Are cover scents/scent elimination products advisable for Africa hunting? or is is extra weight one could do without.

never seen them used. just watch the wind and stay upwind of the PH

Save the scents for the plane ride. After the first 10 hours you may need to spray yourself, the person next to you or both.

what's the point? the trackers take very few baths, rarely wash their clothes, and smoke whenever they are not around clients. you may( although probably not) mask your own odor but the rest of the team actually tracking an animal will definitely not mask their's. total waste of time, effort and money.

quote:

Originally posted by bluefin:
Save the scents for the plane ride. After the first 10 hours you may need to spray yourself, the person next to you or both.

One observation on the effectiveness of cover scents leads me to strongly doubt their utility. A few years ago in the Yukon on a sheep hunt, I mentioned cover scents to my guide who had never heard of them. He laughed and related a story of a hunter he had guided on a grizzly hunt. They were observing a grizzly from a distance of about 200 yards with the wind in their face. The bear was feeding on an old rotting moose gut pile that was putrid and about two weeks old. Suddenly the wind shifted and they felt it on the back of their neck. Instantly the bear jerked his head up with rotting entrails hanging from his mouth, turned and ran like hell!

That bear was able to detect human odor from 200 yards away with a snoot full of one of the strongest "cover scents" I could imagine. I suspect that when an animal smells someone with cover scents he smells the stench of a human mixed in with the odor of fox urine, or dirt or whatever. I also read an article by Chuck Adams who has a lot of experience with scents. He also characterized the theory behind cover scents as "baloney". Adams did feel, however, that attractant scents did appear to work on occasion.

No scent is better than cover scent. African animals survive on their nose, wind direction is essential. I avoid any scented deodorant or soaps, cologne etc. My tracker hadn't had a bath since the wet season so I am not sure what good any cover scents would have. I bow hunt there and will so again in August and I can tell you if I thought they were of any help I would take them. Take candy for your tracker instead. wes

Cover scents/scent elimination products only work on fooling American whitetail hunters.

You might want to leave your scentlock suit at home also.

The trackers etc.. smell of BO, mopani smoke, and cigarettes, so it won't matter what you do to hide your smell.
You will learn to use the wind so well that you will realize how much BS cover scents really are.