coverup scent

[30calflash]

Hello all, going out this season first time in years. I've gone thru my stuff and have a coverup scent to use and it's been sitting for several years.

One container has been used and another still sealed. Question, should they still work as intended?

[chutesnreloads]

I'd think they'll work as well as you image them to
Always considered them another fancy "fishing lure" aimed at hunters

[gwpercle]

Check for an expiration date and/or Email ( or phone call) the company ... and explain the situation , they might send you a new bottle !
Take a photo or mention that one is open and the other still sealed ... they might want to keep a customer happy with a little service after the sale .
Gary

[waksupi]

After years of experience, I'm sure the only ones who benefit from cover scents are the guys selling it. You will not fool the nose of a buck or a bull. Stay downwind, and move slow.

[gon2shoot]

I have found that the smell of wood smoke and beer works well.

[richhodg66]

I have my doubts about cover up scents, but I do try to get reasonably scent free before I hunt. I have a keen nose and can smell the perfumes and such in most laundry detergents and soaps so I wash my hunting clothes in the scent free stuff and take a shower before going out using the scent free soap or just plain old Ivory. I hunt primarily from tree stands and ground blinds and have a lot of them come very close to me completely unaware. I try to keep my clothes from picking up household smells, and I wear rubber boots, I really think the scent you leave on the ground matters.

If you're really bent on the coverup scent, something that was recommended to me and I tried a few years was to go around collecting various leaves and twigs from stuff that's growing in your area, boil a bunch of it and put the "tea" in a spray bottle. Mist this stuff on your boots and clothes. I never saw any real evidence that it worked, but never saw any evidence or reason to believe it hurt anything and it's free.

If you're bent

[Winger Ed.]

They work the same was as if you put on fu-fu smelling after shave after a hard day's work instead of taking a shower.
You just smell like a sweaty bum with perfume on it.

Game animals can smell a fly fart 2 miles away. The best way to hide from them is to stay down wind.
As for using 'cover scent' to hide from an animal's nose----- the joke is on you.

Something that is effective:
Look at your clothes under a black light or a bug-zapper.
If they 'glow',,,, find something else to wear. Deer can see that effect in the daytime.

[Texas by God]

As stated, strive to stay downwind. But diesel works as well as anything in farm country. We use diesel soaked corn in the hog traps so we won’t trap deer; but guess what?

[elmacgyver0]

Didn't realize deer piss had an expiration date on it.

[Winger Ed.]

Didn't realize deer piss had an expiration date on it.

Hmm. I wonder if it expires, or just has a 'best by' date.

[MrWolf]

Didn't realize deer piss had an expiration date on it.

How do you get them to pee in a jar? They just run from me. :kidding:

[RU shooter]

How do you get them to pee in a jar? They just run from me. :kidding: gotta be quick and have a wide mouthed jar ! Lol

[tomme boy]

I just walk through the cow poop and that has always worked.

[blackthorn]

I have heard that Deer love apples. So, how about showering using apple scented soap, hair conditioner etc.??

[quail4jake]

I actually saw a "study" some time ago comparing buck reaction to doe urine to human urine....it showed similar reactions. Hmmmmm... No, I can't produce the document, I also don't think that it was a randomized controlled double blinded study. Just comical!

[Winger Ed.]

I actually saw a "study" some time ago comparing buck reaction to doe urine to human urine..

It works.
When I used to hunt, if I saw a buck scrape from where my blind was, I'd wizzz on it.
A couple times I saw a young buck come by, smell around the area, and start looking for something to hump.

[too many things]

try a dryer sheet works as good as any
deer are like their cousin a goat. try to hide something from a goat, he will find it, deer will go check the smell too.
i have never been in a tree or blind. and have to get deer for the city guys .
dont hunt, dont eat them. but will drop one if they want one. most take about 20min.or less. and ONLY 1 shot. ammo is not worth wasting, and/or meat so head shot dont have to track. never lost but one that walked about 30 min later . but she had a bad headache from patch off the forehead.
movement is the KEY . they can pick up me in a window watching. so they can pick you up if you move the gun

[Winger Ed.]

movement is the KEY . they can pick up me in a window watching. so they can pick you up if you move the gun

Their eye sight for detecting movement is amazing.

My Dad swore a deer or turkey could see movement in the whites of your eyes at 100 yards.

[richhodg66]

Their eye sight for detecting movement is amazing.

My Dad swore a deer or turkey could see movement in the whites of your eyes at 100 yards.

Being above their line of sight helps tremendously. I've shot about as many from the ground in some manner of blind or another as I have from tree stands, but I will always try to get in a tree if possible. It really doesn't take much height, 12 feet or so will do it. If you can stay quiet, they don't look up.

[bedbugbilly]

Over 50 years ago, my Dad and I stopped in to a sporting goods store in our small town that a friend of my Dad owned to pick up our deer licenses a couple of days before season opened. They had just received a display of "cover scent" in and were all excited about it. He gave us a container of it to try out. Opening day, we got up early to go hunting and Dad thought we ought to try out the cover scent so we sprayed some on our hunting clothes. I remember it had the strong odor of apples. We left the house and before daylight, we were in the woods on the farm. We were sitting against trees - maybe 50 foot apart overlooking a long swamp on the farm. Just at daybreak, we heard noise behind us and we looked at each other. We both kept very still, thinking the it was deer coming through from behind and we would hopefully let them pass. Hah! All of a sudden my Dad was watching me and laughing out loud just as I felt heavy warm breath on the side of my neck. I turned, and there was one of our Holsteins getting ready to lick my head. I started laughing and before we knew it, we had the entire herd of Holsteins - about thirty - surrounding us sniffing. WE knew they had access to the woodlot but figured there would be up near the barn like they usually were. Yep . . . that "cover scent" certainly worked well. We never did see a deer that morning but we mad it a point to stop in at our friend's sporting goods store to report how well the "cover scent" worked in calling the herd in.

Whee we lived in lower MI, our county had one of the highest deer populations as well as car-deer accidents. They were so used to seeing humans, hearing farm machinery, etc. that I don't think until a few days of people banging away at them that they even paid attention.
IMHO, "cover scent" products are like "go fasters" for cars or the "latest" in "have to haves".

[SSGOldfart]

I have found that the smell of wood smoke and beer works well.

As does bacon & eggs.

[BrutalAB]

Next year im going to rub myself all over my truck's grill, bumper and headlights before i go hunt.

[.429&H110]

Long time ago I had deer hunting teenagers coming home in the evening covered with "Scent-Bloc". I also had a big black dog that wanted to bite them in their cami. (Dog's mother was a german shepherd, daddy was a big black dog). So the twilight game was leash KC and chase them in the dark New Hampshire October evening. KC could track them just fine, didn't understand climbing trees, would run right on by. By the time we got home the boys were out of cami, still a little stinky, and KC would be embarrassed, I've been chasing my boys? Next time same thing, over and over, stinky cami is going to get bit. KC hated stinky cami. That's how we taught KC to track. Once she got the idea, she could track our toddler for a mile. She was a great dog, a born babysitter. Never bit strangers, 'cause I was standing on her leash. "Scent-Bloc" works I guess, KC didn't know what they were. Bow-musket-rifle deer season was good fun.

[trails4u]

Bourbon, cigar smoke and lots of really good smoked/grilled meat seems to work.....all stunk up in the same clothes I've probably been wearing for 4-5 days. Downwind....of course.

[Three44s]

A friend of mine was out calling coyotes.

He walked up a trail and set up a calling stand.

Five minutes into the calling a coyote sauntered right up that very same trail.

My friend had used a cover sent named “Earth” for the first time that morning.

Three44s

[facetious]

Try patchouli oil . Thy will think you are a vegan and come over so you can pet them.

[Winger Ed.]

The idea of cover scent reminds me of the picture with a Customs dog and its handler trying give it one of those 'beggin strips'.

The dog was looking at him rather sternly, and the caption under the picture was something like:

'I can find a gram of cocaine in a hooker's butt. And you think I can't tell what's fake bacon'?

[CLAYPOOL]

I have started sitting those 1800 pound round bales by my set ups and towers.......

[Three44s]

I have started sitting those 1800 pound round bales by my set ups and towers.......

I think that’s pretty wise!

A large amount of hay gives off its own odors that the animals have no reason to fear and also floods the area with them. That dilutes the human presence.

Many wild animals live in the proximity of humans, if they panicked every time they got a whiff they would not thrive. The trick in those circumstances is to not push the threshold of their comfort level.

It just depends on the circumstances the animals live in.

Three44s

[dangitgriff]

Honey-roasted peanut butter works real well when hunting black bears. Just don’t put any on yourself.

[johniv]

After years of experience, I'm sure the only ones who benefit from cover scents are the guys selling it. You will not fool the nose of a buck or a bull. Stay downwind, and move slow.

NAILED it!

[10x]

After years of experience, I'm sure the only ones who benefit from cover scents are the guys selling it. You will not fool the nose of a buck or a bull. Stay downwind, and move slow.

Understated.
We have snow. I have put doe urine swatches near scrapes where several whitetail bucks frequent. There are no tracks in the snow to investigate the patches. Watching these bucks trail a doe, their nose is to the ground and they seldom look up.
I suspect that doe in estrus urine that is fresh combined with the scent of the glands is what they like.
As for cover up scents, your scent is warm, it rises in cool fall air, even in a breeze. A breeze also dilutes your scent.
I have been less than 15 yards from deer , upwind and on the ground, in camo and they have not scented me. When they saw me move they did start, but there seemed to be no reaction to scent.

[farmbif]

I don't know about the deer where you live . but around me they are constantly on edge, lots and lots of coyote pressure I guess, and if they are downwind of you they gonna smell you and tear on out of there. unless you been hand feeding them and their babies corn and apples for years.

[waksupi]

Understated.
We have snow. I have put doe urine swatches near scrapes where several whitetail bucks frequent. There are no tracks in the snow to investigate the patches. Watching these bucks trail a doe, their nose is to the ground and they seldom look up.
I suspect that doe in estrus urine that is fresh combined with the scent of the glands is what they like.
As for cover up scents, your scent is warm, it rises in cool fall air, even in a breeze. A breeze also dilutes your scent.
I have been less than 15 yards from deer , upwind and on the ground, in camo and they have not scented me. When they saw me move they did start, but there seemed to be no reaction to scent.

Bucks don't go to a scrape to check them. They go downwind, usually 50-100 yards away. If they catch the scent, then they will follow the trail. No need for them to go directly to the scrape to check, their nose tells them the way. They go to the scrape every 3-4 days to freshen them.

[Pinger87]

Try patchouli oil . Thy will think you are a vegan and come over so you can pet them.

This made my day, thanks. Big anti-vegan here bahaha!

[RU shooter]

I believe it really depends on the area you hunt if the deer are used to seeing and smelling cars or tractors or whatever walking into the woods with that type of scent ain't really gonna bother them too much same with wood smoke if there's houses around with wood burners there used to it . I do know that they must really love the smell of coffee ! Half the deer I've killed have walk by the minute I crack my thermos and pour a cup :-)

[Lloyd Smale]

ive parked my jeep and walked in the 1/4 mile to my blind and came back out at night to see deer tracks only feet away from the jeep so maybe gas would be a good one. I just take a shower before i go out and wash my clothes often. I aint smelling like a skunk or some pine tree.

[Ural Driver]

Never saw the need. I have found that sitting very still pretty much negates any scent in a given area.

[remy3424]

Before I retired from archery hunting, washed all my hunting clothes, underwear to coat & hat, using a detergent designed for hunters, no scent or UV brighteners. Wore rubber boots, kept everything sealed in a large tote in the bed of my pick-up, under the bed cover, with some fresh cut cedar branches. Dressed/undressed in the field. If the wind was wrong they would smell me in the tree stand. The does would stomp and snort, even if they couldn't see you. I think maybe the most important thing was the rubber boots and tucking your pant/coverall into them...they couldn't seem to detect where I walked like they could with my regular hunting boots. Anything that wasn't a natural smell will put them on alert, never believed in any artificial producted scents, thought to a deer it wouldn't be close to the real deal. Keep downwind to be sucessful.

[Castaway]

There’s the old Redd Fox joke about a lady salesman with a flatulence problem. She got on the elevator on the 1st floor by herself, door closed and she released some abdominal pressure, then pulled out a bottle of pine scent. Of course, a drunk got on at the next floor, sniffed a time or two and the lady, thinking she had a potential sale, commented about the fresh smell. He responded by saying it smelled like someone pooped a pine tree. A human smells a Big Mac, a deer I’ve been told, smells two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles and a sesame seed bun.

[Winger Ed.]

There’s the old Redd Fox joke about a lady salesman with a flatulence problem. .

That reminds me:
A little old lady went to the Doctor.
After getting in the small examining room, she told the Doctor her problem.

"Doctor, I have excessive gas. I pass gas almost constantly. I even did it in the waiting room a few times, and twice
just since I've been in here. But fortunately, they don't smell, and you can't hear them either".

The Doctor said, "Hmmm". Then started writing something on his little prescription pad.

She was over joyed. "Doctor, you mean there is a pill or medicine to cure this condition"?

The Doctor said,
"No, not exactly, but here is a prescription for something to clear up your sinuses, and the name of a good hearing specialist".

[country gent]

Always wanted trying to use the big tractor as a blind since whenever I was working ground I seen deer. Deer get used to things over time farm equipment, cars trucks. At the club I belong to deer nd turkeys both come out on the rifle range to browse on the grass an clover on the rifle range shooting dosnt seem to bother them.

Possibly the best way is to spend some time in your blind or stand during off season and let them get used to you, become a natural part of it to them

[Winger Ed.]

Always wanted trying to use the big tractor as a blind

My relatives down in the Hill Country would drive a car until it fell apart and wasn't worth dragging to the scrap yard.
They put them out under a tree somewhere and used them for deer blinds.
It worked well, and you could roll up the windows, or lay a towel by the hole in the windshield if it was cold or raining.

In my experience, deer would tolerate cars or trucks coming fairly close, but even in the off season,
as soon as you stepped out- they'd blast off and break the sound barrier on their second step.

[10x]

Never saw the need. I have found that sitting very still pretty much negates any scent in a given area.

Nailed it. your scent is usually warmer than the air. it rises quickly. A breeze will dilute and dissipate your scent as well. The stronger the breeze, the quicker your scent is diluted.
I have hunted mule deer for 50 years. Mule deer have been less than 5 yards down wind from me and have never shown any alarm or reaction to my scent. They do startle when they see me.
The old stories where an animal is over 30 yards away and the author recounts of the animal spooking because of scent have to be taken with a grain or two of salt - at least in my experience with deer, moose, and bear.