Neutralizing The Sense of Smell

Neutralizing The Sense Of Smell

Bucks Live And Die By This Rule

By Ed Moody

Ohio's whitetail bucks exist through responding to nature's call, responding to odors captured by their finely tuned olfactory system.

The biggest advantage to making a mock scrape or reinforcing a scrape made by a buck is that the scrape may encourage a response by a visiting monster buck seeking romance, or a mature doe in estrus.

If the scent the buck finds at a scrape is to his liking, perhaps he'll drop his guard, allowing the hunter to do what he or she came there to do, invite the buck for dinner.

Then again, a long time back a researcher placed different scents on the ground to determine which scent bucks visit most. Aftershave lotion and human urine appeared to draw as much curiosity from bucks as did natural deer scents.

That research appears to indicate deer may be drawn to whatever scent is the strongest, the most unusual or what they desire to put their nose to.

The main idea attached to the use of scents is to either eliminate the hunter's scents or draw a worthy buck to a position he can be invited for dinner (Guests are invited to dinner; Deer for dinner).

USING SCENTS MAKES SENSE

There is a multitude of worthy deer attracting scents on the market today. Jell or solid scents appear to be making great headway onto the market and into the woods, as their reputation for lasting in inclement weather gains a foothold.

Just as important as leaving a deer attracting scent is to leave no scent of yourself. It does no good to carry a good deer-attracting scent into the woods if human scent is left wherever your feet meets the ground. Before going afield in search of your quarry, eliminate odors from your leggings and boots with the use of a scent eradicator such as Wildlife Research Center's Scent Killer or Tink's Non Stink. Scent-A- Way and Scent-A-Way Plus (Fresh Earth Spray) by Hunter's Specialties round out the scents that will be used for archery, as well as shotgun, hunting by antler hunters in my deer camp in southern Ohio.

If an alert buck captures the scent of a human messing around at his scrape, there is a good chance that he'll never pass that way again.

To tune up a known scrape, or make a false scrape, use a scent-free garden trowel to work up the soil to a depth of three inches. Take a 35mm film canister or two with small holes poked in its lid, add cotton, fill the canister with scent to the deer's liking, and bury it an inch or so under the surface. Unless there is a hard rain, this should last throughout the season.

Next work a little scent into the softened ground.

Just as important as the scrape is treating overhead branches with scents. Try using a scent such as Tink's Intruder Tarsal Gland Lure on one branch and Tink's Trophy Buck Urine on another.

Research has proven that a mix and match of scents may perform better than the use of one scent.

Bucks are known to rub their foreheads on overhead branches, as well as mouthing other branches within their grasp. If you decide to enforce the overhead scent with a wick type canister, be generous with what you have.

Bucks will leave as much scent from the tarsal, forehead, saliva, and nasal glands as possible. He wants every deer in the neighborhood to realize he is there for the taking, be it for a fight or romance.

As more and more bucks visit the scrape, each will leave as much of their scent as possible. This is called a community scrape. Oftentimes, a mature buck eager for a fight will visit a nearby sapling to leave his tell-tale mark there also.

More often than not, community scrapes are found along a trail where deer exit and enter the woods near a feeding field. After the scrape is made by a buck, boss of the woods or not, other bucks will visit the site to lay their claim to the area.

Far more productive scrapes than community scrapes are usually made in the dark, before and after hunting hours, seek out scrapes made near bedding at hide-a-ways, where brush is thick and heavy.

Well-defined scrapes near bedding areas make an excellent place to bushwhack neighborhood trophies.

During broad daylight hours rutting bucks will rest until they leave the protection of their bedding areas, visit their scrapes, then begin to wander throughout the neighborhood. These scrapes are where "lucky" hunters want to be to bag their trophy.

Don't wait until the peak of the rut is at hand.

Scrapes are most productive just prior to the period, mature does begin to be romantic. During this two-week period, bucks want to leave their marks in the woods, alerting does to their presence before immature bucks begin to enter the rut phase of their lives. When the first rub or scrape appears is the time period to work on dropping a mature buck and not a yearling or a 1 1/2 year-old youngster with forkhorns.

Once all the bucks begin to chase does is not the time to sit over a scrape. This is when other places are such as heavily bushed bedding areas produce not the most, but certainly the best, bucks of the woods.

CONFUSE THEIR SENSE OF SMELL

Of the whitetail's defense system, its razor sharp ability to detect the odor of man, and his equipment, has to be its best fortress.

Fortunately for dedicated hunters, especially archers, this defense system can be turned into the deer's Achilles heel. It's this sense of smell bucks depend on, to alert them to the presence of enemies that is the clink in their natural system – and that lets so many of them fall to the hunter's woodsmanship and archery skill.

A hunter patiently stalking his quarry may alert a deer by stepping on a brittle oak leaf, or by moving when he should have remained still, but nothing will cause the deer to abandon the woods quicker that getting the whiff of man.

During archery season, the true hunter never wears those sweet-smelling deodorants, after shave lotions or hair tonics.

There's no reason for a hunter to smell spiffy and pretty while deer hunting.

The regular use of spray scent blockers such as Scent Shield on outer garments -- following a thorough washing in neutralizing detergents and keeping them away from smoke and cooking odors -- is the first step in getting close to a trophy.

Since leather or other scent grabbing man-made materials can be replaced, use cotton or other washable materials. Leather boots is a no-no during this time of intense hunting.

Many serious and productive deer hunters, such as Ohio's Mark Hicks, wouldn't dream of wearing the same clothing they wear to a restaurant, to pump gas, or wear around the house, without washing and deodorizing them before going out after a big buck.

Hunting clothes, like swimsuits and those outlandish golf shirts and trousers, are designed and made for a single purpose. At our hunting camp in Monroe County, all outer hunting clothes are removed or donned in a wind-whipped odor- free breezeway, not in the comfort of an odor filled trailer.

Hunting clothes on their way to camp are stored in odor free containers, and enhanced with drying oak leaves or fresh pine needles. That means no strong pine scents found on the market either. We use the authentic thing, needles and leaves.

Several of the guys hang outer clothes on the clothesline, where winds from the woods constantly blow through them.

During the heat of the rut, several die-hard archers stalk to their stands in lightweight clothing to keep from sweating. Arriving at their stand, they don their heavy clothing for a long stay in a lofty treestand.

One ardent hunter, Aaron Harris, from the state of Georgia, sprays a commercial natural scent on his clothing after he gets established in his treestand, positioned over 30 feet from the ground..

Another hunter stores cedar shavings all year in his hunting gear bag, in the basement of his home.

With today's emergence of top quality, commercially available scents, the hunter who goes afield smelling like a human is missing out on some good hunting.

It has become a custom to take five or six film canisters filled with cotton, covered with some type of scent, to my ground or tree stand. Deer have walked in and sniffed or "mouthed" the canisters without becoming alerted to my presence.

A good number of hunters use fox or skunk scent as a cover scent. This is strong scent -- mandating any clothing worn near these scents must remain outside of buildings.

Last year, a mature doe with two fawns walked directly underneath me as it chewed on a canister filled with cotton enhanced with Tinks number 69.

A chemical designed to inhibit odors in nursing homes has been refined to be used by deer hunters. After Ghost Scent pills have been taken for a few days, even stools are basically odor free. Rumors have it that a few knowledgeable hunters obtained the pills under another name from nursinghome patients and have been using them for years.

Chlorophyllin Copper Complex is the active ingredient. Bottles come with 60 pills, enough for a season, when taken in lesser quantity. Directions recommend taking three tablets a day from two to seven days before going afield, then three tablets daily.

Ghost Scent is available at Dewitt U.S.A. Inc., Jacksonville, Florida.

Whatever it takes, outwitting the deer's defense system can result in a productive day afield.