I`m planning to build a couple of high seats for roe deer hunting. One of the main advantages is to avoid/minimize the problem that the animal will pick up your scent. How tall (approximatly) should it be to avoid this problem? Do you think 4-5 meters is enough..? How tall are your high seats?
Posts: 1959 | Location: Norway | Registered: 19 September 2002
most of the high seats I have made are approx 4m high and where possible I position them on as high ground as possible with considerations to the area etc.
quote:Originally posted by Anders: One of the main advantages is to avoid/minimize the problem that the animal will pick up your scent.
Don't expect too much advantage. The effect will be blown away when the distance is about 15-30m. Then "your" scent will have reached the earth again due to the whirls you always have. Only when the distance is very near, then they will walk under your seat and won't scent you.
The most advantage ist the better view. The mine are mostly 3,5m and only where the area is bad I have made some with 5,5m floor height.
Posts: 147 | Location: Germany | Registered: 16 June 2002
The main advantages are that your movements are less likely to be observed, with good design you should have a stable rest to shoot from and finaly it forces you to stay in one place and observe. Any half decent position and you see wildlife if not deer.
Summer evening, high seat, thermos, sandwich, binos and rifle - what better antidote to modern life!
Posts: 2258 | Location: Bristol, England | Registered: 24 April 2001
Anders, yoou should check Cabela's (huge American outdoors store) for their scent blocking clothing, both outerwear and underwear. It's made with a layer of activated charcoal that traps human scent.
quote:Originally posted by DUK: ... and that works? Or is it more like a mobile sauna?
Oh yes it works. I don't use it, but one of my friends is a very keen bow hunter and he swears by it. It is incredible how close game can come to you if you are a) still, b) well camouflaged (including face and hands), and c) wearing this odor-free stuff.
The clothing is a breathable fabric with a very thin layer of carbon in between. Some of it is made by Gore (the makers of Gore-Tex), so you know this stuff is of high quality.
Also, you can buy odor killing liquids to lightly spray on your clothes. The ones I've used are very effective. I tried it once on a sweaty polyester undershirt (polyester keeps the sweat odor very well). I sprayed the under arm area and let it sit overnight. The next morning, I could not detect any smell at all.
The huge popularity of bowhunting in America has advanced scent control fabrics and liquids and visual camouflage to a high degree. You guys in Europe should check into it. I know from talking to British wilfowlers on forums like this, that they are taking up American style clothing in camouflage Gore-Tex in a big way. Why? Becuase it works.
quote:Originally posted by DUK: ... and that works? Or is it more like a mobile sauna?
It may work but as anyone who has ever worn an NBC suit will tell you, 'mobile sauna' is a remarkably perceptive description.
I don't think there is the need for this in Europe. Hunting seasons are long and generaly pressure low. You bump a deer you should be able to relocate to another part of the wood and try again. If not put it down to experience and test the wind more next time.
Posts: 2258 | Location: Bristol, England | Registered: 24 April 2001
quote:Originally posted by DUK: ... and that works? Or is it more like a mobile sauna?
It may work but as anyone who has ever worn an NBC suit will tell you, 'mobile sauna' is a remarkably perceptive description.
I don't think there is the need for this in Europe. Hunting seasons are long and generaly pressure low. You bump a deer you should be able to relocate to another part of the wood and try again. If not put it down to experience and test the wind more next time.
It is obvious that you haven't seen any of the clothing I'm talking about. Or else you wouldn't be comparing it to military NBC suits.
Why is it that so many Euros turn up their noses at American techniques and equipment? Is it the not-invented-here syndrome?
Whatever.............
Posts: 2206 | Location: USA | Registered: 31 August 2002
quote:Originally posted by ksduckhunter: It is obvious that you haven't seen any of the clothing I'm talking about. Or else you wouldn't be comparing it to military NBC suits.
Why is it that so many Euros turn up their noses at American techniques and equipment? Is it the not-invented-here syndrome?
Whatever.............
KS - I'm not 'turning my nose up' I'm giving a reasoned opinion that it is unecessary for me and IMHO a lot of other European stalkers. Anything that costs money and is unecessary is not a good thing.
Many of us are the only people on our ground. We stalk nigh on all year round. This means that we are able to tailor our route according to the wind and that a winded deer is not the end of the world. Also because our deer are that much more used to human pressure once winded they tend not to go so far and indeed may move to a position that is better for us.
Given that scent-lok effectiveness is the subject of debate in the US it's hardly surprising I feel no need for it and say so.
As to the NBC suit - well it's a garment with a layer of charcoal in it, I've worn one and it was bloody hot forever after I'm very suspicious of charcoal layers!
I'm not anti US just anti gimmick and whilst scent lok may not be in some environments it sure as hell would be for me
Posts: 2258 | Location: Bristol, England | Registered: 24 April 2001
quote:Originally posted by ksduckhunter: It is obvious that you haven't seen any of the clothing I'm talking about. Or else you wouldn't be comparing it to military NBC suits.
Why is it that so many Euros turn up their noses at American techniques and equipment? Is it the not-invented-here syndrome?
Whatever.............
KS - I'm not 'turning my nose up' I'm giving a reasoned opinion that it is unecessary for me and IMHO a lot of other European stalkers. Anything that costs money and is unecessary is not a good thing.
Many of us are the only people on our ground. We stalk nigh on all year round. This means that we are able to tailor our route according to the wind and that a winded deer is not the end of the world. Also because our deer are that much more used to human pressure once winded they tend not to go so far and indeed may move to a position that is better for us.
Given that scent-lok effectiveness is the subject of debate in the US it's hardly surprising I feel no need for it and say so.
As to the NBC suit - well it's a garment with a layer of charcoal in it, I've worn one and it was bloody hot forever after I'm very suspicious of charcoal layers!
I'm not anti US just anti gimmick and whilst scent lok may not be in some environments it sure as hell would be for me
I understand your points about deer behavior in your hunting grounds vs. the typical American locale. You are right, our seasons are shorter, which exposes the animals to much more pressure over s shorter time. That situation requires different tactics.
However, Anders, who began this thread, was asking for a way to keep his scent away from the deer he is hunting. That is what he said he wanted to achieve by finding the right height for his high seat. I merely gave him another point of view, and introduced him to another scent management tool THAT WORKS. I didn't set out to make you buy a scent control suit.
Your comparison between military NBC suits and commercial scent blocking clothing is still not valid. They are designed for entirely different purposes, to entirely different specifications, one meant for a customer to whom comfort is far down the priority list, the other meant for a customer that places comfort far higher. Once again, if you have not worn, or even held in your hands the clothing I'm talking about, please do not look foolish by comenting on how well it works or doesn't work.
As to controversy in the US over the effectiveness of scent-block clothing, well, nothing new there. There's also argument over the new short magnums, and just about everything else hunters use. SERIOUS bow hunters I know do not go afield without it. That, to me, is a far more meaningful endorsement than the opinion of someone who hasn't used one, and lives in a country where such equipment is hardly used by anyone.
Posts: 2206 | Location: USA | Registered: 31 August 2002
