours and bolting away like his tail is on fire.

Several moments later in walks a much bigger bear. Now you tell me how much cover scent would be needed to out do this pile of rotting goo? Nothing you can apply to your clothing would exceed the power of this mess to try and hide human scent from an animal.

This bear walks in tha starts right into the burried donuts by the way. He found them as if it were flashing neon lights!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Event #2
Hunting as a kid with my bird dog. I shoot a Pheasant and the dog runs to fetch it. He runs back to me and about 30 yards out he goes on point with a bird in his mouth. This pheasant is in his mouth with his nose burried into the wings and he is on point looking at another pheasant. How does he smell a different one 20 feet away when he has one in his mouth? How does an animal function this way. How can he tell the scent difference from the one he has to the one he smells in the bush?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxx

Event #3
I own hounds at the time for my bear hunting business. I was invited to a show for the local police Dept at Sea Tac Airport. They are having a kind of field trial for drug dogs.

The situation is this. They have a 50 foot conveyor set up with about 12-15 pieces of luggage in a pile at one end. The oficer in charge takes out a ziplock bag and places it in can of coffee with a snap plastic lid. Then into a random suitcase with misc. clothing and shoes in it. One dog is brought out and he starts send the baggage down the conveyor. The dogs is running up and over the bags like a treadmill. The all at once he lets out a kindof squeel and starts digging at the bag that has the coffee can and drugs inside. They did this same test with about 15 dogs. Maybe 2/3 of them nailed the dope. One of the spectators said they were trained on the bag or the scnt from the dope was on his hands and then on the outside of the bag.

The officer invites the person to choose any bag they want, which she does and she puts the can in a small makeup bag size case with her hands. They bring out the first two dogs and both nail that case instantly. This was with a small few tablespoons of dope inside a ziplock and then burried inside a can of coffee. Think cover scnet works? I don't!

I had a few minutes to talk with one of the trainers and was so impressed with the way they did this I had lots of questions. The big one was how can a dog do this?

He had a very good analogy for me. He said if you have a pizza delivered to your home, and you arrive after it gets there with your family already eating you enter the home and instantly you smell pizza clear and absolute, no question about it.

Then he said when your dog enters the house he does not smell pizza, he smells yeast, sauce, peperoni, mushrooms, greenpeppers, the cardboard box it came in, the cigar smoke in that box from the guy who delivered it. Animals disect each scent for it's individual value not a whole package of scents the way we do. He gave some numbers of parts per billion or some such mathmatical explanation. The bottom line is that they can break down the whole package and detect each scent for its own value.

Cannot hide from that I don't care what you wear or spray on!

Fred:

A huge multimillion dollar industry flourishes in the US -selling all kinds of "deodorants", (including red fox piss) to prospective white tail deer hunters. What puzzles some of us older types (I'll be 76 this week) is that we had none of this stuff (nor camo clothing either - deer are color blind so why the camo?) and shot deer by studying wind directions and following a few common sense ideas - like, no smoking in the woods, don't use after shave lotion (in fact, don't shave at all) and being aware that deer themselves are perfectly aware that humans are around - so that every shift of wind doesn't necessarily spook them because they smell man. They have no concept of how far away that man is simply because they smell him - but movement or noise by a man at the wrong moment tells them. I don't know if your tracker smelling of beer was necessarily a danger signal (you did say you were successful anyway) but obviously it didn't spook your game. Many, if not most, US deer hunters who go home "skunked" do so for a variety of reasons having nothing to do with how they smell. Just my thoughts.

I have often wondered if BO is their cover sent.

That is, seriously, do we as "visiting sportsmen" smell different? In areas like the Luangwa Valley and Masailand where I have hunted, the game is exposed to human sents all the time.

There are a lot of black men in the African bush smelling of beer, tobacco and wood smoke. Maybe the tracker fitted in well.

I don't know what game animals smell when they scent me but when I was hunting waterbuck last month there was no question when we were downwind of them. Imagine what hunting would be like if you had the scenting ability of a bloodhound!

JJ, I'm with you on tis one. The animals nose is so far beyond ours, and the way that their brains are wired has so much to do with their reactions in the bush. I often tell new whitetail hunters to think of it like this: The deer absolutely believes his nose, trusts his ears, and will consider what his eyes tell him. That is the reverse order of how a man thinks, make your own conclusions.

JJ...amen...hunt into the wind..or at least across it

In some countries the animals are used to it. (The unique smell of the native population, good or bad)

There is a saying along the lines: " A pine needle falls from the tree. The eagle sees it, the deer hears it and the bear smells it". When I was hunting bear in Northern Sakatchewan over baits, my guide had prostate problems and would urinate frequently. Often, he would urinate right by the baits. I've watched the bear come in, pause at the spot, take a sniff and then calmly proceed to the bait. Many of these bears have never been in contact with humans. Things may be different in areas of human populations. My guess is, it depends on the animal.

quote:

Originally posted by JJHACK:
You cannot hide your scent from animals with cover scent or lotion, or anything yet invented by man. Carbon suits or carbon lined clothing is also the biggest joke in the hunting industry. It has zero redeeming quality for scent control and is probably one of the biggest scams in the history of consumer hunting products.

AMEN

It is legend that animals can tell the difference between the scent of whitey's and the natives. As long as you keep down wind, you could be on fire and it wouldn't matter.

I have always thought that camouflage clothing, face paint and scent sprays were pretty ridiculous.

I now believe that even noise is not much of a problem. I have stalked African game with parties of as many as ten people, including game scouts racking the bolts on their FALs, smoking cigarettes and blabbing in hoarse whispers for all they were worth.

I wasn't happy about that, but I soon discovered that as long as the wind was right we would have no problems.

I had shot a (much desired) Duiker with my 25-20 and it run off and we (My PH and I) couldn't find it. Then the tracker whistled at us pointing to the gound where it lay dead.

At that point in time I couldn't give a damn what the tracker smelled like.....

Just imagine what YOU smell like to your trackers...all that talking and laughing in the back of the cruiser is probably those guys discussing how you smell like a urinal cake!

And I just thought they were laughing about my hairstyle.

I would have to disagree with some here who say carbon suits and other preventatives are a "scam" and absolutely don't work. They are not very effective in Africa, due to the fact that if the hunter is the only one wearing one and paying attention to scent control, while the rest of the party is not, doesn't help much. As a bow hunter of 44 years with nearly 300 big game animals taken, I have proven time after time that carbon suits and other scent control measures DO WORK. True, if you hunt into the wind, and keep the animal up wind of you, no problem. But, if in a tree stand, you have no control of the direction of approach the animal chooses. Since using carbon clothing and paying attention to odor control I have had coyotes, deer, elk etc. pass by me at less than 10 feet directly downwind with no ill effect while hunting on the ground as well as from elevated positions. Most gun hunters, (I hunt that way also) don't have the need to close the distance to 40 or less yards so the scent control issue is not as big a factor. I do know that if you are in this close all the "gimmicks" as some have said is a major player, period. Unless you have done it, please don't take the attitude it's a scam. Like I said, "most" gun hunters don't need it, so I am sure it's easy to blow it off as non functional. Wrong!! Have a great day.

Larry

Larry

It may well help, but I also once had a whitetail buck walk completely around me in a circle at about ten yards then lay down in the leaves behind me. My brother who bow hunts way more than me believes in keeping scent down, doesn't buy carbon suits, but stores his hunting clothes year round in plastic bags with a wad of pine branches stuffed in side. He absolutely won't touch his dog while wearing his bow hunting clothes. That said, the wind is way the more important factor.

While he hasn't posted on this issue, a regular here is one of the most experienced bloodhound handlers in America. He once had a dog that made 68 "captures" by scent tracking through the swamps and briars of Southeast Georgia. I'm sure that's not a record, but that is one hell of a lot of bad guys he's caught. His current pair of dogs are still in service and he is on call 7/24.

Just for fun, we occasionally "test" the dogs. They could care less what kind of sent cover or magic cloth one wears. They just slobber around some and follow a track... and this can be several hours old and is just the track, not a human a few dozen yards away... which must smell like a burito fart in a V.W. to the dogs when they actually are downwind of their target.

The present crop of bloodhounds even caught a guy... or at least found him... stupid s.o.b. resisted and got shot dead.. anyway... the guy was actually breathing through reeds in a pond. The dogs can distinguish between billionths of parts of what they breathe...

Only one things bothers me about this debate. I once was involved in the design of some clothing that Gortex was involved with. Their QA was unbelievable in that they wanted nothing but the best production to insure maintaining their reputation... They now make scent proof stuff... Do they REALLY believe that it works.. My experience with them is that they wouldn't sell it if they thought it was bogus... but maybe money talks louder now.

J - I agree, at times it seems I have gotten away with the impossible and can't explain it. Other times have been busted when thinking all was well. Don't get me wrong, nothing is 100% effective and never will be, but it doesn't hurt to take all the precautions available to insure success. Carbon DOES take away a lot of game spooking scent. Whitetails are my bow hunting passion and are quite possibly the hardest to fool on a day in day out basis at extremely close range.

Judge - I would consider tracking dogs something of a different nature than the wild animal aspect. These dogs are trained to follow specific scents and are very efficient at what they do. Most wild animals are not focused in that narrow of a scent detection zone.

On the subject. I have also had some very foul smelling companions on African hunts as well. Part of the experience I guess??

Larry

quote:

Originally posted by jstevens:
Larry

It may well help, but I also once had a whitetail buck walk completely around me in a circle at about ten yards then lay down in the leaves behind me. My brother who bow hunts way more than me believes in keeping scent down, doesn't buy carbon suits, but stores his hunting clothes year round in plastic bags with a wad of pine branches stuffed in side. He absolutely won't touch his dog while wearing his bow hunting clothes. That said, the wind is way the more important factor.

quote:

Originally posted by Larry Sellers:
But, if in a tree stand ....

Larry

Not an expert in tree stand hunting but I think the fact you are sitting ten or twenty feet above ground might be more a factor than the 'special' clothing you are wearing.

Nitrox - Being elevated is definitely a plus for sure not only for scent dispersion but takes you out of the animals' normal line of sight and lets the hunter see farther as well. Scent actually settles pretty quickly unless it's really windy. I have used smoke, dandelion puffs and such to visually track wind currents from an elevated position to see this. My thoughts, try these things if you like, it works for me, may not be the ticket for everyone. Like I said before, if your effort isn't to get really close (under the 40 yard mark), don't know that it's a big deal?

Larry

quote:

Originally posted by NitroX:

quote:

Originally posted by Larry Sellers:
But, if in a tree stand ....

Larry

Not an expert in tree stand hunting but I think the fact you are sitting ten or twenty feet above ground might be more a factor than the 'special' clothing you are wearing.

quote:

Originally posted by JudgeG:
Only one things bothers me about this debate. I once was involved in the design of some clothing that Gortex was involved with. Their QA was unbelievable in that they wanted nothing but the best production to insure maintaining their reputation... They now make scent proof stuff... Do they REALLY believe that it works.. My experience with them is that they wouldn't sell it if they thought it was bogus... but maybe money talks louder now.

Judge,

I agree. Scent blocking clothing is one of the many scams of the hunting industry today, period. The great thing about the claims made by those that manufacture these products is that no one can dispute the claims (until you can get a deer, elk, coyote, or any other animal to testify in court).

From a pure scientific viewpoint, the odor-holding capacity of the thin layer of carbon included in this clothing is very minimal. At best, it reduces the "peak" of the odors your body gives off. In the past, we have measured the odor adsorbing capability of similar quantities of activated carbon in the laboratory. We did this by challenging the carbon with a range of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) while measuring the quantity of the VOCs that come out the "back-end" of the activated carbon with a gas chromatograph. The net result is that it takes tremendous quantities of carbon to achieve any reasonable amount of holding capacity for VOCs which are responsible for what we detect as "smells."

Douglast:

I imagine (informed speculation?) that animals smell both gaseous and particulate matter. Trail dogs are smelling stuff that flakes off of their target... skin cells, hair, mites, oils, etc. You can pretty well tell this when you watch a dog. The are often trailing on the downwind side of the trail about 10 to 20 feet, where the particulates would drift to the ground..

Then, there is the gas (in my case, mostly methane ) When a whitetail blows at you from a couple of hundred yards down wind, I'll bet he's smelling breath, sweat odors, etc.

Again, just speculation.

Related to this topic, did anyone here go through Jungle Survival School in the Phillipines during Viet Nam. The little pigmy Negritos could smell you hiding from 100 yards away. The Air Force paid them (with rice) to try to find us after we had a good hour's time to hide. About everytime they found us by smell no matter how well you were hidden.

Larry you have clearly been duped! Please take the time to read on and fully understand the science here. This is the real factual detailed information you have been wondering about!

The extreme commercialization of hunting has, in my opinion, resulted in instances where hunters have been duped. In fact, I can think of several products that are down right gimmicks and obviously seek to play upon consumer ignorance and slob hunters looking for success shortcuts.


The question has been raised: Can activated-carbon scent elimination clothing really give you an edge against the nose of this animal?
I was once asked, “What do you think is the biggest gimmick on the (outdoors equipment) market is today?†I will warn you up front that my response to the question, which follows, may be a bit painful. Furthermore, I will say that if you do find my response painful, it’s likely that you spent your hard earned wages on the product that I’m about to scrutinize.

Here goes: I believe the biggest gimmick on the outdoors equipment market today is activated-carbon scent elimination clothing that are being marketed under various brand names. You know the ones I’m talking about, so I won’t name names. I’m talking about all of them.

If you’re a bow hunter and believe in the effectiveness of these special garments, hopefully you aren't so angry that you stop reading this article. Because if you read this in its entirety, I promise that you will learn something.

There is a difference between ignorance and stupidity, and I would never dream of calling my fellow bow hunters stupid. It’s the ignorance (i.e. the lack of knowledge) factor that has led many quality and even professional bow hunters to be fooled by the claims made by the manufacturers of scent elimination clothing.

I plan to educate you, not point fingers or spit propaganda. Many of you have read articles by authors that claim their scent elimination clothing was pinnacle in helping them tag the biggest buck; without it, the hunt would not have been successful.

What’s new? That is a common marketing strategy used to push new equipment. Hunters, despite what gear they choose, are a traditional bunch. Many of us have gained knowledge on how to hunt our query and what equipment to use through word of mouth and testimonials of other perceived more knowledgeable hunters.

When Chuck Adam, for instance, talks or writes, I listen and pay attention. I’d be crazy if I didn’t. He is without question a knowledgeable bow hunter and we all stand to learn a lot from an experienced bow hunter like him.

The problem with these scent elimination garments is, unless you have a science background and to an even greater extent, have worked in the environmental protection / remediation profession, you simply cannot posses a clear understanding of how activated-carbon works.

Activated-carbon comes in several forms and is used in many applications as a filtering or cleansing media. activated-carbon can be manufactured from carbonaceous material, including coal (bituminous, subbituminous, and lignite), peat, wood, or nutshells (i.e., coconut shells or walnut shells).

The manufacturing process consists of two phases: carbonization and activation. The carbonization process includes drying and then heating to separate by-products, including tars and other hydrocarbons, from the raw material, as well as to drive off any gases generated. Heating the material at 400–600°C (752-1472°F) in an oxygen-deficient atmosphere that cannot support combustion completes the carbonization process.

activated-carbon comes in the form of a very fine powder, which is impregnated or weaved into the textile fibers of garments. It also comes in a granular form. Both forms are used in various applications including to purify both water and air. Some of the popular drinking water filters and mechanical air filters on the market use activated-carbon as a filter media.

activated-carbon is an extremely porous material with high ratios of surface area to unit weight. One pound of activated-carbon contains up to 100 acres of surface area!

activated-carbon has a particular affinity to organic materials such as volatile organic compounds or VOC’s. Human odor is composed of different gaseous molecules of VOC’s and other chemicals such as hydrogen sulfides, which are absorbed by activated-carbon.

Think of activated-carbon as a common sponge that you would use to wash dishes with. Take a sponge and place it in a cup of water. What happens? It soaks up the water. The sponge, like activated-carbon, has thousands of little pores and channels running through it. When activated-carbon soaks up human “stink†odors, it does so through a process called adsorption.

Stinky gasses (i.e. human odors) are adsorbed into the many micro pores on and within the activated-carbon and are retained there. Now, what happens when a sponge becomes saturated?
A sponge that is saturated with water cannot adsorb any more. Hold a saturated sponge full of water in your hand and you will observe water dripping from it. When activated-carbon in a water or air filter becomes saturated it is called breakthrough.

In short, when a water’s or air filter’s filter media (i.e. activated-carbon) becomes saturated with contaminants, the filter is rendered useless and the contaminants contained in the water or air stream pass through the filter. After a while, you will be drinking dirty water or breathing stinky air until the filter is replaced. Makes sense right?
Think of activated-carbon as a molecular sponge. As is the case with any sponge, activated-carbon can only hold or adsorb so much stinky stuff. Once activated-carbon becomes saturated with contaminants, it must be reactivated or replaced entirely.

What do you do with a sponge that is saturated with water? You squeeze it to release the adsorbed water so you can reuse it. Or, you simply get a new dry sponge. Like the sponge analogy, activated-carbon must be “squeezed out†so to speak, in order to reactivate it for reuse.

Now you know how activated-carbon works. Most of the information I just provided can be found on some of the more popular scent elimination garment manufacturers’ web sites.

So far you might be thinking to yourself “Wow, activated-carbon really worksâ€. Well, it does work, sort of.

activated-carbon is a fine filter media, but using activated-carbon as the key component in a scent elimination garment is not a practical application.

Unlike a common kitchen sponge, you can’t just leave it on the counter and let it dry out. In order to re-activate activated-carbon, it must undergo a process called Pyrolysis. To fully re-activate saturated activated-carbon, you must heat it to approximately 800 °C or 1,472 °F, in a controlled atmosphere of low oxygen concentration to reduce the possibility of combustion.

This is scientific fact and is even stated in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Engineering and Design, Adsorption Design Guide, Design Guide No. DG1110-1-2, if you’d like to check it out for yourself. This fact is not however mentioned on any of the popular scent elimination clothing manufacturers’ websites.

One of the most popular scent elimination clothing manufactures instructs consumers to simply place worn garments in a common household clothes dryer for 20 to 30 minutes to re-active the carbon in the garment. The average temperature generated by a clothes dryer does not even come close to being able to generate the extreme temperatures necessary to drive out contaminants absorbed in the many micropores and channels of activated-carbon. In fact, most residential clothes dryers only heat up to a temperature that is well under 200°F.

Those of you, whom use water filters or air filters in your homes, think about it. Why can’t you just boil your filters in hot water or throw them in the oven or microwave for a few minutes to re-activate the carbon filter media. You can’t; that’s why. You don’t own special multi million-dollar pyrolysis thermal regeneration equipment that produces enough heat to re-activate carbon. Therefore, you have to buy new filters every now and then.

Re-activating carbon for industrial uses is big business. Type in the words “activated-carbon†in your favorite Internet search engine and you will see what I’m talking about here. In order to fully reactivate the activated-carbon in one of the many scent elimination garments on the market, you might as well just throw the garment in your campfire, because the extreme heat necessary to re-activate the carbon would likely destroy the garment anyway.

Forgive my sarcasm, but I tend to get irritated when I see good folks getting duped. And as a class, I think bow hunters are a pretty good bunch. So as a product, I think all the activated-carbon scent elimination clothing products on the market are nothing more than gimmicks.

I do not believe, based on sound science, these garments are even effective the first time you use it. Think about it. Each garment would have to be manufactured and placed in a sealed, scent proof bag when shipped and remain sealed on the shelf at retail stores. This is not the case, however.

From the minute the clothing is manufactured, it begins to adsorb “stink†and continues to adsorb “stink†while awaiting an ignorant, misinformed consumer to purchase it. It is likely that the activated-carbon contained in the garment is already completely saturated with “stink†upon being purchased.

Many of the scent proof garment manufacturers somewhat acknowledge this, in an attempt to bring some legitimacy to their product. They recommend that you immediately wash and re-activate garments by placing them in a clothes dryer as soon as the product is purchased. Funny, they also happen to recommend their own brand of laundry detergent that is special made for these special garments.

As I explained above, washing and drying the garment is merely an exercise in futility. At best, the only way these garments could be manufactured and utilized effectively would be if they were designed for one time use. In other words, they would have to be disposable.

The military actually uses activated-carbon suits as a kind of chemical protection garment, but they’re a single-use, disposable garment and not intended for multiple washings.

Here is something else you should consider before purchasing one of these products: activated-carbon’s adsorption effectiveness when used in an air filter application becomes greatly reduced when it is wet. So what happens when you sweat during those humid early season bow hunts? That’s right, your clothing gets wet and becomes even less effective.

A leading manufacturer of activated-carbon garments admits that no laboratory testing has been conducted to determine the effectiveness of the clothing when it is wet from hunter’s perspiration.

So why the craze? Why are so many hunters rushing out to purchase these garments, when the science-based fact is that they don’t work?

As I mentioned earlier, consumer ignorance is one reason. I think another reason is that many hunters so badly want to believe that they can purchase something that will render them invisible to a whitetail’s or elk’s nose.

As I said earlier, many of you have read articles by authors that claim their scent elimination clothing was pinnacle in helping them tag the biggest buck; with out it, the hunt would not have been successful. I truly believe the fact that these hunters who wore these garments while achieving success, can be chalked up to being merely a coincidence. Many of the authors who wrote these type articles failed to mention they were wearing their lucky hat and that their lucky rabbits foot was in their pocket at the time.

All sarcasm aside, I think many successful hunters who wear these special garments fail to recognize that they have been consciously paying closer attention to personal hygiene techniques before every hunt.

You must understand that none of the success story articles that push these special garments are based on science studies. They are opinions; misinformed ones at that.

I’ve talked to a few technical representatives with some of the more popular scent elimination clothing manufacturers and none of them have performed controlled scientific studies to demonstrate the true effectiveness of these garments. However, they claim to have “field tested†the garments. Come on folks. How do you field-test these garments?

It is said that a deer can smell nearly 1,000 times better than humans. You cannot legitimately observe the effectiveness of these garments or read a whitetail’s mind. No one, to the best of my knowledge, has contracted a non-biased independent laboratory or university to demonstrate the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of this clothing.

It is my belief that the manufacturers of these specialty garments know what the results of such a study would show; therefore it would not behoove them to undertake such an exercise. So they just claim the garments are field tested by the product-pushing pros.

As stated earlier: This is just my opinion, but it’s one based on sound science, education and a realistic view of product marketing techniques.

Now you can form your own opinion. Good Hunting.

JudgeG I worked with the Negritos in 71 on Mindanao. They
told me it was what we ate. They ate no beef that I saw. Mostly
rice,plant greens, fish and a lizzard now and again. They
thought we smelled. 2 weeks on their diet and they did not seem to notice us as much.

Invader66:

Chasing H.U.C.'s... ???

Roger That

JJHACK,

Nice summary!

if one wishes to test the effectiveness of any or all of these scent elimination products on game, now is a perfect time here in most of the US. just put it on as directed go to your nearest green field in the morning or evening when the deer are feeding and get upwind of them.........you'll find out real quick how good it works.

A story relayed to me by an acquaintance in law enforcement, so I can't testify to the truthulness, but it sounded pretty reliable, and this guy is not into outdoor sports, so he doesn't have a bias one way or another. Apparently some drug trafficers had the bright idea that they could hide their contraband in some scent control clothing. Supposedly it took the dogs about 0.01 seconds to identify the baggage containing said contraband. I don't know if the clothing helps or not, but I remain sceptical. Hard to control scent unless you hold your breath...

My only real experience is w. Hill Country white tail in TX -- human voices in the pasture at night/early morning (taking hunters out/bringing them in) would clear out the entire place, driving a truck through the pasture didn't bother them. Human urine around a blind/feeder etc. had a similar result -- but you could shoot a deer, and two minutes later have another one feeding right by it.

The way we figured it, was as long as it wasn't new, or abnormal it was OK -- may be different for bow hunting since the animal is so close, it can find your position by scent, more than just a presence

JJ,

Thanks for the info. I'm just curious, what type of scent does the activated carbon and the associated material provide wild critters? Lastly, with all of the goodies in soap/detergent, what type bouquet does that provide animals? If it is not part of their environment, the smell probably sticks out like a sore thumb.

Eric

JJHACK thanks for one hell of an informative post!!

In my experience, the best and cheapest way to stay relatively "scent-free" is to wash your clothes in a non-scented soap, then put them in plastic drawstring trashbags and keep them away from smells like smoke, cooking (especially bacon), etc... Also, take a shower before every hunt with a non-scented soap like "hunters green" soap. Also, a non-scented anti-perspirant deodorant works well. Combine all these and you should be able to get within pissing distance of any Whitetail Deer. Just my 2 cents. By the way, I haven't been winded by a deer in over 3 years.