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I am fanatical about scent control and UV light transmission. I have a fear that my the daily laundry service in Africa will wash my hunting cloths in a scented detergent full of UV brighteners. What have your experiences been with this? What measures do you use to control scent?
Play the wind and you can smell like a French whore
The wind.
You are not hunting alone.
Your have a tracker and a PH with you (while stalking) that will not have any fancy chemicals or soaps that we love to play with over here.
You could probably request they use one of your potions though.
LOL...AmenQuote:
Originally Posted by dvdegeorge
It's not like the PH and/or trackers are going to be washing with "Scent Away" and wearing "Scentlok Clothing"
If your PH is worth a crap he will make sure you are working into or at least crosswise to the wind.
I am convinced 98% of the scent control products do nothing more than relocate money....
I guess I am so use to taking as many scent control measures as possible it is difficult for me to think about hunting without going through my ritual. With PH and trackers always present I see your point. Silly me.
Well, to be fair...if you are going to be dropped off by yourself in a blind over a waterhole it could be important, but even then I would hope there were more than one blind on a waterhole to adjust for wind.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stretch
If you going to stalk then the main issue is to just work into the wind which all competent PH's do as a habit.
So it IS a potential concern for bowhunters if the PH/Outfitter isn't bow savvy enough to place multiple blinds for different wind directions...
It is something to discuss with your Outfitter/PH
Great thread...I've often wondered this myself.
I've always avoided scented products..like my daily old spice deodorant in exchange for the unscented versions during deer seasons.
I've always thought that deer hunters are as bad as golfers for trying to "buy" game..I'm often guilty of falling to marketing myself.
I'm glad this topic is being discussed as the same could easily be said about the need to have a different camo pattern for each day of the week (again guilty).
So why is Africa different?
Don't not worry about it. if you are hunting out of a hide, they are pretty good about holding your scent in and if the wind changes, lots of PH's will get some animal dung and burn it to mask what scent gets out. Heck I have been twice and never did anything except shower and have my clothes washed. I even shot a huge bull Eland out of a hide with a bright red shirt on!
At home here my outer layer gets hung in the pole shed for a month in the breeze, placed in a bag of spruce bows for a month then only worn while hunting and immediately rebagged after use. I lost count long ago how manycritters I have seen and shot downwind of me with both bow and rifle.
What gets me is how so many people can go to great lengths to descent their clothing and then grab a blind from behind the diesel tank and head out hunting.
Having said that a guy I used to shoot some 3D with shot the most gorgeous heavy old gnarly muley buck on the way home from a shoot wearing his good shirt and pants and shooting his chrome and blue competition bow!
Long story short being as scent/UV free as possible is great but far from a deal breaker, I wouldnt worry about it a bit.
The only scent control I believe in is wind direction.
The most important is to play the wind, move slowly, being silent and be sure to cover your face and hands with something if your skin is white.
I have stalked and shot deer closer than 10 meters several times and the 2 closest have been 6 meters.
I have experienced deer as close as 1 meter from me when sitting on the ground, and still not getting spooked.
Once I experienced a deer stepping over my barrel and left arm while I was in the prone position ready to shoot another deer. The feet of the deer were maximum 30 cm in front of my face and it still didn't get spooked.
All this without any sort of scent control magic products.
I rather spend my money on something else related to hunting:)
Obviously wind direction is paramount. No matter how hard one tries to stay downwind, animals invariably move around. Practicing scent control allows me a a small measure of confidence when an animal moves downwind. Most hunts (99%) I have done have been DIY type allowing me to control the situation. Africa
is a new experience for me. It is nice to learn other hunters experiences and what to expect.
I think what happens when hunters using scent control gear, soap, spray and more and animals don't smell them downwind, is the same as what happened to me when I and my PH stalked a small herd of Impalas(about 15 of them) last year.
Just short time after we started the stalk, the weak wind shifted and came into our necks.
Both of us were totally sure the stalk was over, but it wasn't.
For about 1 hour more we stalked and kept our distance at 30-80 meters away from the herd in the thick bush. All the time we had the weak wind going from us towards the Impalas, but they never smelled us(the PH checked the wind all the time).
I finally got a shot at a ram in a small opening at 60 meters.
The wind thermals clearly did something to our scent. Even if we for about 1 hour were straight downwind on the ground 30-80 meters away from the herd, they never smelled or noticed us while they grazed in the bush.
There is a nice product that I plan on taking along to Africa. It is called N-O-DOR. The product deodorizes clothing, hair, skin, quickly and safely. It does so by permanently oxidizing all organic molecules into odorless, non-volatile compounds. The best part is it comes in 1/2 gram of dry powder packet. All that is needed to activate is mix it with water. A small empty spray bottle and a 1/2 gram packet and I have scent control. This is a nice solution to give me more confidence. You can see this product at:ODOR CONTROL
Absolutely! I find all of this scent reduction nonsense one of the more amazing business cases anyone has dreamed up in years. Soap, clothing, sprays, and papal dispensation for all I know. Its the wind - its always the wind. And an African PH and their trackers are masters at working it. Stalk within 50 feet of an elephant or an eland, and you can not help but believe we have lost something in our technical war on the whitetail. Trust you PH and trust the wind.Quote:
Originally Posted by Norwegianwoods
Interesting thread here guys !
I am pretty anal about smell when hunting
When hunting out of a blind, I have found that a "Home-made" scentblocker works for me - simple concoction of Peroxide / Bicarbonate of Soda / Distilled water and scent free shampoo. I also spray a bit on the ground on my track from the vehicle to the blind. - we are so caught up on killing the smell on our bodies / clothing , we tend to forget the scent where we have walked ! ( if you want to try the recipe, DM me )
Washing of my camo's / Gillie suit is forbidden if any form of soap is used.
The Black Wildebeest on my Profile pic was shot at 8 YDS on walk and stalk using this muti ! Call it good luck, call it fluke or good stalking - whichever way u look at it - He didnt smell me.
Another great Scentblocker is Zebra dung - not just any dung, but ZEBRA dung. takes a while to ignite, but will smoulder for quite a while and will mask any human odours in the hide.
Other options to consider is to hang your camos close to a fire and get them smoke impregnated - Animals in the SA bush are accustomed to fire / woodsmoke and it masks you pretty well.
Just my 2 cents worth guys, but it works for me !
Good Hunting !
Now that is very interesting Bow_Hunter. Here in Wisconsin we try not to get smoke on our clothes because it frightens the animals.Quote:
Originally Posted by TheBow_Hunter
I have a questions here - Do smokers do anything different?
I do not smoke, but that is such an unfamiliar (and very strong) scent.
Do any of the PH or trackers smoke? I should hope they would not smoke in the hide. If they do, is it okay to ask them not to because I am allergic?
Thanks.
Packsy: Yes it is definitely ok to ask them...
As for scent-blocking stuff I have never used them, I always just use the wind and when you have the wind in your favour you can get quite close even if you smell of soap or anyhting but obviously nobody should go into a bush smelling like a night out.
I imagine the scent-blocking stuff to have a value somehow, especially for bow-hunters waitng in a blind, but I have been just fine without it.
Here is one for you. When hunting moose in Norway, the pass hunters usually make a little fire to mask the human scent. Sometimes the moose can run right trough your fire. A cow once kicked my fathers coffe pot out of the flames....
Last august, in Northern Cape, I sat in a blind for a whole day smoking and it didnt affected the animal at all. I think we had like 100-150 animals outside the blind troughout the day.
TERMINATOR this is one thing you and I see eye to eye on at 57 years of age well almost I've been in the hunting woods sence I was 7 or 8 following my father through the woods and never heard of this stuff until a few years ago and don't rely on it better to trust the wind, cheaper to.Quote:
Originally Posted by TERMINATOR