Here's the question. What distance does it take for your scent to dissipate to the point a deer can't smell you?
As most of you know I am not a believer in cover scents, attractants and the like. I do go rather extreme in managing my scent. I use the hunter body wash before going in the woods, I wash all my hunting gear in unscented soaps after every hunt and store in plastic containers to keep out smells, I wear rubber knee high boots and so on. It's a rare occasion I get busted by a deer.
The reason for the question is on my last hunt I was sitting on the ground on a small hill watching this tree line on the other side of the clear cut. The wind was not in my favor at all. It was blowing 5-10 mph from behind me to the tree line about 200 yards away.
I had what looked like a 2.5 year old 8 point come down the tree line and over the course of about 30 minutes work his way through the area I was sure he would scent me. He never did. I got the impression he was trying to pick up the scent of a hot doe the way he would stop and smell the air.
It got me thinking about what was actually happening to my scent. Obviously it would be the strongest at the source and as it moves away it fans out wider and wider until it gets to a point that the deer can not smell it. So that is the question, how far is that? What impact could the weather conditions have as far as temp, humidity and wind speed?
As most of you know I am not a believer in cover scents, attractants and the like. I do go rather extreme in managing my scent. I use the hunter body wash before going in the woods, I wash all my hunting gear in unscented soaps after every hunt and store in plastic containers to keep out smells, I wear rubber knee high boots and so on. It's a rare occasion I get busted by a deer.
The reason for the question is on my last hunt I was sitting on the ground on a small hill watching this tree line on the other side of the clear cut. The wind was not in my favor at all. It was blowing 5-10 mph from behind me to the tree line about 200 yards away.
I had what looked like a 2.5 year old 8 point come down the tree line and over the course of about 30 minutes work his way through the area I was sure he would scent me. He never did. I got the impression he was trying to pick up the scent of a hot doe the way he would stop and smell the air.
It got me thinking about what was actually happening to my scent. Obviously it would be the strongest at the source and as it moves away it fans out wider and wider until it gets to a point that the deer can not smell it. So that is the question, how far is that? What impact could the weather conditions have as far as temp, humidity and wind speed?