Deer NOSES.......how to block or nullify them?????

[Boeing]

I was so proud that I cleared a 1 acre food plot next to my occasionally running stream. I then spotted the largest tree with high limbs where I could place a two man ladder stand. Guess what......the tree stand is on the NW edge of the little food plot. The PREVAILING WIND is from the NW. You guessed it.....While I have hundreds of great photos from my trail cam, I didn't see a single animal in two days of hunting in November.
OK, I get it, I STINK!!! So.....what is the suggestion from our hunting membership? MOVE the stand? USE SCENT BLOCKER? USE NOSE JAMMER....(anyone ever tried that stuff?) Suggestions PLEASE..........hanging a heavy 2 man stand is alot of work. thanks:dance1::dance1:

 

[dusty3030]

Masking it won't help.
I wouldn't draw a correlation to scent / not seeing deer while you are there in just two days of hunting.

There have been some big temp changes back and forth that could have changed their patterns.
What was the moon phase when you were hunting?
Your trail cam - what time are you getting pics? Mostly at night?
Your ingress / egress. Are you walking across the plot to get there, riding your 4 wheeler in, anything you think could spook them?
Acorns / other mast crops - you could have a lot of pics when they haven't dropped yet, deer are spread out making the most of them before they are gone.

I chase these son's of guns pretty hard, and have for a long time. What I have found is there is not set rules, just best practices.
Good luck!

 

[kevin37b]

Kind of like fishing , they just weren't there . You will have days like that .

 

[nybirdman]

You can't fool their noses;I would move the stand.Have to go with the prevailing wind.

 

[Gordon Gould]

Sometimes the best hunting is with a south wind, especially when it is around feed.
Two days is not enough to tell you much.

 

[lockhaven]

if legal in your state
Ozonics HR-200 Electronic Scent Eliminator-430938 - Gander Mountain

 

[Gary Fowler]

I am not a deer hunter but will relay a tale from my brother (he lives to hunt deer). He got some doe estrus scent to mask the human smell and put it on at his truck and was walking back into the woods to his stand. He kept hearing movement behind him but as it was still dark, he couldn't see what it was. As daylight approached, he found that he was being stalked by a large buck deer looking for love. The deer wasn't afraid of him and came in really close. He said he was afraid the buck was going to attack him. He learned his lesson about using scent, wait till you get settled to put it on. There is scent killer to put on your clothes and shoes that takes away the human scent which is about all you need for tracking in and out of your stand location. The doe in heat scent seems to work to attract the horny bucks.

 

[tractorshopper]

EverCalm. Deer herd scent stick. Kind of like a deodorant stick. You can wipe on bottom of boots or pant legs and on base of your tree or nearby trees. I have had much success seeing more deer much closer while using this. They don't come in on high alert when this is in the air.

 

[Boeing]

Thanks for the replies guys....I keep the camera up all year. Suprisingly MOST of the photos are in DAYLIGHT. from 0830 (consistent BEAR) 10-4PM multibles of deer 1-6 at a time. Granted MOST of the pix were spring and summer, they were getting scarcer as fall came into date. I guess the acorns and estrogin..... I don't cross the food plot but I do have to walk down the same tractor size trail to get to the NW side where the stand is. I think I will try to relocate that big,heavy stand. Then I would have to skirt along the edge of the food plot to get to the stand if it was on the SE side..............hmmmmm?

 

[/pine]

There is a lot you can do to cut down on human scent...avoid scented deodorants/aftershave etc...
Do not use any type of dryer sheets when you wash your hunting clothes...keep them in a sealable, nonporous container with some pine cones etc...
Wear rubber boots (not leather)...don't take salami and garlic sandwiches to your stand...!

Supplemental Zinc tablets will help reduce natural body odors...

 

[rsallen]

LOL,
Leave some food in the garden plot.

 

[dusty3030]

When you move it, put it 15 / 20 yds further back in the woods too. Deer don't like to be in the open so much, you will be amazed what deer (especially bucks) skirt around your plot downwind to check it out during the day. You will never see them if you aren't back in the woods a little. Also uses some of the natural cover to cover you a little better, deer don't like human looking things in trees that move.

If they have thinned out in the fall / early winter they switched food sources on you - they are pigging out on the mast crops. Scout and look for sign and hunt where they are and not where they were. They eat 8 to 10lbs of forage a day, they walk around and browse - they don't just sit in one spot and pig out and go back to bed.

In the fall when you find an oak tree dropping acorns with fresh tracks and droppings get a comfortable folding chair, set if downwind, and sit behind a tree and wait. Bowhunting use a stand, but rifle or muzzleloader I like to be mobile and have a little turkey hunting stool I use most of the time. When the acorns are gone they will move back the food plots.

Learn to rattle, do it boldly - like stomp the ground, kick your feed around, make some noise like they are rolling around MMA style, and be sure to grunt at the same time - then be dead still and watch downwind. Could take 1/2 an hours but watch and wait. If one comes to check it out they will be in full sneak mode and you have to keep your eyes open. It really is fun way to spend mid day and a real rush when a buck pops out of nowhere.

Last but not least, good luck. Luck is half of deer hunting, the other half is being in the right place at the right time. The rest of it is just stuff we do to entertain ourselves

 

[nickc]

i have a low stand in an area where the wind swirls consistently i've had great luck where you aren't supposed to.. i use hunter specialties earth scent wafers. they seem to work great. worth a try for $5.00

 

[Western]

None of the "stuff" designed to take your money will work better than just plain ole playing the wind. Always good to have two places to hunt on your food plot, that lets you hunt the wind.

Deer live their 365 days a year, really think fox urine, dirt "smell", or other "unusual" scents, will not be noticed by a deer? Would you notice a new couch in your living room? Your better off and cheaper to either use dirt from your plot or pine/ cedar boughs, anything natural to YOUR environment, then rub that on your clothes, or store your hunting clothes in a bag with same..

 

[Thomas]

Might not be the perfume your wearing.
As you patterning deer they could be patterning you..time you arrive also your habits.
Have you done 50 yard so walk about inside wood line seen new signs?

 

[AaronS]

Hunt the wind. Either move the stand or hand a second in a different location.

 

[Boeing]

Thanks guys.....After a few days of hunting areas, stands etc.....I spread more lime, cut more firewood and left. Back in March to lime, fert, disk and plant deer food. (They love me) My hunting buddy (who is a great stalker) crept thru the woods and discovered a bedded buck not 75 yards from my building. Later we went into that area and found many rubs and flattened out bedding areas. It is a slightly dropping small locust (I hate those thorns) and pine thicket. Lots of pine needles fairly open (a 20-40 yard shot) but how to hunt it? I would guess they go there after their morning meal (or overnight meal) I don't creep as well as my younger friend. Do you get there at 6AM and shiver until they come to bed at 9 or 10? My stand problem is GETTING there....the only path is FROM the NW, where the wind is. And of course, LEAVING it too....one path. Guess I need to MOVE that stand.

 

[Keadog]

I have fallen for many false claim products, but after 2 seasons, I believe the Ozonics is at least partially effective. Ozone has been used for years commercially as an odor treatment. This in combination with obsessive scent control (I bath in unscented soap all hunting season, use unscented, non-UV laundry detergent, washing all of my inner hunting outfits after every hunt, I'm a non-smoker, etc.). These items notwithstanding, one simply cannot fool their noses. I also try very hard to always hunt the wind and avoid stands when the wind isn't right. If you are on your property all the time with equipment, the resident animals will grow to tolerate some background scent of yours, but probably not in areas you don't frequent normally. My wife drives me to my stand in our Ranger, as they are used to seeing it all the time and she picks me up after dark. If you can get someone to drop you off at your stand, try that. It also is far better than tromping through the woods getting overheated. Walking in after dark isn't as important, but I often have deer around that get run off when she comes back out in the Ranger.
Good luck. Bowhunting is sooo much fun...