Scent free in off season

[BluewaterFever]

So, I got to thinking about scent control in the off season while in the woods.

What do you all do about scent control after hunting season is over and you are going into the deer woods where you will be hunting next season? Do you not give it a thought and go or make other preparations?

I have a pair of boots that I use for the woods only, no hunting and scent free woods work clothes and try to stay somewhat scent free. Not sure if it makes a difference but I like to think it helps.

I'm talking about when you do stand / blind work or removal, shed hunting, feeder filling (if you do year-round feeders) camera card/battery replacement and early scouting.

If I'm going to move or place a stand, I think that you would want to be somewhat scent free to not give deer the advantage of knowing what's going on any more than they do.
Any thoughts??

 

[BigBass123]

I’m strictly scouting and looking for new spots when I go into the woods, no stand/feeder work due to hunting public land, but I’m not paying attention to wind/scent at all right now.

The way I look at it, I doubt they’ll remember me in 9 months and I doubt something whether a person, dog, or coyote won’t bump them between now and then anyways.

 

[antharper]

I don’t give it a second thought .

 

[westcobbdog]

I many times take a smoke bath in pine needles.

 

[bigchiefchoctaw]

I do the usual wash clothes and store in scent free totes. Store everything i hunt with in tubs. Then I smoke them with hardwood smoke prior to hunting. Best thing I ever did.. would have never thought smoke would help that much. I do take baths and all that in invented soap etc..I do have separate rubber boots for working in than I do hunting. I’m not nearly obsessed with scent as I once was when a young buck. But I am still mindful of it and hunt the wind

 

[davidhelmly]

Don’t give it a second thought.

 

[Timberman]

I think about it if i'm setting stands or figuring out entry/exit trails but otherwise no. Deer get bumped all the time by people.

 

[sghoghunter]

I’m not much on being scent free when I’m hunting and for sure don’t pay any attention to it in the off season.

 

[antharper]

I do the usual wash clothes and store in scent free totes. Store everything i hunt with in tubs. Then I smoke them with hardwood smoke prior to hunting. Best thing I ever did.. would have never thought smoke would help that much. I do take baths and all that in invented soap etc..I do have separate rubber boots for working in than I do hunting. I’m not nearly obsessed with scent as I once was when a young buck. But I am still mindful of it and hunt the wind

You do all this in the offseason ?

 

[Railroader]

 

[bigchiefchoctaw]

You do all this in the offseason ?

No. I misread the post. I do what I mentioned aboveduring season. I just store everything in the tote in the off season. If I go to the woods in the off season for work stand removal or whatever I just wear my rubber work boots

 

[basshappy]

This year I am continuing something I started last season - leaving my outerwear in the woods where I will hunt next season. Pants, shirt, jacket, head covering, gloves. I left a ghili suit in the woods last year and deer got used to it - walking past it. When I wore the suit this past season deer came within feet of me and never blew, stamped, or ran off.

i am convinced that scent is a deer's greatest strength and human's greatest weakness. We can be still and quiet, but we cannot not stink. Minimizing my stink has become a high priority in hunting. Having my hunt layers in the woods where I hunt will allow them to become one with the woods, and the deer to get used to them (sight and smell). I will move them around after a couple of months pass - I want their sight and scent to be apparent in various areas of our land. We'll see next year how this pans out.

 

[Cool Hand Luke]

This year I am continuing something I started last season - leaving my outerwear in the woods where I will hunt next season. Pants, shirt, jacket, head covering, gloves. I left a ghili suit in the woods last year and deer got used to it - walking past it. When I wore the suit this past season deer came within feet of me and never blew, stamped, or ran off.

i am convinced that scent is a deer's greatest strength and human's greatest weakness. We can be still and quiet, but we cannot not stink. Minimizing my stink has become a high priority in hunting. Having my hunt layers in the woods where I hunt will allow them to become one with the woods, and the deer to get used to them (sight and smell). I will move them around after a couple of months pass - I want their sight and scent to be apparent in various areas of our land. We'll see next year how this pans out.

Never done it myself but have heard of folks leaving sweaty t-shirts hanging in their hunting areas just to get the deer used to that human smell.

 

[Whitefeather]

Not going to disappoint

 

[Toliver]

This year I am continuing something I started last season - leaving my outerwear in the woods where I will hunt next season. Pants, shirt, jacket, head covering, gloves. I left a ghili suit in the woods last year and deer got used to it - walking past it. When I wore the suit this past season deer came within feet of me and never blew, stamped, or ran off.

i am convinced that scent is a deer's greatest strength and human's greatest weakness. We can be still and quiet, but we cannot not stink. Minimizing my stink has become a high priority in hunting. Having my hunt layers in the woods where I hunt will allow them to become one with the woods, and the deer to get used to them (sight and smell). I will move them around after a couple of months pass - I want their sight and scent to be apparent in various areas of our land. We'll see next year how this pans out.

Wouldn't a bale of pinestraw in the stand with a fake pumpkin with a beard colored on it for a head be easier?

 

[Raylander]

I usually go opposite. Smell the woods up during season.

I do things like save my SlimJim and sausage biscuit wrappers. Scatter them around the stand. Maybe hang some dirty undies from a nearby tree limb. Shoot, sometime I just go down to my stand, build a raging fire, drink beer, and pee all around

 

[Milkman]

We make lots of effort to minimize scent, noise, lights, etc. during hunting season.
During off season is when all sorts of odd smelling scents are in the woods on the places I hunt. Stuff like.

Chainsaw gas and oil
Tractor diesel
Fertilizer
Herbicides
Hammer, drill, saw, etc.

 

[Hunter922]

They can smell?

 

[sleepr71]

I try to do all of that right before a rain. That way..all of my scent gets washed away…

 

[slow motion]

No thought in off season.