Mistake: Poor Scent Control
Practicing proper scent control techniques will really help you win the battle with a deer’s acute sense of smell. While it’s nearly impossible to eliminate all of your human scent, it is very possible to significantly reduce the emittance of human odor to levels that won’t alarm deer.
How many of you have gone on a hunting trip with some buddies to hunt the day and play poker and party at night? How many of you wear your hunting clothes while driving to and from the hunting site? And, here’s another good one – you decide to cut away from the hunt to go down to the local tavern and get some food, a beverage and watch the game for an hour or so. You laugh, but it happens. For many, that’s all part of tradition. I say that’s fine as long as your hunting tradition includes the part where you go home with an unfilled deer tag.
Think of everything that you take out into the woods as sacred tools of the trade. I’m not just talking about your clothes, either. Starting with the primary source of human odor – you. Before you go out to hunt in the morning, throw yourself through the shower and wash up with special soaps, shampoos and deodorant that will help reduce human odor.
Then don’t put your hunting clothes on until you get out in the field. Store your clothes in an airtight plastic container when you’re not wearing them. Same goes for your footwear. When you get out to the field, start to put on your hunting clothes. Wear only enough so that you don’t sweat during the walk in. Have a bottle of cover scent handy to spray your clothes, shoes and equipment before you head out to your stand location. Once you get all set up in your stand and your ready to hunt, do yourself a favor and spray yourself down one last time.
Taking these extra measures of precaution will give you a significant advantage over fighting human odor. Again, keep a portable spray bottle of cover scent with you whenever your out hunting. A little spray will go a long way.
