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WINKE SUIT TESTS

OVER 150

OVER 150

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Hello all interested .. I just wanted to let everyone know that I have purchased one of these suits. I am totaly anial about scent control so I decided I must try one out.. I did all my normal preperations . I just did not wear any scentloc clothing. the last two nights I hunted stands with a bad wind just to see what happened when I got a mature doe down wind . I had a total of 3 big does get down wind in the last two days and all 3 winded me at about 60 yards
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.. SO I am giving the suit a thumbs down .. I was hoping this suit was really going to be something but, I think I will stick to my old scent loc suit and play the wind in my favor.. has anyone else tried one of there suits ?? I dont know if man will ever be able to fool a deers nose
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on a good note I did get a nice buck on the first day of bow season but, I was not wearing the suit at the time .. good luck everyone
 
There are so many variables that can factor into a products scent control efficiency that make them hard to judge under field conditions. I am a easy target for most of these scent control gimmicks as I am also a tad anal about scent control. Even though your test was unfavorable could you please answer these questions. I have been wondering how confortable these suits are? Are they user friendly? Are they quiet? What temp. would this suit be comfortable to wear with a t shirt and pair of shorts or pants underneath. Thanks, CI
 
I don't think that suit is any better than the others, just the name is diferent. I'll stick to scent lok. New and improved?I don't know about that!
 
i have scent loc clothing but i have found out the higher up the better i try to get my stand up at least 30 feet plus you can seethrough the canopy better
 
Hello CI

I will answer any questions anyone might have about this suit ..

The suit is not all that quiet .. It is ok in that dept but, I like my clothing to be deadly quiet and it just seems a little on the loud side

It is pretty nice once you have it on .. getting it on is fairly easy but takes a little getting used to . I would say its user friendly .

As far as keeping you warm its not much different then a pair of heavy overalls you will need a lot of undergarments when it turns cold ..

I did kill a doe with it on tonight but she was getting nervious right before I got the shot .. I have only used it for 4 hunts now .. hope this helps ..

Marc
 
Well, I have been waiting to post on this issue. I have worn the Winke Suit on a Mule Deer hunt in CO and now for 3 weeks in Iowa.

Does it work? The answer is yes. Is it foolproof? No, nothing is in the world of the whitetail. There is no silver bullet. First thing is to keep the suit clean. I wash it regularly and store it in a Cabela's waterproof bag. I put it on when I'm in the field and transport it in the bag. I try to handle it as little as possible. I actually sprayed it down with the ghost scent eliminator and had good results this weekend. I was hunting an afternoon food source and 2 bucks were hitting it nightly. One was the buck that OLD BUCK shot Saturday and the other was a respectable 145 class 10 point with stickers. Larry's buck just fed in the field and the smaller buck was a cruiser. I saw both bucks three nights in a row. On the third night the smaller buck got downwind of me at 20 yards. He knew something was up but didn't spook, he actually walked toward my stand. I had him at 15 yards. Several doe got downwind of me and never paid any attention. Where Larry and I hunt there is no telling which way the deer are coming from. Saturday night I had 15 different deer, does, fawns and bucks surrounding me. No deer winded me.

So far I am pleased with the results. It is a little noisy to walk in, I wish the zipper on the front went down a little further and I wish it had a hood for the rainy days.
 
I've been testing the Winke suit this season also. So far I like it overall. I think it does a pretty good job of keeping scent inside. Just remember all the other possible sources...boots, back-pack, hat, shooting glove etc. I like the fact you can wash it as often as needed. I didn't like that part about the carbon suits. It is warm which is good and bad. Usually I strap it to my backpack or just wear it up to my waist, buckled and with arms tied in front if it is warm out. I can wear it on a fairly warm day but need to cool off from the walk-in before putting on and closing up.

On the down side, I also wish the zippery went lower in the front. The outer cloth has a nice flat finish but is a little noise and picks up burs. I like the hood but altered mine like I do with carbon suits. I make ear slits because I really like my ears uncovered for maximum hearing. I also cut the eye opening larger at both sides so I can pull the opening below my nose. I don't like to breath inside a face mask. I've worn it in a drizzle and really liked it because it also works as a rainsuit. The hat worked well because it ran the water off the brim and not down my neck.

I haven't been busted which is saying alot because of the high deer density in some of the spots I hunt. I have had a couple deer detect me but they usually can't figure out what is going on. Also I carry a lot of other gear so the scent might be coming off my camera or other equipment. I've been keeping it in a rubber container along with boots and backpack so it doesn't pick up other scents. I put a rubber floor mat on the ground and put it on and take it off at the beginning and end of each hunt to minimize other odors being picked up from my vehicle, pet dog, etc.

So far, a good report.
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I initially set out to design something that deer couldn't smell me in. I just got sick of being smelled by everything within 300 yards downwind. It took a couple of years to work out the many aspects of a new technology.

I have since talked to a couple of guys that train and handle search dogs about the subject of human scent. They assured me that it will be impossible to ever completely eliminate an odor. They say that they can train dogs to smell cocaine through two feet of ice (How?). They say that dogs learn to adjust to varying levels of an odor in response to a reward (or in response to danger in the case of deer). So as long as the woods aren't full of people bumbling around in the new suit it will continue to be more effective because the deer have not yet adjusted to the danger level represented by this diminished amount of scent that they are smelling.

Anyway, I will press on in the attempt to make something that is 100% effective because that is what I want for my own hunting.

Right now it is reasonable for me to say that this suit is better than the options (in my opinion) and creates enough confusion in the deer that they can't tell where you are or how far you are and most importantly that they don't blow out. It works well in that regard, better than anything I've tried.

I like the fact that you can wash it as often as you want and you don't have to run it through your dryer unless you want to. I believe many odors exist in people's dryers.

It is waterproof as Larry noted, and windproof. The membrane that acts as the scent barrier is going to make a slight noise when you move, but I have not noticed that it was enough for deer to hear even at short range.

Remember, if air can move through your garments freely, so can your scent.

If you have any questions I'll check in once in a while to attempt to answer them.

Good luck this season to all.

Winke
 
Something else I ran across when talking to the search dog trainers that you might find interesting: the dogs trail two different scents - the scent of the actual person they are after and the scent of "disturbed earth". Wow! I never would have thought about that. The one guy told me that even if you were 100% scentless a good search dog could trail you simply by the smell of the broken twigs, upturned earth and crushed leaves/grass/etc. long after the person passes.

Can a deer do that? No one knows because monitoring these things on a wild animal is impossible, but based on the number of scent receptors in a deer's nose compared to a bloodhound (nearly as many) it is theorized that they are at least capable of this kind of sensitivity.

The more I learn about animals' noses, the more impressed I become.

Bill
 
Mid-rut update...

I've been quite impressed with the Winke suit this season. There are quite a few deer on one of the farms I hunt and it is impossible to keep all of them up wind. I was out Nov. 11 and had at least 10 deer cross down wind of me including several mature bucks and does. One mature buck/doe set hung around directly down wind at 30-40 yards for at least 5 minutes and never showed sign of smelling me.

Yesterday, I had deer all around me again several times but later in the morning one buck started lifting his head checking for sent. Then a nearby doe snorted. I couldn't figure out what was wrong until I noticed that just after taking care of nature's call a few minutes earlier, I'd heard some deer running and in my haste to be ready for a possible shot I'd neglected to zip up the suit.
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I closed everything back up and the deer were fine again.

Lesson learned: be sure to zip up the outer layer when done!
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Good hunting!
Old Buck
 
I was curious as to how comfortable the suit was in the colder weather in terms of warmth? Did it require a significant number layers?
 
I haven't experienced much cold weather yet this year but find it helpful. Basically it functions as a good wind breaker which can be worth a lot on a cold windy day. I also love it on these drizzly days which used to require a rain suit or getting wet. Now I'm dry and comfortable.

I would like some pockets for my hands. There are a set of zip open chest pockets but I'm trying a new, small, Nikon, range finder which I slip into one of the pockets so my bino's and rangefinder aren't interfering with eachother. This leaves one hand outside or tucked in with the Nikon.
 
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