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Cover sent

I wash all my hunting gear in scent free detergent. Dry it with scent free dryer sheets and put it in a box with dirt wafers. I bathe in scent free hair/body wash. Haven't been busted since I started doing that, no matter which direction the deer come from. Pigs will still bust you tho
 
I used used to use all the those fancy scent free soaps and sprays. Used them for years and they was effective but now after last year seeing these guys stand around the camp fire to get there cloths covered in fresh camp fire smoke I started doing it. Now I didn’t hand them above the smoke or really “soak” them in the smoke but just stood around the campfire and now worry about the smoke getting on my cloths. I purposely didn’t play the wind at all last season and after doing the smoke thing I didn’t get busted even once. Not saying this would work for everyone but our lease they do controlled burns a lot so I think they are used to that smell and it covers the human scent very good. I’m almost certain that if I did these back home on our farm in the Midwest it would have the opposite effect but I was shocked how well it worked for me here.
 
Ive thrown out extinguished logs from the campfire to use as my perimeter cover scent.
Works well for deer that aren’t privy to it......for instance I was hunting sapelo island where the deer are smart about the hunters.
My clothes smelled like the campfire and a record buck with a massive rack broke out of the palmettos , immediately put his nose up, looked up the tree right at me and bolted.
It was the first half hour of the three day hunt and only two does were taken from our group of thirty some guys then the last day someone nabbed him and he was a record.

That being said my buddy built a massive fire one day in the winter after freezing from a very cold waist deep creek crossing.
While warming himself at the fire , the biggest buck he’d ever seen curiously walked past about 25 yards from him just staring at the fire.

if I had my choice I’d prefer scent control and deer pee cover scent such as ever calm which is like a speed stick deodorant that you rub on your boots that is supposed to smell like deer have been bedding there.
I’ve had good luck with it on wma’s and areas where deer aren’t smart to humans but if I’m going to heavily hunted areas or areas I hunt frequently I prefer total scent control with only my clothes smelling like natural pine branches.
Rubber boots are good for not transferring scent also.

Really it’s hit and miss and you’ll find that everything I just said may be total BS in relation to your next hunt.
 
I started serious deer hunting in SE GA, in an old deer club.

All of the local natives would throw some lightard knots on the fire before breakfast and "bathe" in the smoke. They burnt those particular woods every year, and you could always smell that burnt pine tar odor, especially if the humidity was high.

The swore by it, and they killed a lot of deer, Don't know if it attracted the deer, but it sure didn't scare them away.
 
My hunting clothes have never been washed. Most of them have blood stains on them from dragging or gutting. Usually use dead down wind if I used store bought scent. That blood smell combine with some pine scent and dirt works better to me.
 
Carcinogens. Firefighter for 24 years. Permeates skin, absorbs into your system. Stay clean, scent free soap, pine needles in your bag w clothes, dirt scented wafers work great. Good luck.
 
The first goal is to be as scent free as possible. Then use a cover scent that is natural to the area you are in. Fire isn't that common in the woods and the more hunters using a specific scent for cover that is not natural to the area, the smarter the deer get about it. The older mature bucks will probably be the smartest around.

The one scent that can be found practically anywhere in any type of woods is fresh earth. That's the only cover scent I use.
 
I never had luck with those earth scented wafers or earth scent killer spray.
But I have had curious deer come around after digging up some soil under the leaves near my stand.
I’ve dug up the earth in a triangular pattern about 30 yards from my stand and it seems to spark their curiosity.
 
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