Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Baking Soda

Critters smell our skin cells. Our bodies release 30,000 to 40,000 skin cells per hour. If we could see the cells, we’d look like a dust cloud 24/7-365.
Even with the fancy “scent bla-bla” BS clothing. Cells poof out every tiny opening like a chimney.
Hunt the wind and enjoy time in the woods.

I have been using baking soda to wash my hunting clothes since I started hunting. Grand father always did it and never wore camo a day in his life. His hunting clothes consisted of a pair of bib overalls and a red/black plaid shirt. He hunted the wind and always kept the freezer full. The sponsored hunters can keep their 50# back pack full of make up and unnecessary extras. I will keep harvesting animals without all that extra crap.

Deer as well as hogs, dogs, and lots of other animals don’t smell the way we do

We smell apple pie. They smell the ingredients kinda thing

Wind is your friend. All the scent spray, baking soda, and soap do is make us feel better about it. And maybe cut down our scent a small amount. Not enough to fool them though if they get your wind

I do wash my clothes in scent free and UV free detergent. I put them on when I get there and out of the vehicle. Back in the plastic when I get done. It’s definitely good practice, but I don’t think if a deer is directly down wind it isn’t going to smell me despite my best efforts.

While I'm not going to say that those who say "Hunt the wind" are wrong, I will say I have had different experiences.

When I was confident that I'd followed my baking soda regimen as well as I could, I've been able to get deer within touching distance from the downwind side. When I knew I'd done something wrong (like not showered in the morning or worn yesterday's clothes) I've had deer bust me from 70 yards on my upwind side. These are extreme examples; my overall everyday experience is somewhat less, but I've found that baking soda helps tremendously.

I didn't start this thread to convince everyone to start using baking soda. My aim is to provide a cheap alternative to the myriad of expensive and largely ineffective commercial alternatives. If you have good luck in a wool coat that's been sitting in the closet for a year, that's fine. I'm not saying you're wrong. Mind you, I've gone the other way in all this and tried hunting in just my work Carharts. With the wind in my face, I can be fairly effective. However, I leave that testing for later in the season, after I've filled my buck tag and I'm playing eanie-meanie with the does, trying to fill my freezer. How low can I go? Bottom line: I believe the morning shower with baking soda is the key. If I've not had that, then by afternoon, then I'm definitely working against myself.

Hunting the wind is probably the easiest and cheapest way out there, but even a modicum of attention to scent control goes a long way. For instance, if somebody stops using Gain to wash their hunting clothes and used sodium bicarb instead, that can be a huge boost. Packing a wool hunting coat in baking soda in the off-season can do wonders. If you simply shower with baking soda instead of whatever it is you're currently using and you do so once a day, it can really improve things. I would not be saying this if I had not witnessed it over 30-some years.

The upwind deer never busted you by scent. The downwind ones most likely weren't in your scent stream hence not really "downwind", although they may have appeared to be. Scent doesn't necessarily travel like you think it does and go where you think it's going. I've had deer at very close range many times that would have appeared to all the world to be "down wind" if it weren't for the steady stream of smoke from my cigarette passing within feet in front of, to the side or over top of them. When all there is is a light breeze or air current, smoke will stay in a narrow stream for quite a distance before slowly spreading out. Many years of hunting while smoking and with dogs has convinced me that scent does much the same.

I've been doing a lot of reading of materials from the early to late 1800's. Even then, hunters marveled at how game that had never encountered a human responded and vacated the scene when given scent. Visual, and auditory cues, not so much, but scent was to be feared. Seems universally true from the Arctic down into deepest darkest Africa.

On a related subject. Years ago I had a friend who was all excited that he'd finally be invisible to deer noses that season because he'd just bought a new scent lock suit. Opening morning on the way to hunt he farted in the cab of the truck while wearing the suit. I was quick to point out that his new suit didn't work worth a shyt as I rolled down the window.

🤢

I'm sure the suit maker has a good explanation (aka excuse) for that.

The Hunting Public guys carry milkweed fluff that works like the little down floaters some sell. Follows the currents. Both are probably better than the chalk-dust stuff that dissipates just about the time it starts to really show you something useful. Wind is just part of the fun.

I use milkweed as well or have the little fluffed cotton. It works way better that a powder windicator. Although you really can use the powder, you just need to turn it upside down and really blow some powder out to make it show you outside like 20 yards

I started getting ready for the Opener this AM, right after the rain moved out. By 0700, I had a load going:

I'd have expected a minimum of 4 paragraphs for shamanic clothes line instruction.

Don't blame a guy for trying, but put me in the camp of ozonics, scent loks, baking sodas, etc as a waste of time.

Now, don't go getting mean. Considering all the serious OCD stuff I see on the subject, I'd say my baking soda article was fairly tame.

Besides, it's a fraction of the cost per load than using regular laundry detergent-- let alone what you pay for all those store-bought scent killing products. I'm just letting folks know that there is an easy, cheap DIY alternative.

Tide Free or Arm & Hammer Free and Clear for all of my clothes.