BS

[Fishbonker]

I was about 100 yards from the house this afternoon looking for 'shrooms when I sniffed the air and got a whiff of Bounce Fabric Softener Outdoor Fresh dryer sheet. There was laundry in the dryer and I was down wind of the house. Now if I can smell it at 100 yards how far away can a deer smell it? I was in a bedding area that has very high traffic. So here is my strategy for this year. Dry all of my hutning clothes in with the regular clothes, then when its time to go out I'll put laundry in the dryer so the scent on the wind matches the scent on my clothes, the deer will be used to the smell, man I'm home free. Hey, wait a minute. Do you suppose my wife is behind this? She knew I was gonna go 'shroom hunting this afternoon. She probably did laundry so I'd smell it and want to wash all of my hunting stuff in with the regular stuff then put a load in before I go out this fall...SHE IS TRYING TO GET ME TO DO THE LAUNDRY!!!!! Man am I on to her.

Seriously, the old fishing motto is "Match the hatch" so if the deer are used to the smell of dryer sheets will they not be so spooky if I wear regulary washed and dryed stuff on stand?

Thunder storm, gotta hit the post button befoe I lose power. No time to correct spelling etc.

The 'Bonker

 

[Liv4Rut]

that would be very interesting to see if it worked or not. the only thing i wonder is if deer can distinguish stronger scents than others, like the air from your house would be well dissipated and would have less smell than your clothes would considerably closer to them. I just wonder if they are like a bird dog that can distinguish between hot scent and scent that has been around awhile, or a coon hound on a hot trail. i also thought kind of the same thing too where i hunt, i hunt in city limits and the deer there are constantly surrounded by people and smell them all the time with seemingly little worries about them. so i thought why would the be scared of a human hunting then, because they wouldnt be able to distinguish anything. but once in awhile i get winded but it is usually by an old doe more than a buck it seems like. another thing is i when i wash my clothes i wash them normal and never worry about scent control or whatever and niether does my dad and compared to people that we know that our scent conscious about everything, there is no difference in the deer that we see or the chances we get, and even they get smelled too. you just got to remember the cardinal rule i think, play the wind, we always set up all our stands for different winds and hunt them when the wind is right, so i think that is the main key to getting smelled or not. but if you try it let us know how it turns out. and goodluck fooling those old bucks and does.

 

[BW]

I don't think too much of what I can smell in relationship to deer and other animals. It is what "they" can smell that matters. And a human being stuffed inside a bag that has an odor or no odor that I can smell is still a human being to the game. Wind direction is my only concern. All things being equal, I think they know who we are and how far we are regardless of our tactics if they are downwind. I have plenty of deer move downwind of me with no cover scents when conditions are just right. I also observe some spook, and I'm sure there are some I never see.

I'm not saying anything beyond watching wind direction does not work, because we all know confidence in something has a way of setting our attitudes. As lots of years of being in the woods has me confident in the feeling that I can get by without doing much and still have top quality hunting.

If it feels good, give it a try.

 

[moosehunter]

I'm with LIV4RUT and BW. Play the wind. People are in the woods all times of the year hunting or looking for whatever and the deer are used to smelling us, so some of are activity in the woods may not be as bad as some think. I used to use cover scents but was busted more times than not using them. I will go out of my way though to walk through a cow pie. I think anything that comes out of a bottle will alert deer will alert deer. I'll take my chances with out that stuff and hope I place my stands in the right spot.