By: Francisco Fuentes

Being an experienced, serious deer hunter for over 35 years, you learn plenty from not only your mistakes in the deer woods but from others as well. Scent control plays a huge role not only in just success but in just seeing deer in the woods.

There are numerous products on the market boasting how their product will guarantee that you will see more deer. Well, I’m here to tell you that seeing deer isn’t based off one single variable like scent control. It is based off multiple factors all merging together just to get a chance to see a deer.

Let me repeat that: “get a chance to see a deer.”

You will never beat the nose of a deer, but there are things you can do to minimize the exposure of your scent getting to them. In this article, I will give you some simple ideas on how to accomplish this task without breaking your budget.

Making a Plan

Let’s assume you have done your due diligence, scouted an area, and found where deer are moving by locating:

• Food
• Water
• Tracks
• Scrapes
• Rubs
• Visual sightings

Now it’s time to make a plan. There is one motto I live by, and I feel it has helped me not only see more deer in the woods but be more successful with my archery equipment in the last four years. It’s pretty simple:

“Make a plan, stick to the plan.”

The Archery Standard

As you may know, archery hunters have to get a lot closer to the deer than any other hunter using a different weapon. Due to this reason alone, archery hunters practice scent control like it’s a religion.

Let me explain. When you hear the term scent control, you think, “how do I smell?” That’s exactly right, but don’t forget about the wind or the thermals in the morning and at night. As the morning sun warms the air, your scent rises, while the cooling evening air pulls your scent down into the bottoms. Those two factors play a huge role in seeing or spooking deer.

So, let’s get the big question out in the open. Do you need to spend a lot of money on scent control products online or at the sporting goods store? The answer is a big fat NO. Does it hurt? Again, no, but why spend the money when you can save it for the Twinkie you’ll eat while you hunt!

Pre-Season Clothing Preparation

Here are some helpful tips for you to do right now, a month away from the season opener:

1. Buy Perfume-Free Detergent: First, purchase laundry detergent to wash your clothes that is entirely perfume-free. I personally use “All Free & Clear”. It’s less expensive than the brand-name hunting soaps that you will find on the sporting goods shelf, and you will be able to use it for the entire season.
2. Wash and Line Dry: Here is the trick: wash all of your hunting clothes along with two towels and washcloths. After they are done in the spin cycle of the washer, hang them outside to dry so they can acquire a natural, fresh earth scent. I never dry my clothes in the household clothes dryer, and instead leave them hanging outside for the entire season.
3. Use Natural Scent Storage: If you know the weather is going to get bad, go to the luggage section at your local Walmart and buy luggage-sized Ziploc bags. These 24”x24” bags are large enough to hold your gear. Once you have the bags, grab a clean sock or knee-high pantyhose, fill it with pine needles, leaves, or even a handful of dirt, and place it at the bottom of the bag. Try to match the exact terrain where you’ll be hunting. Once you do that, place all your clothes, towels, and washcloths in the Ziploc bag and set them aside until you are ready to hunt.

Scent-Free Showering and Travel

When it is time to take a shower before the hunt, use a scent-free soap. I personally use an Amish scent-free soap. I wash from head to toe with a scent-free washcloth and dry off with the scent-free towel mentioned earlier. It doesn’t make sense to wash with scent-free soap and then dry off with a household towel that has been dried with scented fabric softener, as you are completely defeating the purpose.

Additionally, make sure to gas up your vehicle the night before your hunt. Don’t risk getting fresh gas fumes on your hunting clothes or tracking oil and fuel onto the bottom of your hunting boots right before you walk to your setup.

Free and Effective Wind Checkers

You must also check your wind the night before and the morning of before you ever enter the woods. You always want the wind in your face if you can help it while walking to your stand.

• Cattail Fluff: For a very effective and free wind checker, grab a wild cattail and open it up. The fluffy particles inside make an incredibly sensitive wind tracker.
• Cornstarch Bottle: If you can’t find a cattail, you can use some cornstarch in a bottle. Just take a small, empty bottle of hand sanitizer that everyone has laying around, wash it out thoroughly, and let it dry. Once it is dry, fill it with cornstarch and you now have a perfect powder wind checker.

Timing and Tree Stand Intel

Make sure to plan ahead when scouting by calculating how long it takes to get to your hunt site from your vehicle and then add an extra thirty minutes to that time. There is absolutely no need to be in a hurry. Get there quietly so you don’t spook any potentially bedded deer.

Along those same lines, never, never, never think it is a race to climb a tree to get into your stand. Again, plan accordingly. I personally get to my setup one full hour before legal shooting time.

At the Stand: Homemade Cover Spray

Once you are finally at your stand setup, whether it’s a ground blind or twenty feet up in a tree, your scent control isn’t over.

Hit the travel section at Walmart and buy a small, handheld spray bottle that is small enough to fit right in your pocket. You can fill it with a homemade scent control liquid that is easily made for free.

Just take some dirt, leaves, pine needles, acorns, or oak leaves from your area and place them into a bucket of water. Mix it really well and let it sit for a couple of days or a week to steep. Strain the water into a container and pour some into your little spray bottle. Every now and then, spray yourself down as a precaution to cover your scent while you’re sitting at your setup and right before you walk into it.

The One Worthwhile Expense

Now, there are some items you will have to buy that will cost a bit of money, but with all the cash you have saved everywhere else, it is well worth it. Hunting here in North Carolina, you absolutely need a Thermacell mosquito repellent. When you use this, you will smell a little bit of something, but it is a scent that doesn’t alarm the deer.

Conclusion

So, those are some of the main things I do to prepare before I ever step foot into the woods. Scent control is extremely important. Again, you won’t truly beat a deer’s nose, but it’s always fun knowing you’ve done everything you possibly can to get just a touch closer to give yourself an edge. Practice strict scent control, play the wind, and you will give yourself a much better chance to see deer this season.