Making some ‘scents’ out of deer hunting

I am a bird hunter. Shot my first quail with a .410 shotgun when I was 12 years old. To me, the grace of a rangy setter working the edges of a field, the thunder of wings when a covey explodes and a pair of quail dropping with two well-placed shots from a Fox Sterlingworth is what hunting is all about. At least, that's what it used to be all about.

Today, wild quail are in short supply. No one I know of even attempts to hunt them anymore. The quail are practically gone, but there sure is a pile of deer.

As a bird hunter, I never really took deer hunting that seriously.

The only reason I took it up at all is because I had a 12-year old son who was fascinated with the prospect of shooting a deer and I wanted to hunt with him. Today, Jimmie is an excellent deer hunter, and I'm still not very serious about it. But things are about to change. I'm tired of the thieving rascals eating more of my green beans than I do, and I'm tired of watching their big white tails waving goodbye when I'm on a deer stand.

This year I'm going to get serious about scents.

Deer have incredible eyesight. They can detect the tiniest movement.

So I've learned how to be absolutely still. Deer also have an amazing sense of hearing. One small "tick" with an arrow tapping at the side of a bow sends them into a stampede for the next county. So I no longer make so much as a peep when I'm perched 12 feet high in my deer stand. But perhaps more formidable than their sense of sight and hearing is the ability of deer to smell. This has been my downfall for the past several years. The deer get wind of me, and then spook.

For advice, I approached Kenny Hale, a top-notch gunsmith and the owner of Woodbrook Sports & Pro Shop in Charlottesville.

"Kenny, how important is controlling human scent to a successful hunt?" I asked.

"If you're not serious about hunting, you'll get lucky and kill a deer every now and then, even without covering your scent," he said.

"But if you want one of the big boys, and you're a serious deer hunter, it is critical to keep a deer from smelling you in advance."

He said that the process for him begins with a shower the morning of the hunt with a scent-free soap and shampoo. Next, rid hunting clothes of all human and artificial odors. Hale said that he washes his hunting clothes in scent-free detergent and then stores them in a special carbon bag, which further eliminates odor.

"I like to toss a white acorn scent wafer into the bag, so my clothes smell like acorns," he explained. "I don't put them on until I get to my hunting destination."

Rubber boots are also a big help.

"About 5 years ago, I saw a deer cross the path where I came in," he said. "I was wearing Rocky Boots and the deer immediately caught my scent. Rocky Boots can leave a scent because they are made with petroleum-based soles. The soles tend to retain odors."

When Hale switched to a plain, rubber boot, he observed deer crossing over his trail, and they never looked down even once.

"Rubber boots can make a huge difference," he emphasized.

"Sometimes I see hunters filling up their trucks at service stations in the early morning hours, dressed in full camo, boots and all," Hale chuckled. "That's a definite no-no."

No odor is quite as strong as gasoline, and certainly those hunters' boots and clothes would reek of gas. Even I can smell gasoline. It must smell like an open landfill to a deer.

There are also lots of quality cover scents and scent eliminators on the market. Hale advises serious hunters to use an acorn base in hardwoods, but a pine scent when hunting around evergreens.

Territorial scents are effective now, while bucks are fighting. It's a little early for doe-in-heat scents, so wait until the does go into estrus before using those scents.

"Rattling is also an effective tactic in early- to mid-October," Hale said. "Bucks are starting to chase other bucks from their territories and they're eager for a fight."

He says that another proven trick he uses is to fill up a zip lock bag with a deer attractant, then dribble it out, bit by bit, on the way to the stand. This is both an attractant, and, to some degree, a cover scent.

If this is the year for you to bag that big buck, or help reduce the number of garden raiders by one or two, try to make some "scents" out of deer hunting, and keep them from sniffing you out in advance.