utahbigbull
Active Member
- Messages
- 868
Wondering if anyone has confidence or experience in using scent elimination sprays, wash, soap etc for elk like the evolve or scent killer products? Is it worth the investment or just a ploy?
Scent elimination products?
- Thread starter utahbigbull
- Start date
A
ArcherAl
Guest
I use Hunter Specialties scent spray, I think it
works great. I do a couple of things though, I spray
the stuff right on my body especially after a couple
of days with no shower. At night I turn my clothes
inside out and spray them. Then I put them in the pine
trees. We usually pack in for 8
days and it is hard to shower everyday and I do not
have enough clothes to wear different everyday.
I found that spraying right on the body really
knocks out your scent, BUT you still have to watch
the wind because elk will smell you.
Allen
works great. I do a couple of things though, I spray
the stuff right on my body especially after a couple
of days with no shower. At night I turn my clothes
inside out and spray them. Then I put them in the pine
trees. We usually pack in for 8
days and it is hard to shower everyday and I do not
have enough clothes to wear different everyday.
I found that spraying right on the body really
knocks out your scent, BUT you still have to watch
the wind because elk will smell you.
Allen
trophyhunter
Very Active Member
- Messages
- 2,197
We wash all our hunting clothes in the Scent Killer products and soak/spray every piece of everything that goes into the back country with the stuff. We use all the scent eliminating personal hygien products and carry the hunter specialies field wash cloths to bath every day or two. It takes two of the large size cloths for each bath. We spray our bows/arrows backpacks etc. We backpack deep into wilderness areas where wieght is an issue so we calculate the total hunt days and carry only what we need in these scent elimination products. These products work and we combine using nothing but scent-lok gear. The stuff all works great if you really know what your doing and how to de-scent everything properly.
I had a cow elk at three feet this past season. The only reason she didn't step on me was because of a downed tree in between us. We have had tons of deer so close you could almost pet them.
These products work great but you must really work to keep everything scent free including your cloths, gear, not taking food with odors into your hunting area. No camp fire smoke/food or morning coffee odors that will stay on your hands or breath etc.. If you don't backpack into hunts when you get back to camp change cloths/boots and bag everything to not contaminate your gear with odors. This will keep your gear scent free longer. We camo our camp, backpack tents, no fires, stay quiet and with scent eliminating products stay in the back country and camp near the elk and mule deer every year. If we don't make a mistake the game never knows we are in their country.
I had a cow elk at three feet this past season. The only reason she didn't step on me was because of a downed tree in between us. We have had tons of deer so close you could almost pet them.
These products work great but you must really work to keep everything scent free including your cloths, gear, not taking food with odors into your hunting area. No camp fire smoke/food or morning coffee odors that will stay on your hands or breath etc.. If you don't backpack into hunts when you get back to camp change cloths/boots and bag everything to not contaminate your gear with odors. This will keep your gear scent free longer. We camo our camp, backpack tents, no fires, stay quiet and with scent eliminating products stay in the back country and camp near the elk and mule deer every year. If we don't make a mistake the game never knows we are in their country.
O
oneeyewilly
Guest
I used to think all of the scent stuff worked. Washing my stuff and storing it in bags before the hunt and then spraying my self down every 5 seconds. Then I got to thinking, how well does this stuff work after you have hiked for days with no shower with your sweat going through all of your clothing. Click, the light went on and I came to this conclusion, the thing that works the best is the thing that has worked for thousands of years, get downwind and they can't smell you!
good luck on your hunt man!
good luck on your hunt man!
utahbigbull
Active Member
- Messages
- 868
Thanks guys. I figure it will not hurt but man, that is a lot of crap down to the toothpaste and b.o. bar! I just got wondering because of my recent conditioning hikes, jogs etc getting in shape for my LE elk tag, I noticed I get soaking wet especailly on my back where my pack is and wondered how that stuff will cover it all up. I am willing to go that extra step even if it somewhat helps but don't want to waste the money if it is all a load of elk droppings.
B
Buckskin
Guest
I too have a back country hunt coming up and was considering if I will be using scent elimination products. I use them religeously for whitetail and feel they do have their purpose. I've heard of people using smoke from their campfires for cover scent. Any validity to this? I'm not sure I buy it, but I guess it's better for them to smell smoke than human...May not make any difference only how fast they runaway from you...
utahbigbull
Active Member
- Messages
- 868
Well, I have used that theory too. I heard a while back that natives used that method because animals are more acustomed to smoke than human smell. I know first hand that elk will hang in a burn area heavily immediatly after and have watched them personaly in one while it was still smoldering and think they love it because if it is cool, they can bed in some warm soil. I have gotten my spike elk 7 years straight and hasn't seemed to be a deterant.
travishunter3006
Very Active Member
- Messages
- 2,065
its a hoax... a scam... they dont work.. they will never work... unless you are naked wearing a pine tree and for some reason you dont have any human properties left in your body... they will smell you. i used that stuff... but now i just play the wind.. either way you have to. i think some of you that love it so much just like to wear it... its not perfume buddies...
utahbigbull
Active Member
- Messages
- 868
Sounds like I would be money ahead keeping some fresh clothes without a couple days worth of sweat and a couple bottles of wind checker powder bottles eh?
Y
Yogo
Guest
Silver XP, the whole Primos line of scent elimination is awesome.
B
Buckskin
Guest
1000 yards??? That's crazy talk. If you do all things right, it can and does help. My feeling that it is tough to do it right when at camp because you likely won't have all the tools necessary.
You can't eliminate your scent, but you can drastically reduce it to where a bull or buck may scent you but smell such a small amount that it misjudges your distance from him and assumes that you are old scent or not a threat. I have seen this more times than I can count with whitetails and my guess is that elk are no different in reaction.
You can't eliminate your scent, but you can drastically reduce it to where a bull or buck may scent you but smell such a small amount that it misjudges your distance from him and assumes that you are old scent or not a threat. I have seen this more times than I can count with whitetails and my guess is that elk are no different in reaction.
Sorry, elk don't "assume" anything. They don't rationalize anything. They don't ask their buddies what they think either. They don't care about "old scent"...whatever that is.
They smell something out of normal and they react....move away.....and no, they don't have the ability to plan escape routes. They haul ass in whatever direction is most effecient to put distance between themselves and the threat.
Their entire environment is a series of continous changes. If they do not learn to make instant adjustments, they will never make "spike".
Humans stink....you cannot cover your scent from an animal whose very life depends on his senses.
If everything you wore was totally scent free, your breath alone will be enough to bust you.....but not at a 1000 yards.
They smell something out of normal and they react....move away.....and no, they don't have the ability to plan escape routes. They haul ass in whatever direction is most effecient to put distance between themselves and the threat.
Their entire environment is a series of continous changes. If they do not learn to make instant adjustments, they will never make "spike".
Humans stink....you cannot cover your scent from an animal whose very life depends on his senses.
If everything you wore was totally scent free, your breath alone will be enough to bust you.....but not at a 1000 yards.
G
GrezzeeBulls
Guest
As long as your breathing your putting out a scent!!!!!
B
Buckskin
Guest
Yes assume was a poor choice of word. But they don't run wild at every alarming scent they come across or that is all they would be doing. They come across predator scent all the time that they may "react" to and monitor but don't necessarily run from. The stronger the scent the stronger the reaction based on their comfort/danger zone being infringed. These animals have such an accute sense of smell that I'm sure they can pick up faint human odor's from unbelievable distances and they can't run from them all. By reducing your scent you make them "react" as if you are out of their danger zone. As I said I've had countless whitetail's come in downwind. They generally "react" but don't bust out. While comparing elk to WT may not be apples to apples, it's not apples to milk jugs either...
B
Buckskin
Guest
Your breath is probably the easiest scent to cover.
flyingspearnv
Active Member
- Messages
- 150
A buddy of mine swears by smoke from a fire. He's got three bulls 360 and bigger. One came in downwind of him, he shot it with his recurve at 35 yards. Smoke is cheap too!!
BLooDTRaCKeR
Very Active Member
- Messages
- 2,743
Oneyewilley hit the nail on the head! Have the wind in your favor. Don't waste your $$ on that crap. Use that extra cash to buy a trail cam or something useful! Any of you no scent dudes want to keep buying the stuff, I'll sell you a bottle of scentless water for half the price to go with your scentless scent.
I agree with NICKMAN 100%!!!
Interesting recent event:
Just watched Will Primos shoot a bull on the Outdoor Channel. They stated the wind was killing them for five strait days, once they got the wind, they killed the bull.
Past Interesting event:
I once watched a German Shepard (narcotics dog) hit on a vehicle. The vehicle had a few pounds of pot inside of a full gas tank. The pot was in a vaccum sealed bag and wrapped in a roll of plastic and packaging tape. I stopped using scent eliminating products after this experience and I haven't noticed any difference in my own success.
Interesting watch:
If you guys ever get a chance, check out a video by Rich Higgins. It's a coyote calling video, but he uses misting and talks about how there is no such thing, as a cover scent. This misting confuses alot of these coyotes when they go down wind.
Cover scents only work for our noses, coyotes and other animals smell at such an acute level it isn't worth your time. This is just my opinion, you probably have a different one.
Interesting recent event:
Just watched Will Primos shoot a bull on the Outdoor Channel. They stated the wind was killing them for five strait days, once they got the wind, they killed the bull.
Past Interesting event:
I once watched a German Shepard (narcotics dog) hit on a vehicle. The vehicle had a few pounds of pot inside of a full gas tank. The pot was in a vaccum sealed bag and wrapped in a roll of plastic and packaging tape. I stopped using scent eliminating products after this experience and I haven't noticed any difference in my own success.
Interesting watch:
If you guys ever get a chance, check out a video by Rich Higgins. It's a coyote calling video, but he uses misting and talks about how there is no such thing, as a cover scent. This misting confuses alot of these coyotes when they go down wind.
Cover scents only work for our noses, coyotes and other animals smell at such an acute level it isn't worth your time. This is just my opinion, you probably have a different one.
Hondoarcher
Active Member
- Messages
- 222
I had a cow elk stop dead in her tracks when she tried to cross the trail I came in on. She backed up and tried again and hit that sent then turned and went around the area. I was just 7 steps from her and down wind so the sent was probably from the tracks I had left and the residue from my boots.
Contrast this with Primtime Bulls 7 where Wayne Carlton spent hours setting up a tree stand and walked all around. After he was all done he sprayed the whole area with Sent-Away and crawled up into his tree stand. A hurd of elk walked right under his tree stand and didn't notice a thing. He shot a 400 inch bull from the hurd and he calls it the Sent-Away bull.
The stuff helps but it can do only so much. If you are sweating a lot then it is obvious that your sent is going to get past the products. But when you are sitting still and calling them in you can us it to cover your sent when they get real close.
Giving them somthing else to smell also helps. I had a cow 80 yards away cow calling and I sprayed some elk urine in the air and she got a whiff of it and came to within 50 yards before she caught my sent. It was blowing directly to her.
Its not magic it is just another tool. Use it and it can help.
Hope you all have a good hunt this year, HondoArcher
Contrast this with Primtime Bulls 7 where Wayne Carlton spent hours setting up a tree stand and walked all around. After he was all done he sprayed the whole area with Sent-Away and crawled up into his tree stand. A hurd of elk walked right under his tree stand and didn't notice a thing. He shot a 400 inch bull from the hurd and he calls it the Sent-Away bull.
The stuff helps but it can do only so much. If you are sweating a lot then it is obvious that your sent is going to get past the products. But when you are sitting still and calling them in you can us it to cover your sent when they get real close.
Giving them somthing else to smell also helps. I had a cow 80 yards away cow calling and I sprayed some elk urine in the air and she got a whiff of it and came to within 50 yards before she caught my sent. It was blowing directly to her.
Its not magic it is just another tool. Use it and it can help.
Hope you all have a good hunt this year, HondoArcher
Okay 1000 yards might be an exageration but I have had wind swirl on me for 2 seconds and elk that were totally relaxed blowout 400 yards away. they never saw me or heard me they smelled me it swirled so when they blew out of the washout they didn't know which way to go. That changed my view on an elks nose. I think some of it has to do with were you are hunting also if your hunting ranch land were ranchers and hands are out alot they will probably not be as spooked by leftover scent on trails and around tanks but in the wilderness any human scent will probably bugar them.
B
Buckskin
Guest
Opinions are like a-holes, everyone's got one. But I get a kick out of people who never try something (scent control) and have a definative opinion of it even when in the face of contrary evidence. But everyone is entitled...
M
Mister_Hawk
Guest
I have used scent killer products for many years. I can say that it works for DEER very well. They can still smell you but, it covers your scent enough so they don't blow out. ELK are a different story, they smell anything out of the ordinary and they run and ask questions later. I also don't even take the stuff when I go on a wilderness hunt. The hiking and the sweating makes the scent killer a waste of time.
HAWk
HAWk
