Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting The Annual Shamanic Baking Soda Rant

This is about the time of year when I start preparing my deer hunting duds for the upcoming season, and this is about the same time of year that I give y’all my Shamanic Baking Soda Rant. Every year, I get a lot of flak for it-- always from guys who never tried it. It has not stopped me so far. In fact, the naysayers just keep pushing the thread up to the top. One of these days, they’ll catch on and just ignore it.

Here it is: Baking Soda-- The Shamanic Method

Does it work? I’ve been using this regimen in one form or the other since the late 1980s. What I can tell you is that when I spend the time and make the effort, I really do get deer approaching right up close. When I’m short-cutting the process too much, I’ll get deer busting me at 200 yards. The basic moral is that a little personal hygiene goes a long way. Every year, I get a few more converts.



Years ago, I opined in an article that skewered the rise of Fartlok Suits and their ilk that the most useful part of scent reduction clothing was the hang tag. If you read the instructions for the suits, it told you to shower in scent free product, use scent free detergent on your clothing and to shower and change your underclothes as often as possible. It still holds true. Baking soda is just a cheap alternative to all those other expensive scent reduction preparations. It works in a variety of ways, but most importantly, it inhibits the growth of the bacteria that causes body odor. If you stink less, even a little less, a deer is less likely to take your scent seriously.

Does Baking Soda make you invisible to deer? Hardly. However, if you are like me and hunt amongst deer that regularly interact with humans, you’ll know deer get somewhat used to our smell-- otherwise, we’d never seen them. If you’re looking for a theory on how baking soda works, my guess is that it reduces it enough so that the average whitetail may guess you’re 300 yards away instead of 30. Your level of stench may be low enough for him to discount the threat.

Plus, working with the public, I can tell ya they stink lol

I definitely believe baking soda helps limit scent.

I don't doubt it may well give a guy an edge, I'm just too lazy to go through all those protocols.

I had a hunting pard many years ago who believed it was the smell of soap and deodorant that sent deer scurrying, so he initially washed his hunting clothes in scent-free stuff and then aired them out for about a month, and didn't bathe at all or put on deodorant for the entire season. I'm here to tell you he was pretty ripe after the first week, and a dead man could smell him from a hundred yards away let alone the deer.

Personally I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. The biggest deer I ever shot was while I was puffing on a cigar. Maybe I would have seen more deer in my life had I taken better precautions about scent, maybe not. Doesn't matter, I've seen my share of deer and shot as many as I've wanted to. Will I change my ways? Refer to the first sentence above.

I freely admit that by the last week of season, my interest in staying scent-free starts to wane. I'm still getting a shower every AM, and I'm still letting my outer layers air out, but the finer points are starting to slip. However, by then I'm usually down to picking off one last doe to top off the freezer.

The other thing is that the method I detail is considerably reduced from the method a remember from the original magazine article. The guy who wrote it was doing all sorts of stuff like wrapping his head in plastic. I don't remember ever doing that. I feel the method is there for everyone to adjust to their tastes. My recommendation is to start with it as written and add or remove bits as folks see fit.

My big concern are the guys who spend gobs of money on these scent-reducing products. I saw a Youtube a while back of two hunters going bowhunting in Florida. The video was about 15 minutes long and 10 minutes into it, they were still at their cars spraying each other with Stop-Stink. Our NewGuy at camp was one of these sorts. When he first came to us, he was spending all sorts of money on scent-free stuff and he took a bottle of the junk out to the stand to spray himself down mid-hunt. He read this article and it was like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He'd gone 10 years without getting a shot at a deer. We got his cherry popped in a couple of hunts.

Play the wind.

Interesting and worth a try. Thanks!

Unquestionably Most Important


Jerry

I am like you gnoahhh


Lazy……

I watch the tobacco smoke….study da wind.

That’s my story.

Around the farm I took up hunting outta the tractor.

Them sum beaches seem to gentle right down to the idel sound of the ford 4630

I'm on the fence. Seems like the deer pay zero attention when I'm sitting in my truck upwind. It's a farm truck so there is always soiled rags and various leaking parts floating around. They definitely don't like it when the beer cans rattle around on windy days though. These deer aren't use to seeing my truck but they'll walk within yards of it if I remain completely still. I pull my visors down and sit low in my seat. I'm talking about mature animals not yearlings. They definitely notice once you roll the window down. Same deal in my redneck blind. They'll walk right by if I have the windows closed but shy away if they're open. My whole family hunts this way and we're very successful. Around here we set up on old farmsteads/bedding areas and wait for them to come out to feeding areas. Wind doesn't seem to matter if you're all sealed up.