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Importance of Scent Control

jagermeister

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
18,060
223
Ohio
Stupid stupid stupid!.... That's what I am. Last week I made a decision to hang a camera right near one of my primo stand sites, near a killer creek crossing. I had to go in and trim some shooting lanes anyway, so I took the cam along in my pack. I was in a hurry, and it was a last-minute bit of work... and like an IDIOT I didn't go in scent-free. Oh trust me, I definitely knew better. My conscience was telling me I was screwing up, but I went ahead and did it anyway.

Well, I pulled the card yesterday and the footage speaks for itself. Damn near every deer that walked by that camera this past week was on-edge. Most of the trimming that I did was on the left side of the frame in these videos.

[video=youtube;lzlOjhncVqQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzlOjhncVqQ&feature=youtu.be[/video]

I cannot stress enough how important it is to practice scent control, especially this close to bow season. This property is near the highway and houses, so I thought the deer would be somewhat used to human scent and intrusion. I was wrong. These buggers are pretty smart sometimes...
 
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RedCloud

Super Moderator
Super Mod
17,381
193
North Central Ohio
That sucks man. Hope the rain washes the scent away and they go back to a normal route and forget about it.

Oh, and I think I did the same mistake a couple weeks ago while trimming in a new stand. I haven't been back in there in 2 weeks so hope everything has calmed down and can still see some action out of that stand. It's in a good spot just hope my scent didn't goof it up and waste that stand before it ever got to be used.
 
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ImpalaSSpeed96

Junior Member
561
60
NJ
Great point JB. Exactly why when I go hunt this years Rut in SE Ohio, I'm gonna go in, take my time hanging my stand, and still come back out. No matter how hard I try, I always sweat hanging my stand. Not even going to risk sitting there wafting that smell throughout the area. Gonna go in, work as slow and quiet as possible and slip back out until the morning.
 

Umpire Jim

Junior Member
16
0
When I am walking into my set up wether I am using climber or hang on, I get in very early before light. I dress in bare minimum put all on my back with headlamp on and a bottle of water in other. I walk a few steps or so and rest with a sip of water. That you don't sweat and keep over heating to minimum.
 

Rutin

Senior Member
2,029
0
Ina Duck Blind
Def goes to show when you put something new in their bedroom they know. Kinda like someone hanging a new picture in yours and expecting you not to notice! Def a useful tool on video mode!
 

jagermeister

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
18,060
223
Ohio
Def goes to show when you put something new in their bedroom they know. Kinda like someone hanging a new picture in yours and expecting you not to notice! Def a useful tool on video mode!

Exactly. Even the deer that didn't appear alarmed by smell were definitely observant of the limbs and things that I cleared out of the way. That's why I normally don't trim branches if I can get away with it, but in this spot there was just no way around it... it was much too thick.
 
Wow, that doe at the 2:03 mark turned herself inside out to get out of there! Must have been all smell as she didn't even look up at the camera. They all could tell something was amiss and the scent left behind likely clued them in. Probably part of the reason some of them looked to have spotted the camera on the side of the tree as well. Some I thought may have spooked because of the IR glow but the scent probably put them on high alert by that time anyways.
 

Curran

Senior Member
Supporting Member
7,971
172
Central Ohio
Good video Jim! Thanks for posting that up. It's so easy to do stuff like that, and go against the disciplines that we know.