Tips & Tactics

Scent Surroundings & Odor Killing

Scent Surroundings & Odor Killing

By David Cruson

Photo: Matching cover scents to the areas you are hunting is as important as using topical odor killing sprays.

At a time when companies are dedicated to putting the best possible cover scents on the market, I’ve found many deer hunters are buying products that don’t even apply to their hunting areas.

This makes no sense to me.

If a hunter uses apple-scented cover spray in an area where there isn’t an apple tree for miles, it’s bound to make the deer wonder what’s up.

It also might alert them by using skunk cover in an area where skunks are not present, or sage in a state where sage does not exist, or cedar cover in a forest loaded with oaks and other hardwoods.

If you are going to use commercial cover scents, make sure to buy products that apply to the territory you will be hunting.

Scent Surroundings & Odor KillingIf pine trees are prevalent, use pine-scented spray. Or, if you don’t have pine spray handy, simply rub yourself down with fresh pine needles.

Since there are tons of cedars in my area, I crush a handful of leafy branches and give my skin and clothing a good rubdown before heading to my stand.

Even hardwood trees give off their own distinctive odors. So, if there are leaves remaining on the hardwood trees when you hunt, take advantage by rubbing down with those as well.

As an avid bowhunter, I’ve concluded a couple of things about how I’ve remained undetected so many times when deer are really close.

I think that using commercial odor killing sprays, showering with scent-free soap/shampoos, and washing my clothing in scent-free detergents have been very effective.

When the deer are super close, you want to be as free of human scent as possible. And, if you decide to smell like anything at all, make sure it has the odor of something deer encounter on a daily basis.

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