I am not attempting to start a debate nor do I wish to. I am looking for honest opinions and experiences of bowhunting deer without using scent control. Is it absolutely necessary if I am smart and playing the wind? I split my time between a tripod stand and popup blinds. On nice days I will favor the tripod, if there's significant breeze I will bunker into my popup blind which is in a much denser wooded area.

100% hunt the wind. I’m a Bowhunter and don’t believe a product exists beside ozonics that can beat a deers nose.

X100 and also be as still and quiet as reasonably possible.

You'll do all you need to do by being as scent free as possible and hunting the wind. I'm not a believer in any of the products out there marketed to mitigate your scent other than ozonics. I have two guys on my lease this year that are very accomplished archery hunters. They kill record book elk on public land, whitetails on private land and stuff in Africa as well. They swear by Ozonics and have a few field trial tests they've done to prove it out on does. I've been killing deer 50 years with a rifle and they talked me into a bow for this year. I have no expectations and won't try anything outside my ability. With my one month of shooting almost daily I'm confident at 35 yards and won't do anything for scent control other than being scent free as I can and really focusing on my walk path in so that I won't be disturbing their area with my scent.

sometimes I'm not all that still or really all that quiet. But they catch your scent, they usually blow and stomp or blow and flag and cause a great disturbance before leaving.

Why not flood your scent cone with a strong but familiar to them cover scent? It’s not expensive and I’ve been bow hunting that way for 40 years with great results. I always have two set ups for each location for either a north or south wind too.

Depends. I’ve had an occasion where a big 8-point stood under my tree stand smelling my jacket, pack, and rifle before wandering off while I frantically tried to pull my gear up. Had 5 does under me smelling a cigar butt that I put out with pee. Both of those instances were on heavily hunted public areas here in Arkansas. Then on the other hand, I’ve seen a small buck catch my wind and pretty much belly crawl out of sight. I’ve given up on extreme scent control and try to hunt the wind as best as possible.

This......except I don't believe in ozonics either. Play the wind, stay in the shade if possible.

They won’t smell you from up wind and you can’t beat their nose from down wind. But, they don’t always react the same, some don’t seem to care, most do.

Ozonics is pretty poor form. I can’t get behind its use.

I promise you that you cant overwhelm their senses with a familiar scent. The strongest most familiar scent in the woods to a deer is a skunk. I have 100% Skunk essence that will make you want to barf its so strong but deer will still know you are there. I dont remember how many scents they can decipher with their nose at once but its between 7-10 smells at once. A human nose cant seperate scents like a deers nose can.

Don't overlook the role of attraction scents that can make a sex-crazed buck throw all his defenses to the wind (pun intended) when he smells what he thinks is a hot doe. In fact, I've heard just as many if not more stories of bucks that were taken by hunters using attraction scents as I have those who were busted by their own human scent.

Batman put my thoughts in a very concise way.

Agree and we got it done before all this scent control stuff was available. Or other than fatigue camo. Closest I have been to wild deer I owned no camo and sure wasnt using scent control.

A coworkers wife would get her buck every year and often the buck would approach her from down wind. He said she usually just hunted when it was that time of the month and get her buck and done for the year.

Can all this stuff that gets our $ help, perhaps but is is necessary, history says no IMO. But since it can help why not try

Because there is no such thing as a 'cover scent', it is a marketing ploy that has been successfully perpetrated upon on un-knowledgeable/hopeful hunters for decades.

A Deer's olfactory system is capable of picking out (separating/recognizing) scent particles at a rate of several parts per million. You can NOT 'cover' your scent.

You CAN do your best to reduce scent. And like you....I have many years (over 50) of bow-hunting (traditional equipment) from which to draw from (no pun intended).

Paying attention to wind direction and thermals is always your best bet. Doing all you can to reduce scent (Clean Clothes, Clean Body, try to avoid sweating or being around foreign odors that will permeate your clothing) is about the best you can do.

Now....I've no doubt you have been successful bow-hunting......but I can assure you it was not because of cover scents.

Bow Hunting by default, means being closer to your prey than most situations involving firearms. So avoiding detection becomes more important.

To that end, being still, being quiet and being as scent free as possible are things that will improve your chances for a shot.

Where possible... it is wise to have set ups for both the prevailing wind and the opposite of that wind. Sans that, do NOT hunt a set up where the wind is not favorable.

The best scent is NO scent. Strive to achieve that you'll create the best opportunity for yourself when bow-hunting. But don't be fooled into thinking you can hide/mask your scent. Or overpower a deer's olfactory system....that is pure folly.

We can talk all day about what person did this or that and the deer did or didn't react (presented as 'proof' for their position), but in the end, hunting conditions and all the variables involved (the animals themselves included) are too vast to conclude any one product does what it claims to do.

Alternately, hundreds (if not thousands of years) of principles applied while hunting has shown us some basic truths. Use the wind to your favor, use cover and light conditions to your favor, be still and quiet when appropriate, know your quarry and their habits.

I run a long trap line and I can make a coyote put his nose and foot anywhere I want. I can also completely overwhelm him with skunk essence to the extent that he can’t ever find lure or bait. You could learn some things about scent by training narcotics dogs.

Good point. I ran coonhounds for many years and came to appreciate a hound's ability to differentiate the scent of a specific animal while trekking through the woods over significant distances. One can only imagine all that a dog can smell while tracking an animal for a mile or more. No doubt deer have the same ability and just like the hunting dog, can decide for themselves how to react to a specific smell or smells. I've often equated a dog and deer's sense of smell as being much like our ability to differentiate between what we can see. Deer, dogs, and other animals on the other hand use their sense of smell to identify what they cannot differentiate using their eyesight. Anyone who has ever sat in a deer stand and watched some nearby animal stop and stick its nose in the air without noticing them would probably agree. It was just a few weeks ago that I watched a racoon do this very thing while sitting in my tripod hunting hogs.

Not sure what running a trap line has to do with scent control, but maybe you will expand on that.

No one will ever convince you otherwise (about things you seem to be so dogmatic about), but I'd offer this about the skunk scent. Have you ever considered that a Coyote/Other canine simply finds the skunk scent so unpleasant that it chooses to not further investigate the lure/bait that it surely smells as well? I could put down ammonia and get the same result. Doesn't mean the canine did not/could not also smell other scents. Coyotes will not consume tainted meat.

As for narcotics dogs....it rather proves my point that they can differentiate one scent from others, its how they locate the drugs. You should know that as LEO.

Just try the onion.

Deer have a lot of olfactory receptors but the part of their brain that process the inflammation is not the greatest. That’s why I can pee on a scrape and 5 minutes later watch a mature buck get mad about it and work it again. Pee on a coyote set and watch what happens. If I don’t sanitize my traps like I’m a surgeon, boil them with cedar limbs as a cover scent and handle everything just right, they will smell it underground and dig it up. Deer are dumb as a box of rocks in comparison. Fooling a deer is not that hard.

Put a hand print in that scrape (not pee) and see if you still think deer are so easily fooled.

You're bound to have lots of pics of some big bucks you've killed then. Post 'em up.

I've heard of people putting unwashed worn clothes in their stand, like ones you wore working outside, a few months before season. They would swap them out when refilling feeders or other visits. Never knew if it worked or not. The idea was to get the deer accustomed to a particular scent.


Have any of you ever heard of such?

I like visual idea of hanging a 3L soda bottle with a gimme cap on it from the ceiling and it twists around in the breeze. 'Screws with the neighbor's head too.

Call it dumb luck or just a buck with no concern but I killed a 12point last year in my box blind at 75 yards. Had the wind in my favor, one window open and was smoking. I've tried scent control and have not seen a difference but I also might only be seeing the ones that have other things on there mind.