Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Your Scent Lok suit may be worthless!

TFF!

He still wears that ancient stocking hat tho'. That thing has got to stink like an NFL Jockstrap.

I put Chuck right about the same scale as Jim Carmichael. Total putz...

OK...OK I just didn't want to be the one to say it!!!!
Ingwe

If one breathes or passes gas, his scent is out there. One would have to be in a sealed space suit and use rebreathing equipment to be scent free. I too just go into or across the wind.

That's pretty much the secret. That's about the only way they won't smell you.

ScentLok suits and camo belong in the same category...gimmicky paraphanelia.........hunters can be pretty big suckers....

As I alluded to earlier, I train K9, and a great deal of research has been done, particularly on the topic of scents coming off a human....Right you are on the breathing, we are only now beginning to understand what a HUGE part that plays in the scent you "put out there"..
Can't contain the breath in a Scent Lok suit, and weve already heard from posters about containing gas....
Ingwe

Now if you could just stop breathing when you have your scent lok on

Schit is worthless. Military testing on carbon suits confirm as much. By the time it leaves the factory, it is toast. It takes an ungodly amount of heat to reactivate.

However all is not lost.....I have gotten my best deals at Cabelas on their top of the line clothing that was Scent Lok lined...like 50%+ off. Must be people aren't willing to spend the extra cake on the schit.

I could give a schit about the Scent Lok part, but was interested in the rest of the garment.

Take notice of their late and post season sales, most is scent lok stuff at serious discounts.

I love the schit....for the discounts.

Tony

Not quite right, but not entirely wrong.

Scent eliminators work, to a point. Perhaps they are better called scent reducers, however. Human body scent is caused by, among other things, bacteria feeding on your sweats, oils, dead skin, etc. Kill most of the bacteria by showering with anti-bacterial scent-less soap and reducing their food stock (for a time), and you will greatly reduce your scent signature-and the weaker the signal, the less far it will carry. Again- for a time- after a day or two without "refreshing" both body and clothing, you stink, perhaps not as bad, but certainly enough to be ineffective if the wind isn't working for you. Most usefull in swirly wind conditions- say inside a flat-land woods where the wind can switch dirction every few seconds.

Can't speak to cover scents other than that rut-pit mud I once rubbed on me in successfully stalking a down-wind (well, swirly, anyway - at times he was downwind) moose.

My wife was much less impressed with my on-the-spot innovation than the Lab was when I got home. They both liked the meat I noticed...

I've used the anti-bacterial soap and clothing "scent-eliminators" enough in hunting moose to know they are at least partially effective, especially in light swirly wind conditions. I try to hng my clothing out in the woods, away from yard smells for several days or a week before going hunting in them as well, carry them in a clean garbage bag with some spruce tips in there, and change into them only when starting the hunt, whether from the truck or once I get into and am ready to leave camp. I take along Scent Shield towletts for "spot-bathing" and/or have been known to take along my anti-bacterial soap , bath in lakes or streams, and change into a second set of clean "descented" clothing after the second day. It all helps.

The UV Killer concept is another thing some people sneer at, but that I have found to be worth doingexpecially in low-light conditions when animals are most likely tobe active. I have several personal anecdotal "proofs" on this- too long for here. Which is mostly why I use camo clothing - not so much to hide from critters without full color vision (outline breaking and non-movement work much better), but because it is "color coded" for Scent-Killed/ UV-killed for-hunting-use-ony, and never gets washed in regular detergents, whose "brighteners" restore the UV visibility . It is also synthetic for the most to readily pass water vapor.

I've also used the cow and bull moose scents that are available, for the last couple years, with no discernable effect-at least while I was watching. I doubt I'll be buying any more of the stuff.

I've got some snake oil to sell you, bro...

Everybody knows you need to be decked out in scent-blocker gear to shoot them big ole food plot whitetails from your blind or stand.

If you just install a good ventilation system in those " blinds"...right next to the satellite dish, you might be able to get away with not using Scent-Lok. Butttt, be sure your outfit is camo, regardless.
Ingwe

thats me, when they first came out I said to myself "here is another edge I can use" after using them for a while an seeing the results I said "I cannot believe I fell for this crap". I believe in camo, goretex, good binocs, getting in early, being still, being downwind and of course my cough silencer

The key to the success of these products isn't the activated carbon science. No, the key to the product is psychological. Any person I've met that uses/used the stuff felt they were taking the next step in odor elimination and suddenly get anal about how they treat their entire scent approach. That unto itself has left people mystified and enamored that the activated carbon must be working.

Play the wind and hunt. Stay clean and you better your odds.

Scott hit the nail on the head with this one.

Tom-

If one spews enough hot air, something is bound to eventually resonate.

Only once, Tom? I need to try your diet. Farting in my hunting gear only once every 2 minutes would be a real surprise for me!!

Don't forget the scentless beer in that treestand.

Watching your personal hygiene and the wind is the real answer. But I do enjoy those hunters who live in their fashion statements. An old German army surplus pant and Woolrich shirt washed in scentless detergent has worked well for me. I've gotten much closer to deer and elk than I ever thought possible or busted them at such long range that I didn't even know they were there because of wind use or not.

Fun thread.

No snakes up here to oil, bro, but thanks anyway. I could use some moose-oil tho.

My opinions on this are based on personal experimentation. I don't take any one's word for nothin' , tho I will check it out if it seems interesting/advantageous... It's cost me some money here and there to do so, like on Gore-tex (mostly hype) and the electronic ear muffs for field work, and the moose juice.... (electronic muff are good on the range, but useless while hunting - unless, perhaps, hearing impaired, which I am not - Do NOT believe my wife - even tho she's repeatedly tested me with her audiology gear...she always goes away, just mumbling " I just don't understand it.....". ) So far, the moose juice has proved a bust, but I have some left to work with....

I too think Scott hit it- taking "special precautions" makes one more cognizant (if you have half a brain) of the real stuff- going clean, moving slow, keeping quiet, and working the wind- assuming the wind is steady in one direction. Easier said than done in my moose hunting conditions- on the Plains where I grew up, it was darned near an unconcious ploy - we never really thought about it- we just did it. Same with "predictable" mountain slope winds. Not so easy on flatland, wooded Alaskan venues, where terraine, wind, and differential heating between lakes, bogs bare ridges, and low, wooded ridges all mixed up complicate things a mite... When you are trying to fool a moose into showing itself and the wind puffs into your face from 5 or 6 directions in a single minute, "plan B (every scent advantage you can employ)" might increase the odds just a bit in your favor. You will, based on a couple decades experience, probably still lose....at least before they are good and horny... Most everything else depends on just being there in the field and luck. The occaisional "dumb moose" helps also. The more remote you can get, the "dumber" the moose get. Same with all critters.

On the other hand, you might just have a hunter-concious moose standing 15 feet downwind of where you are seated on the ground, freshly showered with no-scent soap, and wearing freshly laundered, de-scented, aired clothing - the moose with a puzzled look on his or her face (both, unfortunately, not legal animals) going " I smell something, but, what is it??". The young bull spent about 20 minutes browsing within 30 feet of my feet, at one point, within 17 measured feet. Downwind.

Not a lone incident.

I know more about moose under-bellies than I care to impart.....

Face it. In a nice, steady one-direction wind, it doesn't matter how bad you stink if you are downwind. If you are out of sight behind a ridge or brushline, or not moving, with or without outline breakup, it doesn't matter what you are wearing. If you have cover noise (like a falling rain), noisy Helly Hanson fisherman's raingear works just fine (BTDT).

In other conditions, YMMV.

Rancho Loco- if things were as simple as you imply, those Coues deer hunters wouldn't have to use $1500 Swarovski spotting scopes and take 400-600 yard shots. Conditions vary. I doubt they need worry all that much about either wind or UV visibility at those ranges. Well, maybe wind - I've seen moose scent me at that range.

One size does not fit all.

I read an article in which a white tail researcher tested many of the cover scents. His conclusion was that urinating onto scrapes had no negative effects and was at least as, if not more effective than, the bottled doe or buck pee or any other cover scent. The deer acted the same as a dog would when they encounter a new marked spot. They sniffed it, marked it themselves and moved on completely unconcerned.

My hunting partners famous quote "Those who cant scout, shop."