Can game smell your gun?

[ghh3rd]

With all of the things that people do to hide their scent from their prey, I've never see anything mentioned about hiding the scent from the gun. If there is a way, how do you do it?

Thanks

Randy

[outdoorfan]

They smell everything. I don't worry about it. I do the best I can, hunt the wind the best I can, and let happen whatever happens.

[357maximum]

Human BO is what gives you away. No matter how bad you stink they cannot smell you when you are downwind. No matter how pleasant you smell they will smell you when they are close enough and downwind.....I do not care how much "special soap" or special gimmick clothing you wear.

I have hunted while just reaking of diesel fuel and cow manure....In this neck of the woods it is very likely the best "cover" scent combo available.

I highly doubt if you took your oily old gun and put it in the woods by itself the deer would come running from it's smell. Now hold onto it in the same place and the results would vary quite substantially when they got downwind of YOU.

[6pt-sika]

Sure they cam smell your gun !

Lots of folks wash in scent free soap and wash their clothes in something like that as well .However many folks forget another small detail that can wreck killing a big buck for them !

And thats their mouth ! You need to brush your teeth and do some scent free mouthwash as well .

And while all of this is true I've killed a heck of alot of deer with my ATV parked within 75 yards of the tree I happened to be sitting in !And I know darn well that thing has gasoline and oil smells out the ying yang !

[vanilla_gorilla]

If you watched a hunting show on cable TV, you'd wonder how a hunter in the 50s ever managed to kill a deer while wearing a flannel shirt and a pair of jeans.

[WickedGoodOutdoors]

I wipe down my gun with Fluid Film on a rag to protect it and give it that dandy Lanolin smell. Then I tie on a piece of flannel to the sling and drench it in Harmons cover scent. Usually Acorn or Cedar as thats what type of woods I normally hunt in. http://www.harmondeerscents.com/products.aspx?cat=2

I wash my hunting clouths in Baking Soda and Tee Tree oil to kill the scent and keep deer ticks away. spray down with the approprite cover scents after apppling a liberal ammount of Deet.

But the most important scent control is what you eat. If you dont believe me just take a walk thru any international airport, close your eyes and guess what ethnic culute the people are walking near you. Youll be surprized. Do you smell curry, soy sauce, garlic, lamb, beef, pork or Greesy Fast Food (Yuk!)emiting from the sweat pores of the people. You bet you can.

Following that logic if you want to hunt heravous; then you need to eat like a herabavore for a few days prior to hunting. Sounds bad eh? Well try Hot Oatmeal with Blackstrap Mollasses. Its Yummy and the Deer like it. Try Big fresh veggie salads with olive oil and vinager. Just what the Moose eat. if your hunting Pigs, well we all know what a Pork Burrito smells like the day after.

Go for it!

http://www.chefspantry.co.nz/site/gourmetchefs/images/Glossary/Baba_ganoush__1.jpg

[BABore]

Last one that tried to smell my gun I shot square in the lips.:bigsmyl2:

[Dennis Eugene]

I have a theory about all the cover sents on the market, and it goes something like this. All the fishing lures at the tackle shop were made to catch fishermen, not fish. Dennis

[waksupi]

I agree with Dennis. All the cover scents are sucker bait, and they work just fine for that purpose.

[357maximum]

You could just eat corn/beans/browse and sleep outside on the ground for 6months before season............then you just might get accepted into the herd.
Could very well lead to the biggest buck of your life....assuming you totally earn their trust first. Make it work the first time though, they might not ever trust a human again. :veryconfu:veryconfu:veryconfu

[Triggerhappy]

I think Dennis is right. I've never smelled fish bait stink stuff that smelled in the least appetizing. I do however hunt into the wind. That way I don't have to shower outside of my once a month schedule and sure don't put on deer perfume.

When working on a cattle ranch the elk herds will absolutely ignore you if you simply go about your business. You can darn near ride a horse, atv, jeep or bike with bells on it into a herd if they don't feel you trying to sneak up to them. It's kind of funny, you can sit on a ridge line and watch the herd move and hide when they "feel" hunters approaching. Not sure what it's all about. You can watch the hunters drive the elk just out of sight range just by sneaking around. It's a sight to see.

Then the hunters come up and ask where the elk are. They missed them by a couple of hundred yards. Sometimes I would swear it has nothing to do with smell as much as sounds of sneak.

TH

[acemedic13]

You could just eat corn/beans/browse and sleep outside on the ground for 6months before season............then you just might get accepted into the herd.
Could very well lead to the biggest buck of your life....assuming you totally earn their trust first. Make it work the first time though, they might not ever trust a human again. :veryconfu:veryconfu:veryconfu

I read this 10 minutes ago and I am still laughing. Great post!

[Baron von Trollwhack]

The wintergreen (?) scent they put in bore butter when it first came out was so strong it would bring tears to your eyes useing it. If you happened to touch your nose it was like snorting Vicks Vapo Rub.

It was so strong it didn't matter which way the wind was blowing, even a human could smell it at 300 yards.

BvT

[Three-Fifty-Seven]

The wintergreen (?) scent they put in bore butter when it first came out was so strong it would bring tears to your eyes useing it. If you happened to touch your nose it was like snorting Vicks Vapo Rub.

It was so strong it didn't matter which way the wind was blowing, even a human could smell it at 300 yards.

BvT

Yeah, I noticed that smell in the T-17 I just got . . . smells like toothpaste! (basiclly the "new improved bore butter")

[Gerry N.]

The area I hunt is a busy place with the owner operating a gravel pit, as well as running a few dozen head of beef cattle. Guys are driving and walking all over the place all year. It is also overrun with deer and elk. If you sneak in on weekends and skulk around like Leather Stockings from the Last of the Mohicans you will swear the deer and elk tracks were put there with a stamp, you never see a live animal. If you walk around like you own the place, you nearly have to shove the deer and elk out of your way. Shooting one is dang near unfair. (I do it anyway and the landowner asks that I use a muzzleloader, no handicap there.)

I've come to the conclusion that smell is not the big bugaboo there, behavior is.

Gerry N.

[legend]

NO dead deer ever smelled my gun.

[Loudenboomer]

The wind is indeed our most trusted ally on the stalk but I do lay off the Hoppes #9 and the Kroil on the way.

[blaster]

They do make Invisible Gun cleaning kits. I've never tried them. I am really careful (laundry soap, shower, scent killer spray) in bow season with scent on account of limited range, but i lax a little during gun since I don't have to try and get them within 30yd.

In my experience they will smell you no mater what if they get in the "right place" but you can reduce the the size of the "right place."

[superior]

If you hunt next to a lake, try not to be too close to the water's edge. If a fish smells the wd-40 on your rifle, he might jump out of the water and try to bite it, making alot of noise and spoiling your cover!

[PatMarlin]

Salmon love WD-40.

[dualsport]

Deer love apples. I used apple scent for a cover up. It works, maybe you could rub a little on your gun, just for luck. It might attract a bear too, though, so heads up. Sage makes a potent cover up too, just rub a handful on your clothes.

[Multigunner]

If you've ever wondered why a dog will roll around on a rotten carcase it finds in the woods, its because to hunt sucessfully a dog knows it must smell like anything but a dog.

Game animals don't worry a bit about something that smells long dead.

Old Fishermen never die they just smell that way, same was probably said of hunters in the old days.
Indians knew this and used various salves made from rancid bear fat to cover their body odor.
Most indians bathed every morning even if they had to break through ice to do it, but the various potions they used would burn the hair out of your nostrils. They had strong insect repellents as well.
The term Redskin actually was the name of one of the first tribes explorers encountered, the insect repellent they used had Ochre mixed with bear grease and painted the skin bright red.