Human Scents scares deer - old wives tale???

[galamb]

Got out today for the third time this early bow season. Myself and the guy I hunt with boogied up after work getting to our stands about 4:45 pm. We radio each other when we are "in" to make sure neither of us fell off the ladder etc.

Well I'm just replying to him when I catch some movement. A nice sized doe is standing about 18 yards in front of me (I'm up 12 feet) looking intently at my corn pile - the time is 5:08 pm (last shooting light "today" is/was 7:11 pm - so she was out "early")

Since I don't have a doe tag I decide to watch her for a bit. After 10 minutes or so of watching her wolf down half the pile of corn I decide to see how much noise I can make etc before she either bolts or moves on.

Now, I'm wearing the same hunting clothes I wore on my previous two outings this year (last Saturday/Sunday) along with my hunting jacket that has been sitting around the basement since last season. I DO NOT use any scent blockers, scent killing soap etc - never really believed in those products.

There is no "wind" but the scent stick I have burning (Tinks All Season) is "drifting" in her direction, so have to figure my scent is moving that way as well.

So first I try some of the "typical noises" that you try not to make when you have a deer close. I shift in my seat causing a few creaking sounds - no response - she keeps eating. I stifle a cough in my elbow (because it seems you always have to cough when Bambi is near) - again, not so much as a tail twitch.

Next I unzip my coats. That causes a pause, her ears swivel a bit - she looks around but after five or ten seconds she goes back to dinner. The last thing I tried was the "coffee test" - I opened the thermos and poured a coffee - and not in the "stealthy manner" I would typically, fearing the slightest metallic noise would send Bambi running from miles around. Nothing - even made a "piddling noise" pouring the coffee - no response.

The only sound that got a real reaction was when I rubbed the sleeve of my jacket on the bark of a tree - that bristling sound brought her to full alert. Again, though, she looked around, twitched the tail a few times but after maybe 15 or 20 seconds of looking/listening she went back to feeding.

Now I go for one of the hotly debated topics - cigarette smoke. I light up a smoke - the noise from the lighter - no response. Then I blow the smoke in her direction - nothing - not a sniff, not a look.

This went on for another 45 minutes before she left the corn pile and moved onto leaves in the surrounding area. She moved to barely 6 yards directly in front of my stand and was eating the leaves off very small trees (seemed to favour oak leaves). Anyhow, figured somehow she missed the cigarette smoke earlier so lit another one and blew the smoke "down" (with me 12 feet up and her 5-6 yards in front of me, she was practically "directly below") - again, she didn't even "sniff".

Now I realize that this is just one deer - and she might be the "densest deer in the forest", but that little experiment (which I will try again) dispelled a lot of the "conventional wisdom" that has been tossed around the hunt camp over the years - at least for "me"...

[Normous]

The way I see it she won't have a chance to pass on her genetics. Do you know any young apprentice hunters who would love to fill a doe tag?

[sproulman]

I smoke my clothes from maxwell house coffee can i never use any kind of scent things ..i use maple/pine/oak leaves and smoke my clothes..all deer here in pa smell home/camp smoke 24/7 all their lives it does not spook them..

have doe sleeping under my stand every year never knew i was there. i use fox pee on my rubber boots on bottom walking in...
You want to scare that doe put out DOE pee scent will scare them away taking your buck with them...I am seeing that a lot now while hunting ..

[xcaliber]

She has a sinus infection! Very common this time of year!
As Tom Petty would say, you got lucky!

I had a small buck bed down right under my stand a few years back, and after all kinds of attempts to drive him off, I finally dropped my water bottle on his head, he took off! You just never know is the point here, sometimes you get away with more than you think, and other times, not so much.

[wabi]

Get a bag of corn chips and munch them as fast as you can while trying to hear the TV.
I think sometimes they have a hard time hearing when they munch corn.

[artifact]

I've had to put a lit cigarette down more than once to shoot, last 15 yrs. it's been a cigar! Of course they are upwind and I don't think it matters at all what you smell like, downwind different story. I had a buck broadside at 10 yds. while on the ground last year but not enough horn to be legal. I missed a legal one at 20 yds. from the ground when the expanding broadhead apparently opened prematurely and glanced off the stirrup.
Hunting from the same ground stand, I had to put the cigar down in order to shoot a doe with the flintlock! Maybe they like the cigar smell!

[L. E. Carroll]

You have me wondering if what's going on with her doesn't have more to do with the corn she's used to eating there ?

Quite possibly your doe would react much differently if foraging for her food rather having that corn readibly available at any time day or night.

I will not let my thoughts or feelings enter into any of this. I feel if baiting is legal and what it takes to harvest a game animal in your area, then you have the right to hunt using that method.

I personally find very few trees in the arid areas I hunt Mule Deer in. So I rely on " Still Hunting " thru the sage brush, or sitting or laying quietly, down wind, in wait along established game and cattle trails thru the sage brush between feeding and bedding areas while taking advantage of agricultural feeding areas rather than purposedly placed food piles.

I do know a vagrant breeze or an un-natural noise under those conditions will always get you busted.

Gene

[manitou1]

Both science and hundreds of thousands of hunters... or more have proven deer live and die by their olfactory senses. One doe that didn't smell you disproves or debunks nothing.
Anybody that has hunted for any length of time has encountered the inexplicable concerning scent. Whether the deer had an infection, an abnormality, was tame, or just let it's guard down... or maybe thermals or a switch in wind direction was not noticeable at 12 feet above the deer. Regardless, the fact that most deer under most circumstances will avoid you or bolt with the slightest hint of human scent. Chances are that even though it APPEARED the scent was reaching the deer, it was, in fact, not as it appeared. I would bet on that.

[Flecha]

This past Sunday I sat in thick tall grass, no more than 10 yd from trail. About an hour before sunset, a nice doe casually walked, crossing right in front of me. She actually caught me off guard and xbow was on my lap, resting on outstretched legs (I was leaning against tree). As she hesitated a moment, my heart pounding, I over-reacted and moved my hand to flick safety 'off'. Shoulda waited till she looked away, I know! I was wearing leafy smock and full face veil. She turned and looked at me, head bobbing, trying to figure out what she was seeing. At one point she actually walked half the distance TOWARDS me to get a better look. Finally, she turned and cautiously walked around and DOWNWIND of me, at which point she went berserk, snorting and pawing repeatedly, before FINALLY loping off into the woods.

It's not scientific, but I'm pretty sure she confirmed that I was a threat by smell...

[Carnivorous]

I was busted by a Doe on my Monday afternoon. The wind switched on me and she snorted and bolted. That's hunting....

[TheBig1]

Thank you for that observation.

I went hunting with my dad several years ago. It was in early January during our late archery/flintlock season so it was COLD. It was a very crisp morning. Eventually I made my way over to his stand, crawled up and sat down with him. He lit up a smoke and the smoke wafted down through the woods. About 2 minutes later 4 or 5 doe come running from the direction of the smoke. Not running because they'd been shot at, running in more of a curiosity type of way. I couldn't believe it.

[newbie]

I have seen more deer while turkey hunting and smoking than i care to admit(definitely more then all the time i spend hunting deer by a huge margin).
I had 13 around me this spring, 3 walked within 15 feet down wind..... not even a second thought from them.

The deer i hunt are accustomed to being in close contact with people, farm workers machinery etc around them all summer long. I think that they dont spook as easy.

[rayman]

Both science and hundreds of thousands of hunters... or more have proven deer live and die by their olfactory senses. One doe that didn't smell you disproves or debunks nothing.
Anybody that has hunted for any length of time has encountered the inexplicable concerning scent. Whether the deer had an infection, an abnormality, was tame, or just let it's guard down... or maybe thermals or a switch in wind direction was not noticeable at 12 feet above the deer. Regardless, the fact that most deer under most circumstances will avoid you or bolt with the slightest hint of human scent. Chances are that even though it APPEARED the scent was reaching the deer, it was, in fact, not as it appeared. I would bet on that.

This

[galamb]

Both science and hundreds of thousands of hunters... or more have proven deer live and die by their olfactory senses. One doe that didn't smell you disproves or debunks nothing.
Anybody that has hunted for any length of time has encountered the inexplicable concerning scent. Whether the deer had an infection, an abnormality, was tame, or just let it's guard down... or maybe thermals or a switch in wind direction was not noticeable at 12 feet above the deer. Regardless, the fact that most deer under most circumstances will avoid you or bolt with the slightest hint of human scent. Chances are that even though it APPEARED the scent was reaching the deer, it was, in fact, not as it appeared. I would bet on that.

I am not disagreeing that deer use there sense of smell as a major source for their personal protection. Where we may disagree is what they perceive as "dangerous". And I am certain that in area's of high hunting pressure "human scent" may be more "concerning" then in areas where they are almost never harassed.

And I do rely on those that believe "every scent" should be eradicated. I sell thousands of dollars of "scent killing products" to those that believe "no scent" is the only way to go.

As I stated, I will continue trying other experiments this season. I am not trying to change anyone's mind (just as it's unlikely that anyone will change mine) - I am just giving "observations".

And in the 46 years I have been hunting deer, moose and bear I can't say that any have been "spooked" by scent - now it may be that those that were alerted or scared by what they smelled didn't come around even close enough to spot, but I have never personally observed one that came within range and then snorted etc and high tailed it out of there - maybe I have just been lucky. I have sent a few running with "noise" (dropped something, banged the stock on a tree etc).

It just seems that for a few hundred years those that hunted to sustain their lives (since there was no local grocery store) did so at close range without the myriad of scent killing products, clothes, blinds, tree stand etc etc and survived long enough to become our great great grandparents - yet today, we are led to believe without "all these products" you are wasting your time if you step into the woods.

But do please keep buying - a chunk of my income depends on it

[Hi5]

Maybe here's a way of understanding differing reactions by deer to human scent.

If you are an urban dweller, when a police car passes by your house with siren going, you definitely take notice. However, unless it stops right at your house, you don't panic. If you live where there are no such things as police cars, you sure would panic just at the sound of the siren. If you live in some unfortunate part of the world where the police are a threat to everyone who isn't a police officer, seeing a police car in the distance would create panic.

I suspect that a deer not only can identify HUMAN scent, but likely the unique scent of one particular human. Dogs sure do. A dog will identify its owners scent for sure.

If you personally put out the bait that deer was feeding on, it wouldn't surprise me if she thought you smelled pretty darned good, for a human, that is.

Once when I was elk hunting from my tree stand, I had a doe and her fawn walk on my tracks, sniffing the ground, from the game trail over to the base of my ladder stand. The rope I had just used to haul my gear up to my seat was dangling down to the ground. She sniffed the rope and looked up and seemingly looked right through me. I was annoyed because I didn't want her making a big fuss and alerting any possible elk in the area. She just sniffed the rope and then walked calmly away.

Sometimes human scent is a good thing, such as around your bait pile. Sometimes it is a neutral message--humans are around, but so what? Some additional indication of threat is needed before panic arises. Sometimes human scent by itself can only be a bad message and it's time to panic. It all depends on the deer's experience.