Question about masking your scent

[David_Daugherty]

Ok, not sure if this is the correct place for this question but here it is.  Does anyone have a recipe they use to help mask their scent while hunting? Now that I'm hunting primitive I am watching deer for longer periods as they meander their way closer to my limited bow range  .   I have tried all the scent free soaps and detergents on the market.  I spray myself with scent eliminators prior to hitting the woods.  Once in the woods I rub down with crushed pine needles or any local foliage with a strong scent.  All of this helps but inevitably during the deer season I hear that dreaded snort that drops my heart into the pit of my stomach!  Not to say that happens every time but I would say about once every two weeks or so.  Any tips to beat the nose would be great.

[Pat B]

There is nothing you can do if a deer gets in your scent stream. Play the wind the best you can. That is about all you can do.

[Scaramouche]

Smoke bath. Only thing that works, as far as I know.

[killir duck]

i boil sagebrush and spray that on me before each hunt it seems to help and it also repels gnats, but no matter how welll your cover scent or scent killer works you always have to play the wind, when hunting the wind is the boss

[hedge]

I rub down with plain old baking soda. Use pine needles, various animal poop, shove leaves in my pockets whenever I get the chance.  Seems to work for me and it's cheaper than store-bought stuff.

[vyadha]

Playing the wind is the most important, its so important that I dont mind repeating what has already been said.
I mix my own scent eliminator, 16oz hydrogen peroxide, 16oz water, 2-3 cups baking soda. Let that sit in a bucket for a few days, stirring it up a few times a day.
When it stops foaming add a few drops of colloidal silver and put it in a spray bottle.
It works pretty good, had a spike walk less than 10 yards from me yesterday. That said, the wind was in face and it was drizzling a bit so conditions were great.
That mixture works amazingly when kittens miss the litter box!
Wind wind wind!

[mullet]

Distilled turpentine and water, but most important hunt the wind.

[Frawg]

I make my own scent killer and play the wind. You can not beat a whitetails nose if they have the wind in their favor period.

[Stringman]

I live in an area that has a house on almost every 20 acres. Most of these people burn there own trash so the deer are used to it. When I get ready to hit the woods I start a small fire and add bark or leaves and then let the smoke wash over and through my hunting clothes. My wife doesn't care for the smell but the deer act completely oblivious to my presence. I usually shower before getting smoked, but don't do anything else. I guess this method would depend heavily on your environment. 

Scott

[bubby]

we take sage, pine needles or whatever is local and put it in a bag with our huntin clothes, smoke from the fire and no food on the hunt

[steve b.]

Vegetarian diet and/or chlorophyll (sp?) tablets starting a month before the hunt. 
Smoke bath, as mentioned
Toss some baking soda into the armpits and underwear
Bag the clothes as mentioned and hang them away from camp
And of course, the wind.

[agd68]

I used to be very active working with our Natural Resources teaching the Bow hunters course, one of our instructors was also the Provincial Deer biologist. He did a very informative presentation on white tail and that was one topic he addressed. Here is what he said. How do you defeat a white tails nose ? YOU CANT. Science jabber dummified, they have the ability to sift and sort a whole bagful of scents and identify individual ones. Best tactics to use he advised was 1. use the wind to your advantage 2. get off the ground into a stand. Try to minimize your odors as best you can and use cover scents and bait or attractant lures, this will help but not defeat that super sniffer. One trick we use on bears is to hang a sweaty T shirt at the bait sight. after a while they get use to the smell and seem to ignore it. That way any new scent you lay down on your way in or out is not alarming.

[PEARL DRUMS]

The best thing I ever did regarding stink control was to comepletely change out of my hunting clothes on the tail gate and put them in plastic containers, every single hunt no matter what weather I was standing in. I rarely get whiffed anymore, most of that is using the wind and the rest is from a lack of residual odor off my clothes and boots being all but gone. I spray myself every two hunts as well. My boots get sprayed every hunt.

[David_Daugherty]

Thanks for all the replies.  This has been a very interesting topic.  Again 2 days ago I was playing the wind as usual and the deer chose the one path that took him/her down wind from me.  It was too thick of cover to see the deer but I could clearly hear them walking through the dry leaves.  Once down wind from me they stopped and I never heard anther step or sound from them.  But they didn't blow me.  I found that curious, knowing they winded me but didn't blow.  I guess they didn't care enough about their buddies to warn them, lol.

[David_Daugherty]

Here's an update on what I have done since this post.  I have combined pine needles, fat kinlin, bay leaves, cedar, and baking soda.  Boiled this for about 20 minutes.  Let cool with lid on then strain. I put the cover scent into a spray bottle and apply it befor I enter the woods.  Also take a little spray bottle to apply small amounts about every hour I'm on the stand. So far I have had deer walk by me, under me and all around me.  Nothing has smelled me as of yet.  Today I had a 6 point and 8 point come withing 5 feet of me (from down wind at that).  I shot the 8.  I also bathe with non scent soap prior to hitting the woods as well.  But so far this new ritual seems to be paying off