Hunters,
Any bug repellent you'd recommend for stalking type hunting? Something that actually works and doesn't spook the elk/deer?
Thermacell sounds good but I don't see how it would work when on the move.
Thanks!

If you don't play the wind right, they'll smell you no matter what repellent you use. It's best use is so they don't see you swatting bugs.

Good point!

Have you tried a picaridin based repellent? Not entirely odorless, but less than the perfumes a lot of manufacturers put into DEET based stuff. I still use DEET sometimes, but starting to use picaridin more often.

The one I've found is a Sawyer product, Cabelas and Amazon carry it, others places must too. https://sawyer.com/products/picaridin-insect-repellent/

In my completely non-scientific observations it works about equally on mosquitoes (but haven't seen any time-release formulas like some DEET products), and seems to work better for Adirondack black flies.

Bonus - its not a plasticizer like DEET, doesn't melt plastics.

Or just wear a head net. No chemicals, no smells, and it acts as face camo.

Jeff

Headnets don't keep the ticks from crawling up you pants and sleeves

I don't know how bad they would smell to elk, but you can put dog flea and tick collars around your boot tops, and maybe pin a piece to you coat. Don't let them be directly against your skin. miles

That's all I use now. Feels better on my skin, and won't melt plastic, varnish, etc. My old 581 still has DEET marks on the stock. I like the lotion better than the spray because the spray bottle leaks when you tilt it.

Sawyer also makes a Permethrin spray for treating your clothes that lasts through six washings. Use that, put picaridin on your wrists, ankles and face, and your as bug-free as it gets.

Sawyer also makes a picarin spray to treat your clothes with. If left outside to air out the smell is barely noticeable and it stays on for a couple of washing cycles too.

When I was bow hunting in the cedar breaks I used Deep Woods Off spray. It has cedar & pine oil in it to mask the smell. It worked in evergreens and it also was a sort of cover scent. I had deer approach within ten feet down wind after dousing myself with this stuff. Other natural substances also work in the same way. Vanilla extract works for mosquitoes and can be an attractant. Ponderosa sap works some. I have tumble dried my clothes with sage and evergreen branches and it helped as a repellent and cover scent. I also use Lemon Eucalyptus mixed with cedar oil and this doesn't seem to alarm deer.

When the mosquitoes are bad I double up and use two or more types of repellent. I have only had good luck with thermocells inside of a blind or pop up.

The Elk will smell you no matter what if they are down wind of you. When stalking I carry a bottle of unscented talcum to check for thermals and winds you can't feel. A lighter works some too but not as well as the talcum.

Forgot to add the best thing I have used for ticks and chiggers is dusting sulpher on your shoes, socks and pants legs. Deer sure smell it but don't seem to be alarmed by the smell. They will snort out of curiosity but usually don't run.

On a spring bear hunt in Manitoba I got off the atv , the guide pointed the direction of the stand and said I'll be back after dark . The bugs -as in all kinds were so bad he had to swat them away with his hat to get my headnet
On . I told him don't go far because I'm no hunting with these bugs . He had me light the thermacell and they didn't disappear but it was like I had a glass all around me . I hunted the week like that .
Thermacells do work .

SemperFi
Soup

Sitting in a blind, hard to beat the Thermacell.

Warm days, early season in the South, you really need one to keep the skeeters at bay.

Otherwise, they'll eat you up...

DF


Edited to add, elks gets downwind, you're busted either way...

Mash up some evergreen needles, fir, spruce, pine, sub alpine, or whatever you have in your area, and apply as needed. That oily substance will repel bugs for hours without any man made chemical smells. Try to avoid getting pitch mixed in it....thank me later....;)

I'll have to try that!

Thanks Pat.

Good advise.

^^^this^^^

I hunt in and around marshes in Florida twelve months of the year, Bug Central. The mosquitos are almost always bad, and certain times of the year the deer flies (yellow flies) will eat you alive. I've tried just about everything, and while some products work better than others, Sawyer Picaridin is the best I've found so far. It will keep everything away and I can't detect any smell at all once it dries (which is fast). If anything would smell it it would be a pig, and so far so good. And it's less than $5 per can at WalMart.

To answer your question! There is no bug spray elk won't smell! Hunt into the wind.

If you don't play the wind you are screwed wether you have bug spray on or not.

Cold air.